Name of meeting: People Committee

Title of report: Workforce Race & Disability Equality Standard Annual Report 2025 

Date of meeting: Wednesday 10 September 2025 

Executive lead: Lynne Shaw, Director of Workforce and OD

Report author: Chris Rowlands, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Lead, Emma Silver Price, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Officer 

Action required: Assurance, Discussion 

Strategic ambition this reports: A great place to work 

Committee/ meetings where this item has been considered: People Committee 

Management meetings where this item has been considered: Trustwide Strategic Workforce Group 

Impact reports on the following areas: Compliance/ Regulatory, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Workforce 

Board Assurance Framework/ Corporate Risk Register risks this paper relates to:

Great Place to Work. Risk of poor staff motivation, engagement and job satisfaction if issues affecting staff experience are not addressed including health and wellbeing support, inclusion and the ability to speak up. 

1.    Executive Summary

The Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) and Workforce Disability Equality Standard
(WDES) support positive change for existing employees and enable a more inclusive environment for Black & Minority Ethnic (BME) and Disabled people working in the NHS. We are required to report our performance on these standards yearly and to address disparities via recommendations and action plans. The actions align to the NHS England Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Improvement plan, as well as the Trust’s Strategic Ambition to be a great place to work and EDS 2022 Domain 2 - Workforce Health and Well-being and Domain 3 - Inclusive Leadership.

2.    Key issues, significant risks and mitigations

The statistics in this report are based on known protected characteristic status of staff. We have therefore excluded from calculations staff where there is no record of ethnicity or disability. Prior to the data collection date we ran a campaign to improve reporting of protected characteristic
information on ESR. As a result we have no ethnicity data for 0.7% of staff and no disability status for 8.7% of staff – an improvement on 10.2% in the previous year.

There are specific risks of Race Discrimination and Disability Discrimination under the Equality Act if policies and practices are not in line with legislation. There are reputational risks to the Trust if legislation and best practice is not followed which may have a detrimental effect on attraction and retention of staff.

3.    Recommendation/summary

The People Committee is asked to discuss the content of this paper and receive assurance that the Trust meets NHS England requirements for WRES and WDES which need to be finalised and published by 31 October 2025.

Lynne Shaw, Executive Director of Workforce and OD

Christopher Rowlands, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead

Emma Silver Price, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Officer 

September 2025

Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES)

The figures contained in the table below are a snapshot as of 31st March 2025, as well as findings from the most recent NHS Staff Survey which took place in Autumn 2024. It should be noted that these figures do not include NTW Solutions or Bank Staff. Please see the appendices for all WRES data tables. At the audit date there were 1036 (897 in 2024) BME members of staff employed by the Trust. These staff made up 13% (11%) of our overall workforce. Latest data on Ethnicity from the 2021 Office for National Statistics Census shows the BME population across North East England is 7%.

Metric CNTW figures for 2024      CNTW figures for 2025     Key points to note
  White  BME  Comments White  BME Comments   
Total staff  7197 897 BME 11% of total workforce  6961 1036 BME 13% of total workforce  2% points increase on 2024 for BME
Non-clinical staff 1495 47 BME 3% of non-clinical staff 1434 61 BME 4% non-clinical staff  1% point increase on 2024 for BME
Clinical staff  5536 685 BME 11% of clinical staff  5364 800  BME 13% of clinical staff 2% points increase on 2024 for BME
Medical staff  166  165  BME 49.8% of medical staff  163  175  BME 52% of medical staff  2.2% points increase on 2024 for BME
Non-clinical Band 5 or below  1160  39

77.5% white non-clinical staff at <B5

 

83% BME non-clinical staff at <B5

1147  54

80% white non-clinical staff at <B5 

 

88.5% BME non-clinical staff at <B5

Increase of 5.5% points on 2024 for BME. Indicative of need to consider progression initiatives for staff <B5. 
Clinical Band 5 or below  2572  543

46.5% white clinical staff at <B5

 

79.3% BME clinical staff at <B5

2362 656

44% white clinical staff at <B5

 

