Corporate report

Homes England Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Annual Report 2025 to 2026 (HTML)

Published 16 July 2026

Applies to England

We are proud to be building an agency where diversity and inclusion are not just principles on a page, but part of how we work every day. When people with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives come together, we see better ideas, stronger decisions and a workplace where everyone can thrive.

We have continued to make real progress towards our ambitions, learning from each other, listening more closely, and taking practical steps that help colleagues feel seen, supported and valued.

Creating a space where everyone feels they truly belong is still our guiding purpose. By recognising and celebrating the unique contribution each person brings, we are shaping a culture where people can be themselves, collaborate openly and achieve great things together.

Introduction from the Board Sponsor and Chief Executive Officer

Lesley-Ann Nash, Board Sponsor

We are pleased to introduce this year’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Report, reflecting the progress we have made together and the work we remain firmly committed to. Our ambition is to build a world-class organisation, and we know we achieve this by enabling everyone with talent and ambition to contribute fully. Our focus on EDI is fundamental to that ambition, strengthening our ability to attract talent, make better decisions and deliver for the communities we serve.

Over the past year, colleagues across Homes England, including our colleague networks, have continued to drive meaningful, practical change. Their insight, challenges and lived experiences shape our decisions, strengthen accountability, and ensure that we keep listening to what matters most. We are proud of the momentum building across the agency, and grateful for the honesty, care and commitment that fuel it.

This report reinforces our dedication to equality and inclusion. Through our 2026 to 2027 EDI priorities (strengthening gender and ethnicity representation, improving support for disabled colleagues and carers, and further strengthening the everyday inclusive behaviours that shape how we work and lead) we remain focused on driving sustainable, positive change and ensuring fair, consistent outcomes for all colleagues.

Amy Rees CB, Chief Executive Officer

Strengthening inclusive behaviours is all about building the confidence and capability of colleagues and leaders to use inclusive language, make fair and transparent decisions, provide and request reasonable adjustments confidently, address non‑inclusive behaviours early, and design processes and ways of working that help more people feel able to contribute. In short, it is about strengthening our culture through small, everyday actions that help colleagues feel respected, safe and able to thrive.

This work matters deeply to both of us. The difference it makes, in our data, in our conversations, and in how colleagues support one another, is powerful. It shows what is possible when people feel seen, heard and included. We are excited to build on this foundation as we continue to listen, learn and act together.

Our commitment is this: we will continue to lead visibly on inclusion, hold ourselves accountable for the progress we expect to see, and invest in the culture that enables every colleague to thrive. Together, we will keep strengthening the inclusive culture that sits at the heart of who we are, and who we aspire to be.

Who we are

Homes England is the government’s housing and regeneration agency. Established in 2018, our role is to deliver the government’s housing, regeneration and economic growth ambitions.

Working with over 2,000 partner organisations across the public and private sectors, we use our land, funding, legal powers, expertise and capacity to unlock housing and mixed-use schemes at scale. Together, we help create the high-quality, affordable homes and thriving places that England needs.

As a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), our statutory objectives are set out in the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008. This legislation created the Homes and Communities Agency, which adopted the trading name ‘Homes England’ in 2018 to reinforce our mission and purpose.

We recognise that our diversity strengthens our ability to understand the needs of the communities we serve. By bringing a wide range of perspectives and lived experiences into our work, we are better equipped to deliver sustainable homes, inclusive regeneration, and places where people and communities can thrive.

Our vision

To be a world-leading housing and regeneration institution, powering a step change in the delivery of homes, sustainable place-making and local economic growth.

Our mission

To harness our expertise, funding, resources and influence to enable the delivery of high-quality, safe and sustainable homes and vibrant, inclusive communities. Through collaboration with the housing sector and local leaders, we will unlock housing and regeneration opportunities, transform the housing market and drive innovation for lasting impact.

Our strategic objectives

We have 6 connected strategic objectives that work together to deliver our mission and support the delivery of the government’s housing, regeneration and economic growth priorities.

Our newly published 2025 to 2030 Strategic Plan ^{[footnote 1]} outlines our strategic objectives in more detail.

