Corporate report

Companies House equality, diversity and inclusion strategy 2020 to 2025

Updated 29 November 2022

1. Introduction

Companies House has published its new corporate strategy, Companies House Strategy (2020 to 2025), setting out our ambitious plans to transform and ensure that we play a leading role in the fight against economic crime.

In the future we aim to provide greater transparency and clarity to ensure we maximise the value we add, while ensuring the UK continues to be regarded as a world-leading place to do business.

Our people are essential to realising our strategy and transforming Companies House. Our corporate strategy outlines the changes we anticipate to our registers and to our services. None of these will happen without our people. Their roles and our organisational structure will change, skills will be enhanced, and they will be supported by a creative and dynamic working environment.

Inclusion is the golden thread that runs through all Companies House activity. We strive to build an inclusive, positive culture where everyone can bring their whole selves to work.

It is also critical for us as a business that we work to reflect the diversity of our customers through our own diversity. We will continue to learn from good practice in this area, pushing ourselves to achieve our ambition.

To enhance this culture and enable our brilliant people to flourish and drive high performance it is crucial to empower colleagues by respecting, appreciating, and celebrating what makes them different, in all that we do.

Providing a safe environment for all staff to engage in dynamic and thought-provoking conversations in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is fundamental in creating a shift in thinking, with EDI becoming an integral part of policy development and service delivery.

Our EDI strategy supports the delivery of our strategic goal:

Our culture enables our brilliant people to flourish and drives high performance.

The EDI strategy will help build the inclusive working environment for our people to feel valued as they deliver against all our strategic goals:

  • Our registers and data inspire trust and confidence
  • We maximise the value of our registers to the UK economy
  • We combat economic crime through active use of analysis and intelligence
  • Our brilliant services give a great user experience
  • We deliver value through efficient use of resources

EDI is also an integral part of Companies House’ people transformation strategy. As part of this strategy, we will ensure our diverse and inclusive organisational culture is celebrated and use our networks to provide opportunities for people to connect, share and shape the organisation.

2. Background

In Companies House we recognise that we are on a journey to ensure that the culture of the organisation is people-led with EDI being an integral part of all that we do and the services we deliver.

Our Executive Board have agreed definitions for EDI to provide a solid foundation upon which, as an organisation, we can continue to grow. The language of the definitions resonates with all staff, regardless of background, and focuses on our collective responsibility to ensure that an equality lens is applied in all that we develop and deliver.

COVID-19 has shone a light on the inequalities faced by so many in relation to age, disability, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation, as well as socio-economic inequalities. However, we have also witnessed examples of our colleagues coming together, helping each other, and restoring the faith of so many in terms of what unites us rather than divides us.

The health and well-being of many has been impacted by restrictions and the ‘new norm’. During this time staff networks have played a significant role in relation to support and guidance for so many. The work that has been and continues to be delivered echoes the words of our definitions.

Our staff-led networks have provided sound opportunities for our staff to flourish, both in relation to delivering improved performance and user experiences, as well as personal development opportunities.

In addition, our diversity and inclusion campaign, delivered by colleagues in the external communications team, is testament to the culture of Companies House and the sense of confidence of staff to share their #wholeandbrilliantself.

This shows how collectively we can come together to make EDI an integral part of all that we do.

To support this culture of enabling our brilliant people to flourish and drive high performance, we have adopted the following ABC behaviours: Adaptable, Bold, and Curious.

Our values and behaviours are an important part of working at Companies House. They underpin everything that we do and set out the way we ourselves should behave, and the behaviours we can expect from our colleagues. These also create an environment where differences are celebrated, new ideas embraced, staff feel safe to challenge and have a sense of belonging.

Our values and how we work are fundamental in ensuring a sense of pride, purpose and connection. We will achieve these values by:

2.1 Working as one

  • Collaborating across teams, breaking down our silos, sharing experiences and best practice — great teams deliver together.
  • Thinking of the impact of what you do on the team, for the customer and the organisation.

2.2 Excellent behaviours and standards

  • Continually striving to improve our service; our behaviours are instrumental to our culture shift to support the new service operational model.
  • Quality means getting the basics right, delivering to deadlines, exposing issues and risks, and celebrating achievements.
  • Challenging unacceptable behaviours and standards, providing feedback and addressing issues.
  • Rewarding and celebrating those who role model excellent standards.

2.3 Every achievement counts

  • Recognising that it is important to benchmark ourselves to drive better performance and avoid complacency.
  • Understanding the unique role each of us play in delivering Companies House core services and our organisational objectives.
  • Recognising and rewarding excellence.

They also drive us to meet our strategic goals and are underpinned by a commitment to EDI and the recognition that every single person in Companies House has a significant role to play in living our behaviours and values.

Alignment to our people transformation strategy is also critical in ensuring overall delivery of our vision for Companies House as a service provider as well as employer of choice.