82% BME clinical staff at <B5 

Increase of 2.7% points on 2024 for BME. 38% point gap between white and BME indicative of need to address progression initiatives for staff <B5
Medical consultant grade  121  91

72.9% white consultant

 

55.2% BME consultant 

 112 98

68.7% white consultant 

 

56% BME consultant 

Increase of 0.8% point on 2024 for BME 
Staff appointed from shortlisting  759 (3517 shortlisted) 276 (1918 shortlisted) White applicants 1.48 times more likely to be appointed  723 (2745 shortlisted) 177 (1509 shortlisted) White applicants 2.24 times more likely to be appointed  11.7% (14.3%) of shortlisted BME applicants were appointed, compared with 26.3% (21.5%) white applicants 
Staff entering formal disciplinary process  54 12 BME staff 1.76 times more likely to be in a formal process  68  17 BME staff 1.69 times more likely to be in formal process Slight improvement on 2024 (1.76)
Staff accessing non-mandatory training and CPD  Not recorded      Not recorded. The last known figure is for 2020 return which showed that BME staff were 1.5 times more likely than white staff to access non-mandatory.      A plan is being put in place to ensure that these data are captured for the next submission. 
% staff experiencing bullying, harassment or abuse from patients, relatives or public  24.7%  36.55% 11.85% point disparity gap 25.8%  47.6% 21.8% point disparity gap  Gap has doubled in the past year 
% of staff experiencing bullying, harassment or abuse from staff  15.02%  21.28% 6.26% point disparity gap  18.9%  23.6%  4.7% point disparity gap  Gap has closed but year on year experience has increased 
% staff believing organisation provides equal opportunities for career progression  64.27%  53.45% 10.82% point disparity gap  63.0% 56.0% 7% point disparity gap  Gap is closing - helped by reduction year on year for white staff 
% staff experiencing discrimination from manager, team lead or colleague  5.53% 15.57% 10.04% point disparity gap  6.3% 18.0% 11.7% point disparity gap  Gap has increased and overall rate year on year 
% Trust's Board membership  85.71% 14.29% (overall workforce is 11% BME) BME Board Members averaged 10.6% across North East and Yorkshire (2023 National WRES) 85.71% 14.29% (overall workforce is 13% BME) National WRES report shows that 16.5% of board members recorded their ethnicity as BME (March 2024 snapshot)  


 

WRES 2025 Actions: Our 10 Point Plan 

Continue our work towards being an anti-racist organisation. 

  • Adopt NHS Race and Health Observatory's Seven Anti Racism Principles
  • Implement the procedures in the UNESCO Toolkit Fighting Racism and Discrimination 
  • Develop a clear and visible race equality statement as part of the revised Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Policy championed by leadership. Include guidelines to ensure that all future Policies and Practice Guidance are developed through an anti-racist lens
  • Provide a Trust-wide racism reporting process for notifying, investigating and recording outcomes 
  • Provide a Trust-wide wellbeing offer for staff experiencing racism in the workplace 

Start to address the disparity in career progression 

  • Launch of Talent Management Framework 
  • Collect robust data on accessing non-mandatory training 
  • Exit interview results to identify and address race disparities in retention of staff members 

Undertake routine monitoring and evaluation of progress

  • Use NHS Race and Health Observatory tools to assess progression on the above
  • Dedicated WRES Half Day meeting in Spring 2026 to coincide with release of Staff Survey results 

 

Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES)

The figures contained in the table below are a snapshot as of 31st March 2025, as well as findings from the most recent NHS Staff Survey which took place in Autumn 2024. These figures do not include NTW Solutions Staff or Bank staff. It should be noted that the overall ESR figure of Disabled Staff employed by the Trust is 9.7% (8.9% 2024), this is considerably lower than the figure identified through the most recent NHS Staff Survey, where 36.5% (36.7%) of our workforce stated that they live with a long term condition. The most recent figures for the disabled population of the North East (2021 Census) states that 21.2% of the population meets the criteria for disability as defined by the Equality Act. The statistics in this report are based on known protected characteristic status of staff. We have therefore excluded from calculations staff where there is no record of disability. Prior to the data collection date we ran a campaign to improve reporting of protected characteristic information on ESR. As a result we have seen an improvement in reporting. We now have no disability status for 8.7% of staff – an improvement on 10.2% in the previous year. Please see the appendices for all WDES data tables.