We will:

• significantly increase new housing supply and accelerate housing delivery across all tenures
• deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housing in a generation
• unlock new institutional investment for housing and mixed-use schemes and deliver financial returns
• collaborate with partners and local leaders to enable development and regeneration that boosts local economic growth
• foster innovation and create market conditions to support a dynamic, diverse and sustainable built environment and housing sector
• ensure homes are safe, secure and decent, and residents safeguarded

2025 to 2026 highlights

We are strengthening support for disabled colleagues and improving accessibility

We have relaunched our reasonable adjustments process, bringing all guidance, tools and resources into one place to make it easier for colleagues and managers to access and apply.

We have increased awareness and understanding of different disabilities, through activities delivered as part of our annual inclusion calendar.

We have focused on strengthening workforce and leadership diversity

We are aiming to match or exceed UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) averages by 2028.

Early Careers Programme recruitment diversity ^{[footnote 2]}

Offers made to applicants:

• 41% female
• 32% from an ethnic minority background
• 27% with a disability
• 27% from a lower socio-economic background

Pay gap

As of March 2025, we have achieved our lowest mean and median gender pay gap since reporting began in 2017.

Our ethnicity pay gap has also decreased and reflects improvements in representation across a number of areas.

Our approach to equality, diversity and inclusion

Building a brilliant place to work

At Homes England, we want to be a place where people feel proud to work and are able to be themselves. Our values and behaviours underpin how we champion diversity and inclusion in everything we do, and build a culture where everyone can thrive.

Our values

We are:

• respectful — as the core principle, this runs through all our values and behaviours
• impactful — we combine our commercial expertise with social purpose to champion success, deliver value for money and maximise our positive impact
• accountable — we are empowered to lead by example, take responsibility for our actions, speak up for what’s right and hold to account
• innovative — we are bold, creative thinkers who are curious, embrace change, never stop learning and always look for a better way to do things
• inclusive — we recognise and value everyone as individuals, draw strength from our differences and actively advocate inclusion
• collaborative — we communicate with integrity, collaborate openly, share information, align priorities, and use our collective knowledge and experience to share great results

Values and behaviours

Our Values and Behaviours Framework guides how we embed inclusion in everything we do. By embracing individual differences in background, identity, experience and perspective, we create a workplace where people feel able to be themselves and thrive.

We hold ourselves accountable for recognising and challenging bias, including our own. Through conscious action and support, we work to build a diverse workforce and an environment where opportunities are fair, transparent and accessible to everyone.

We are respectful.

We are:

• impactful
• accountable
• innovative
• inclusive
• collaborative

In living these values we:

• champion success
• are (be) purposeful
• lead by example
• hold to account
• embrace change
• are (be) curious
• advocate inclusion
• communicate with integrity
• collaborate openly

We know that being a truly inclusive employer, with diverse, skilled and highly engaged colleagues, is crucial to our success, and that our colleagues are our greatest asset.

We also know that a diverse and inclusive agency empowers teams to perform better. The diversity of backgrounds, experiences, perspectives and ideas will provide a richer platform for us to do things differently and challenge established approaches.

We recognise that our diversity will enable us to better understand the housing and place needs of the communities we serve. This, in turn, will help us achieve our mission to drive regeneration and housing delivery to create high-quality homes and thriving places.

We welcome everyone who believes in our mission and shares our values, regardless of their background or identity.

We want everyone at Homes England to feel comfortable being themselves, feel valued and know they make a real difference to our mission.

Our vision and strategy for equality, diversity and inclusion

We are continuing to build on the strong foundations we have put in place to strengthen our culture and internal capability, ensuring we are well positioned to make greater impact across the sector. Our focus for financial year 2026 to 2027 remains on embedding meaningful change and driving progress against our EDI objectives.