Our EDI strategy underpins the following outcomes of the people transformation strategy:

  • delivering a high performing organisation where we all have meaningful roles
  • we feel connected to each other and we are clear about our future and our contribution
  • we work together as one for the benefit of Companies House as whole

In developing this strategy, we have ensured our activities are aligned to the public sector equality duties, as outlined within the Equality Act 2010. This reflect the government’s vision for reform in relation to the 3 key areas of people, performance and partnership and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial’ (BEIS) diversity and inclusion goals outlined in their diversity and inclusion strategy, which are:

  • who we are — to be diverse in our identity and thought
  • how we behave — to be inclusive of difference
  • what we do — to capitalise on difference in our work

3. Vision

The EDI vision sets out our ambition, which we aim to achieve by 2025.

We aim to be a leading Civil Service department and model employer where our commitment to EDI supports our brilliant people to deliver brilliant services.

Our passion for EDI means creating a work environment for all employees that is welcoming, respectful, engaging, and enriched with opportunities for personal and professional development.

We will strive to deliver fairness for all colleagues and take a zero-tolerance approach to bullying, discrimination, and harassment.

Our workforce is reflective of the citizens we serve. We support and develop our talent to succeed, and our work is done in a way which actively encourages diversity of thought.

As an organisation we recognise that EDI is about tackling under-representation, building inclusive cultures, and ensuring organisational accountability for progress, as well as creating and implementing evidence based, innovative approaches that drive change. We are committed to creating an environment where everyone can reach their full potential and where diversity of thought and experience is integral to inclusive policy making and delivering excellent public services.

Companies House is actively factoring EDI into every part of our working life, whether this is the outward facing policy, the operations that we deliver to our customers and stakeholders, the culture we create in the teams in which we work, or our recruitment activities. All parts of our work fall under the influence of our commitment to value our people and the people we serve, wherever they are and whatever they do.

Over the lifetime of our strategy, we will ensure that we have the right people in place at the right time with the right skills to fulfil our role as an innovative organisation. We will provide equality of opportunities that are representative of the citizens we serve and have an inclusive culture, which ensures everyone can bring their whole brilliant selves to work.

We will focus our initiatives across 3 main themes:

  • recruiting and attracting the best diverse talent
  • support, develop, reward and retain
  • the work that we do

So that we can recruit and attract diverse talent we will develop our outreach work within our communities – working with community groups, schools, and colleges.

Positive action will see us target under-represented groups and sell Companies House as an employer of choice, demystify Civil Service recruitment, and support with training and up-skilling on all areas of success profile recruitment and interviewing to ensure opportunities for all.

We have already made great strides to support, develop, reward and retain our talent through our suite of people-led networks. We will use these networks to share and model our inclusive employer brand that allows our people to bring their whole brilliant self to work.

We will also use our networks to develop an intersectional focused approach that incorporates and gives ownership of EDI goals to our people.

We will ensure that diversity and inclusion is part of ‘how things are done’ at Companies House and embedded in our day-to-day resourcing activities. We will support our learning and development team to ensure
that appropriate training, learning, and development opportunities are provided to all staff.

Data and analytics will inform our work so we can understand where in our recruitment process under-represented groups struggle, and allow us to identify any barriers they may face. We will use this knowledge to deliver targeted support.

We will develop inclusive people policies that are fit for purpose, people led, and people focused, ensuring that we have the appropriate governance in place to support and evaluate.

We recognise that it is important to benchmark ourselves against other government and public sector organisations to drive better performance and avoid complacency.

Over the lifetime of the strategy, we will seek out opportunities to incorporate professional accreditations that highlight our achievements and gain recognition for the great work our people do.

4. Approach

Companies House’ corporate strategy sets out the strategic goals and objectives for the organisation. It is implicit that all the activities we undertake across Companies House should contribute to delivery of one or more of the goals or objectives to successfully deliver our corporate strategy.

It is therefore important that we acknowledge that these goals will guide our work and we will align our activities and how we will deliver them to the appropriate corporate goal or objective.

We will show the core strategic goal and objectives that the EDI strategy delivers against, although it is acknowledged that it will contribute to other goals in some part.

  1. Our culture enables our brilliant people to flourish and drive high performance.
  2. Have the right people in place at the right time, with the right skills to fulfil our role.
  3. Embed a mindset of adaptable, bold and curious behaviours.
  4. Implement an organisational structure that focuses on customers and service delivery.
  5. Value, and benefit from, diversity and inclusion.
  6. Create an environment that embraces and facilitates change.

The EDI strategy’s objectives set out the principles and outcomes of our work and articulate how we will achieve them. In doing so we will successfully deliver the strategy vision for EDI.