Metric CNTW figures for 2024     CNTW figures for 2025     Key points to note
  Disabled  Non-disabled Comments Disabled  Non-disabled Comments   
Total staff  723 6601 Disabled staff 8.9% of total workforce 867  6564 Disabled staff 9.7% of total workforce  Increase of 0.8% point 
Non-clinical staff  156 1269  Disabled staff 12.2% of non-clinical staff  197 1237  Disabled staff 13.8% of non-clinical staff  Increase of 1.6% points 
Clinical staff  546 5083 Disabled staff 10.7% of clinical staff  641 5071 Disabled staff 11.2% of clinical staff  Increase of 0.5% point 
Medical staff  22 249 Disabled staff 8.8% of medical staff  29 256 Disabled staff 10.2% of medical staff  Increase of 1.4% points 
Non-clinical Band 5 or below  134 979 

85.9% Disabled non-clinical at <B5

 

77.1% non-Disabled non-clinical at <B5 

161 970

81.7% Disabled non-clinical at <B5 

 

78.4% non-Disabled non- clinical at <B5 

4.2% drop in Disabled non-clinical staff at <B5 compared to 2024 
Clinical Band 5 or below  267  2495 

48.9% Disabled clinical at <B5 

 

49.1% non-Disabled clinical at <B5

293 2433 

45.7% Disabled clinical staff at <B5 

 

48% non-Disabled clinical at <B5

3.2% points drop in Disabled clinical staff at <B5 compared to 2024 
Medical consultant grade  12 154

54.5% Disabled medical at consultant grade 

 

61.8% non-Disabled medical at consultant grade 

12 159

41.2% Disabled medical staff at consultant grade 

 

62.1% of non-Disabled medical at consultant grade 

13.3% points drop in Disabled medical staff at consultant grade compared to 2024 
Staff appointed from shortlisting  84 (600 shortlisted) 933 (4766 shortlisted)  Non-Disabled staff are 1.4 times more likely to be appointed from shortlisting  95 (618 shortlisted) 752 (3533 shortlisted) Non-disabled staff are 1.4 times more likely to be appointed from shortlisting  Trend remains the same between 2024/2025 
Staff entering formal capability process  No figures available for 2024      No figures available for 2025      A plan is being put in place to ensure that these data are captured for the next submission 
% staff experiencing bullying, harassment or abuse from patients, relatives or public  27.90  24.08% 3.82% points disparity gap  29.3% 27.49% 1.81% points disparity gap Gap narrowed by 2.01% points - however overall level has increased 
% staff experiencing bullying, harassment or abuse from manager  8.29% 4.39% 3.9% points disparity gap  11.26% 5.65% 5.61% points disparity gap Gap increased by 1.71% points
% staff experiencing bullying, harassment or abuse from colleagues  16.60% 10.30% 6.3% points disparity gap 21.58% 12.45% 9.13% points disparity gap Gap increased by 2.83%
% staff or colleagues reporting bullying, harassment or abuse at work 65.43% 71.81% 6.38% points disparity gap 68.53% 71.98% 3.45% points disparity gap  Gap decreased by 2.93% points 
% staff believing organisation provides equal opportunities for career progression  59.98% 65.03% 5.05% points disparity gap 58.05% 64.47% 6.42% points disparity gap  Gap increased by 1.37%
% staff who feel pressure from manager to work, despite not feeling well enough  17.27% 10.23% 7.04% points disparity gap  16.54% 15.64% 0.9% points disparity gap Gap narrowed by 6.14% points - however explained by more non-disabled staff feeling pressure 
% staff satisfied with extent that organisation values their work  44.08% 51.76% 7.68% points disparity gap  41.96% 48.21% 6.25% points disparity gap  Gap narrowed by 1.43% points however explained by reduction in non-disabled staff feeling valued 
% staff with long-lasting health condition or illness saying employer has made adequate adjustment(s) to carry out their work  81.04%  N/A   79.64% N/A 1.4% points reduction on 2024  1.4% points reduction compared with 2024 
% Trust's Board Membership compared to overall workforce  7.1% 92.9% Disabled staff 8.9% of total workforce  7.1% 92.9% Disabled staff 9.7% of total workforce   