Our financial year 2026 to 2027 objectives are to:

• define and assign leadership commitments, supported by a clear internal action plan
• improve colleague experience by increasing our score for the inclusion question in our Let’s Talk annual survey to at least 8 ^{[footnote 3]}

Our priority areas are:

• gender and ethnicity — improving representation, opportunities and pay
• disability and carers — strengthening support and improving the working environment
• inclusive culture — embedding equity, diversity and inclusion in everyday behaviours and decision‑making

Our objectives

Objective 1 — leadership commitment and action

Objective 2 — colleague experience: building a brilliant place to work

Our priority areas are to:

• improve our equality, diversity and inclusion culture
• improve gender and ethnicity representation, opportunities and pay
• improve our support and working environment (mindful of disability and carers)

We deliver our objectives by being:

• respectful
• impactful
• accountable
• innovative
• inclusive
• collaborative

We are inclusive. Nobody should feel disadvantaged as a result of their:

• age
• belief
• disabilities
• ethnicity
• gender identity
• maternity status
• marital status
• religion
• sex
• sexual orientation

Our progress

We continue to make meaningful progress against our EDI objectives, strengthening leadership accountability, improving workforce diversity and widening access to opportunities across the agency.

Leadership commitment

Leadership accountability remains central to delivering our EDI ambitions. Our board, executive directors, and senior leadership team are actively shaping and overseeing this work, ensuring commitments are translated into actions and holding themselves and their teams to account. This includes clearer ownership of priority areas and greater focus on building a culture of belonging across the agency.

Improved diversity of our workforce

We are committed to creating an inclusive culture where colleagues feel valued and represented. This year, we improved the quality and completeness of our EDI data through increased levels of self‑declaration, helping us build a more accurate picture of our workforce and identify the areas where action is most needed.

Across most characteristics, representation has improved compared with previous years. This data plays a vital role in guiding our decisions and shaping our interventions. A full overview of our workforce profile can be found in the ‘What our data tells us’ section.

Expanding access to talent pathways

This year marked the first time our early-career offer included both graduates and apprentices, widening access to opportunities across the agency. Our Early Careers Programme continues to reach a diverse range of applicants (refer to Early careers programmes for a full breakdown).

Broadening our routes into the agency, and ensuring they are inclusive and accessible, is helping us build a richer pipeline of future talent. These programmes bring new perspectives, lived experience and ways of thinking into our teams. This strengthens our ability to understand the communities we serve and improves the diversity of thought that underpins better decision-making.

Data Academy

Our Data Academy continues to support colleagues to develop specialist skills while helping to strengthen diversity within the data profession.

Ten colleagues enrolled this year, of whom 40% were female — more than double the UK average for women in data roles.

A further 10% identify outside of the female or male categories.

In addition:

• 30% of participants are from an ethnic minority background
• 30% identify with a sexual orientation other than heterosexual
• 20% identify as disabled

This diversity brings a wider range of experiences and perspectives into the academy, enriching how we problem-solve and strengthening our ability to make effective, data-driven decisions.

Early careers programmes

In 2025, we made apprenticeship and graduate offers to:

• 41% female applicants
• 32% ethnic minority applicants
• 27% applicants with a disability
• 27% applicants from a low socio-economic background

This data is based on voluntary diversity declarations and gives a strong indication of the diversity of our early careers cohorts. Some colleagues may choose not to formally declare their information, so representation may be wider than reported.

Leadership

Our leaders play a vital role in shaping the culture of Homes England. We expect them to model inclusive behaviours, make informed and thoughtful decisions, and actively champion the experience and wellbeing of colleagues across the agency.

Senior leaders also act as sponsors and senior responsible officers for our colleague networks, ensuring colleagues’ voices and lived experiences help influence priorities and decisions at every level. Their visible support strengthens engagement, deepens understanding and helps ensure our networks continue to flourish.

To make sure our senior appointments reflect the diversity and richness of our organisation, all director-level recruitment now includes an inclusion-focused interview round. These panels bring together colleagues from across Homes England, including representatives from our colleague networks, to ensure that selection decisions are informed by diverse perspectives and uphold our commitment to inclusive, fair and transparent hiring. This approach is helping us to broaden representation and increase diversity within our most senior roles.