4.1 Strategic goal - our culture enables our brilliant people to flourish and drives high performance

Strategic objective

  • Have the right people in place at the right time, with the right skills to fulfil our role
  • Embed a mindset of adaptable, bold and curious behaviours
  • Implement an organisational structure that focuses on customers and service delivery
  • Value, and benefit from, diversity and inclusion
  • Create an environment that embraces and facilitates change

How

Recruit and attract the best diverse talent by:

  • using data analytics to support people with protected characteristics (in accordance with the Equality Act 2010) to understand our application process and support our ambition to become a more diverse organisation
  • developing an ethos of a connected Companies House across all our offices
  • identifying where under-represented groups need support, identify barriers and provide clarity about our recruitment process
  • developing a rounded view of recruitment, applying a 360 approach to ensure our processes are accessible to all
  • furthering our outreach work and take positive action within the communities we serve
  • working with community groups, schools and colleges to demystify our recruitment process and promote the civil service as an employer of choice
  • continuing our external communications of our inclusive employer brand where people can bring their whole brilliant self to work
  • advertising our roles at all levels across inclusive jobs boards to reach an audience that includes our under-represented groups
  • robust recruitment training to support hiring managers in their unique position in recruiting diverse talent

Support, develop, reward and retain by:

  • introducing reverse mentoring across the organisation, allowing our senior leaders to gain new perspectives and broaden their understanding of the challenges faced by staff across the organisation
  • utilising cross-government initiatives and develop Companies House programmes that provide opportunities and access to the Civil Service
  • supporting personal development which champions progression and career opportunities for all staff
  • our people-led networks seeing a more intersectional focused approach with goals and outcomes developed and owned by all; setting tangible goals will be key in addressing inequalities that will impact on rewards for staff, particularly those with protected characteristics
  • providing training at induction that highlights the commitment of EDI as an integral part of our culture
  • taking a zero-tolerance approach to bullying and harassment creating an environment that is safe to challenge poor behaviours
  • providing internal training for our people to understand the diverse communities and our external customers that we serve
  • measuring retention data aligned to protected characteristics to identify trends and implement appropriate actions

The work that we do:

  • delivering against the calls to action of the Race at Work Charter ensuring that our current and future ethnic minority colleagues are represented at all levels
  • benchmarking against other organisations driving better performance to avoid complacency
  • gaining external accreditations to allow credibility in the external market and demonstrate our commitment to driving EDI within Companies House
  • building on the success of gathering the declaration data of our colleagues, so we have a true reflection of the make-up of our people
  • inclusive people policies that are fit for purpose, people-led, and people-focused
  • continuing to adhere to the Public Sector Equality Duty (Equality Act 2010), including completion of Equality Impact Assessments (EQIA)
  • working with internal business partners to ensure an EDI lens becomes an active part of decision making in Companies House
  • engagement with cross government networks and key external partners to share and learn best practice
  • ensuring that we incorporate EDI in everything that we do, and develop internal processes that meet statutory requirements under equality legislation, ensuring we deliver brilliant services that incorporate the needs of our customers
  • developing governance across Companies House to support and evaluate the delivery of our strategy and report EDI activity to our corporate boards

5. Measures

To ensure we can evidence how the activities we are taking will deliver against the EDI strategy and more broadly the Companies House strategy, we have created a set of clearly defined measurements. These measurements have been devised and agreed in partnership with the analysis and corporate insight team and will be monitored and evaluated throughout the life cycle of the strategy.

While we will not deliver these measures in isolation, we will make a significant contribution towards successfully achieving the following measures.

Our culture enables our brilliant people to flourish and drives high performance.

  • Recognition and reward through accreditation and nominations, shortlisting and attainment of awards — culture (diversity and disability).
  • Increase evidence of boldness — challenging the status quo, balanced risk taking.
  • Increase to 75% where general public sees Companies House as a good place to work.
  • Increased diversity levels in the organisation.
  • 10% increase in applications from under-represented groups (encompassing disability, ethnicity and sexual orientation)
  • 10% increase in appointments from under-represented groups (encompassing disability, ethnicity and sexual orientation)
  • Increased diversity and conversion levels.

We will continue to monitor the progress made in relation to the actions identified. Where change is required, we will amend actions so that we continue to be an employer of choice as well as an organisation which can clearly evidence how:

Inclusion is the golden thread that runs through all Companies House activity. We strive to build an inclusive, positive culture where everyone can bring their whole selves to work.

6. Annex

6.1 Companies House EDI definitions

Equality - not about treating everyone the same but ensuring that access to opportunities is available to all by taking account of people’s differing needs and capabilities.

Equity - if equality is the goal, equity is how we achieve it via fair and impartial processes, behaviours, and culture.

Diversity - creating an inclusive environment where all of us can belong, can bring our whole self to work and can flourish. Empowering colleagues by respecting, appreciating, and celebrating what makes them different, in all that we do, including recruitment, performance management, reward and recognition. This could be in relation to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs or no beliefs, caring status, other ideologies or characteristics.

Inclusion - a personal responsibility to include others by creating and fostering a sense of belonging. Recognising that our attitudes shape our behaviour and so striving to create inclusive cultures ensuring people feel respected and valued for who they are as an individual or group.

The statutory requirements of the Equality Act 2010 have been considered in the finalisation of these definitions.

6.2 Central government declaration on government reform, and cabinet and permanent secretaries collective vision for reform

  1. People - ensuring that the right people are working in the right places with the right incentives.

  2. Performance - modernising the operation of government, being clear-eyed about our priorities, and objective in our evaluation of what is and is not working.

  3. Partnership - strengthening the bond between ministers and officials, always operating as one team from policy through to delivery, and between central government and institutions outside it.