 

WDES 2024 Actions: Our 10 Point Plan 

Commence work to become an anti-ableist organisation 

  • Audit organisational practices using the Framework for Anti-Ableist Organisations to: 
    • set out the basic principles for becoming an anti-ableist organisation 
    • locate our current position towards anti-ableism and set out a plan for progression
    • support leaders to embed anti-ableism in their practices
    • promote discussion of anti-ableist practice
    • reflect on examples of anti-ableist practice 
  • Develop a clear and visible disability equality statement as part of the revised Equality Diversity and Human Rights Policy championed by leadership. Include guidelines to ensure that all future Policies and Practice Guidance are developed through an anti-ableist lens
  • Provide a Trust-wide ableism reporting process for notifying, investigating and recording outcomes
  • Provide a Trust-wide wellbeing offer for staff experiencing ableism in the workplace
  • Complete submission for assessment against Level 3 Disability Confident by May 2026
    • Ensure that associated actions are incorporated into the 2026 WDES reporting process
  • Run a Give Respect Get Respect Campaign during Disability History Month with an anti- ableism theme

Make CNTW a better place to work for Disabled staff 

  • Conduct a thorough review of reasonable adjustment processes to ensure that they are robust and user friendly for both disabled staff and their managers
  • Once processes are agreed capture in a new Reasonable Adjustments Policy and PGN. The policy will be co-produced with the Disabled Staff Network and adopt and anti-ableist and trauma informed approach

Undertake routine monitoring and evaluation of progress 

  • Collate robust data on capability and report upon it routinely
  • WDES Half Day Meeting in Spring 2026 to coincide with release of Staff Survey Results

Percentage of staff in each of the AfC Bands 1-9 OR Medical and Dental subgroups and VSM (including executive Board members) compared with the percentage of staff in the overall workforce

  BME  White  Ethnicity unknown/ null  Notes 
1a) Non-clinical workforce  Verified figures  Verified figures  Verified figures  Verified figures 
Under Band 1  2 10 0  
Band 1  0 1 0  
Band 2  5 160 2  
Band 3  27  442 5  
Band 4 14  337 2  
Band 5 6 197 1  
Band 6 3 133 1  
Band 7 4 72 1  
Band 8A 0 46 0  
Band 8B 0 29 0  
Band 8C 0 2 0  
Band 8D 0 1 0  
Band 9 0 0 0  
VSM 0 4 0 Snr Mgr BME 1; White 35 

 

 

Percentage of staff in each of the AfC Bands 1-9 OR Medical and Dental subgroups and VSM (including executive Board members) compared with the percentage of staff in the overall workforce

  BME  White  Ethnicity unknown/ null  Notes 
Clinical workforce  Verified figures  Verified figures  Verified figures  Verified figures 
Under Band 1 5 46 0  
Band 1  0 1 0  
Band 2 2 9 0  
Band 3 450  1362 10  
Band 4 23 306 3  
Band 5 176 638 8  
Band 6  77 1554 14  
Band 7  46 932 6  
Band 8A 10 300 3  
Band 8B 6 109 0  
Band 8C 3 85 1  
Band 8D 2 20 0  
Band 9 0 1 0  
VSM 0 1 0  
Consultants  98  112 0  
of which senior medical manager  1 0 0 Medical Director 
Non-consultant career grade  63 40 1  
Trainee grades  14 11 0  
Other 0 0 0  

 

 

Relative likelihood of staff being appointed from shortlisting across all posts

  BME  White  Ethnicity unknown/ null 
  Verified figures  Verified figures  Verified figures 
Number of shortlisted applicants  1509 2745 317
Number appointed from shortlisting  177 723 3
Relative likelihood of appointment from shortlisting  0.117296 0.263388   
Relative likelihood of White staff being appointed from shortlisting compared to BME staff  2.245494    

 

 

Relative likelihood of staff entering the formal disciplinary process, as measured by entry into a formal disciplinary investigation

  BME  White  Ethnicity unknown/ null 
Number of staff entering the formal disciplinary process  17 68 1
Likelihood of staff entering the formal disciplinary process  0.016409  0.009769  0
Relative likelihood of BME staff entering the formal disciplinary process compared to White staff    1.679778   

 

 

Relative likelihood of staff accessing non-mandatory training and CPD

  BME  White  Ethnicity unknown/ null 
Number of staff in workforce  897  7197  67
Number of staff accessing non-mandatory training and CPD  No data collected    
Likelihood of staff accessing non-mandatory training and CPD  No data collected    
Relative likelihood of White staff accessing non-mandatory training and CPD compared to BME staff  No data collected     

 

 

Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from patients / service users, relatives or the public in last 12 months

  White  All other ethnic groups 
Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from patients/ service users, relatives or the public in the last 12 months  25.85%  47.65% 
Total responses  2944 361

 

 

Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from staff in last 12 months

  White  All other ethnic groups 
Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from staff in the last 12 months  18.93%  23.60%
Total responses  2932  356 

 

 

Percentage of staff believing that the organisation provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion

  White  All other ethnic groups 
Percentage of staff believing that the organisation provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion  62.95%  56.03% 
Total responses  2934 348 

 

 

Percentage of staff experiencing discrimination at work from manager / team leader or other colleagues in last 12 months

  White  All other ethnic groups 
Percentage of staff experiencing discrimination at work from manager/ team leader or other colleagues in last 12 months  6.31%  18.03%
Total responses  2918  355 

 

 

Board voting membership 

  White  BME  Unknown 
Total Board Members  14 2 0
Voting Board Members  14 2 0
Exec  6 1 0
NED (incl. Chair) 8 1 0

 

 

Percentage of staff in each of the AfC Bands 1-9 OR Medical and Dental subgroups and VSM (including executive Board members) compared with the percentage of staff in the overall workforce

  Disabled  Non-disabled  Unknown/ null  Total 
1a) Non-clinical staff         
Under Band 1 1 10 1 12
Bands 1  0 1 0 1
Bands 2 20 137 10 167
Bands 3 67 370 37 474
Bands 4 47 290  16 353
Bands 5 26 162 16 204
Bands 6 19 108 10 137
Bands 7  7 63 7 77
Bands 8a 6 38 2 46
Bands 8b 1 20 8 29
Bands 8c 0 2 0 2
Bands 8d 0 1 0 1
Bands 9 0 0 0 0
VSM 0 4 0 4
Other (e.g. Bank or Agency) Please specify in notes  3 31 7 41
Cluster 1: AfC Bands <1 to 4  135 808 64 1007
Cluster 2: AfC Bands 5 to 7 52 333 33 418
Cluster 3: AfC Bands 8a and 8b 7 58 10 75
Cluster 4: AfC Bands 8c to VSM  0 7 0 7
Total Non-Clinical  197  1237 114 1548

 

 

Percentage of staff in each of the AfC Bands 1-9 OR Medical and Dental subgroups and VSM (including executive Board members) compared with the percentage of staff in the overall workforce

  Disabled  Non-disabled  Unknown/ null  Total 
1b) Clinical staff         
Under Band 1 5 45 1 51
Bands 1 1 0 0 1
Bands 2 5 6 0 11
Bands 3 132 1473 217 1822
Bands 4  56 250 26 332
Bands 5 94 659 69 822
Bands 6 204 1305 136 1645
Bands 7 99 825 60 984
Bands 8a 29 272 12 313
Bands 8b 7 105 3 115
Bands 8c 5 76 8 89
Bands 8d 3 19 0 22
Bands 9 0 1 0 1
VSM 0 1 0 1
Other (e.g. Bank or Agency) Please specify in notes  1 34 1 36
Cluster 1: AfC Bands <1 to 4 199  1774 244 2217
Cluster 2: AfC Bands 5 to 7  397 2789 265 3451
Cluster 3 : AfC Bands 8a and 8b 36  377 15 428
Cluster 4: AfC Bands 8c to VSM  8 97 8 113
Total clinical 641 5071 533 6245
Mental and dental staff, consultants  12 159 39 210
Medical and dental staff, non-consultants career grade  16 74 14 104
Medical and dental staff, trainee grades 1 23 1 25
Total medical and dental  29 256 54 339
Number of staff in workforce  867 6564 701  8132 

 

 

Relative likelihood of non-Disabled staff compared to Disabled staff being appointed from shortlisting across all posts

  Disabled  Non-disabled  Unknown 
Number of shortlisted applicants  618  3533 230
Number appointed from shortlisting  95 752 8
Likelihood of shortlisting/ appointed  0.153722  0.212850 0
Relative likelihood of non-disabled staff being appointed from shortlisting compared to Disabled staff  1.384647    

 

 

Relative likelihood of Disabled staff compared to non-disabled staff entering the formal capability process, as measured by entry into the formal capability procedure

  Disabled  Non-disabled 
Total number of staff  No data collected  No data collected 
Average number of staff entering the formal capability process over the last 2 years (i.e. total divided by 2)     
Likelihood of staff entering the formal capability process    
Relative likelihood of Disabled staff entering the formal capability process compared to Non- Disabled staff    

 

 

Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from patients / service users, relatives or the public in last 12 months

  Disabled  Non-disabled 
Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from patients / service users, relatives or the public in last 12 months 29.32% 27.49%
Total number of responses  1204  2095 

 

 

Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from managers in last 12 months

  Disabled  Non-disabled 
Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from managers in last 12 months 11.26% 5.65%
Total number of responses  1191 2065 

 

 

Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues in last 12 months

  Disabled  Non-disabled 
Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues in last 12 months 21.58% 12.45%
Total number of responses  1175 2015 

 

 

Percentage of staff saying that the last time they experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work, they or a colleague reported it

  Disabled  Non-disabled 
Percentage of staff saying that the last time they experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work, they or a colleague reported it 68.53% 71.98%
Total number of responses  483 678 

 

 

Percentage of staff who believe that their organisation provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion

  Disabled  Non-disabled 
Percentage of staff who believe that their organisation provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion 58.05% 64.47%
Total number of responses  1199 2077 

 

 

Percentage of staff who have felt pressure from their manager to come to work, despite not feeling well enough to perform their duties

  Disabled  Non-disabled 
Percentage of staff who have felt pressure from their manager to come to work, despite not feeling well enough to perform their duties 16.54% 15.64%
Total number of responses  786 946

 

 

Percentage of staff satisfied with the extent to which their organisation values their work

  Disabled  Non-disabled 
Percentage of staff satisfied with the extent to which their organisation values their work 41.96% 48.21%
Total number of responses  1206 2099 

 

 

Percentage of staff with a long lasting health condition or illness saying their employer has made adequate adjustment(s) to enable them to carry out their work

  Disabled 
Percentage of staff with a long lasting health condition or illness saying their employer has made adequate adjustment(s) to enable them to carry out their work 79.64%
Total number of responses  781 

 

 

Staff engagement score 

  Disabled  Non-disabled 
Staff engagement score (0-10)  6.69  7.08 
Total number of responses  1208  2100 

 

 

Board voting membership 

  Disabled  Non-disabled  Unknown 
Total Board Members  1 13  
Voting Board Members  1 13  
Exec    6  
NED (incl. Chair)  1 7