We are also investing in the ongoing development of our leaders. As part of reinvigorating our senior leadership development offer, we are embedding inclusion throughout, making it the golden thread that connects every expectation, learning opportunity and leadership conversation. This includes:

• strengthening cultural awareness
• supporting consistent and confident use of reasonable adjustments
• equipping leaders with the skills and confidence to champion inclusion, in both strategy and day-to-day practice

Learning and organisational development

We want every colleague to feel confident, informed and equipped to contribute to an inclusive culture. Our learning offer supports colleagues to understand their responsibilities, navigate equality-related issues and build the skills needed to create a respectful and supportive workplace.

Following the improvements we made to our Inclusion Essentials and mental health and wellbeing modules last year, our focus this year has been on embedding that learning in day‑to‑day practice. We continue to ensure all new joiners complete their mandatory EDI learning, helping them understand our values, the importance of inclusive behaviours and the role each colleague plays in creating a positive working environment.

We also regularly review our learning content to ensure it remains accessible, relevant and reflective of the full breadth of diversity, equity and inclusion. This includes acting on colleague feedback where we need to strengthen representation, improve usability or clarify guidance. Our aim is to ensure that every learning experience is inclusive by design and supports colleagues at all stages of their development.

Our wider self‑directed EDI learning continues to play an important role, with colleagues engaging in a range of topics and resources to build their understanding and confidence.

A significant part of our corporate induction also focuses on our commitment to EDI. Delivered by a colleague with lived experience, this session helps new starters understand our values from day one and consistently receives positive feedback, with 85% of participants rating it as “extremely useful” and the other 15% as “somewhat useful”.

Influencing our partners

We recognise the role we play in shaping a more inclusive sector, and we use our position to encourage and support our partners and suppliers to strengthen their own approaches to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Further information can be found in the ‘Our external focus’ section of this report.

Colleague networks

Our colleague networks remain at the heart of our agency and continue to play a vital role in shaping our culture. They help improve our working environment, policies and processes by offering insight, challenge and support across a wide range of topics.

They raise awareness of our EDI priorities through events, storytelling and activity across the year, and they create safe spaces for members while educating and empowering the wider agency to be active allies.

We are proud of the way our colleague networks help colleagues feel seen, heard and supported, and how they strengthen the inclusive culture we’re building together.

Over the past year, our networks have made a significant contribution to advancing inclusion at Homes England.

This includes:

1 — Supporting the development of our refreshed reasonable adjustments space, bringing all tools and guidance together to make the process clearer, more transparent and easier for colleagues and managers to use.

2 — Continuing to shape and evolve our inclusion calendar, ensuring meaningful recognition of significant observances and reviewing the content annually to reflect lived experience and colleague feedback.

3 — Sharing lived experiences to build understanding across the agency and influence our ongoing EDI priorities and decisions.

4 — Speaking at agency-wide Town Hall briefings about meaningful allyship, helping colleagues understand what practical, everyday allyship looks like and encouraging more people to take action that fosters inclusion across teams.

5 — Leading a wide programme of events and awareness activities, including:

• Lunar New Year
• International Women’s Day
• Mental health awareness days
• LGBTQ+ Pride Month
• South Asian Heritage Month
• East and South East Asian Heritage Month
• Disability awareness days
• Black History Month
• National Inclusion Week

6 — Introducing a new observance for Neurodiversity Celebration Week, delivering a series of daily videos that showcased ‘A day in the life’ of colleagues, significantly increasing awareness and understanding of neurodivergent experiences across the agency.

Our networks continue to challenge, support and inspire us, playing an essential role in building a more inclusive Homes England for everyone.

Across Homes England, our 9 colleague networks and 2 specialist support groups all contribute to a workplace where everyone can feel included and supported. Our networks are open for colleagues to join, learn from, and volunteer with, while our dignity and respect at work champions and mental health first aiders provide trained, confidential support and help raise awareness of significant topics across the agency.

Homes England networks

Our networks are:

• Build Together and Friends Network
• Dignity and Respect at Work Champions
• Disability and Carers Network
• Early Careers Network
• Faith Network
• Future Leaders Network
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Neurodiversity Network
• Origins Nationality and Ethnicity Network
• Women’s Inclusive Network
• Women in Digital Network

What our data tells us

Understanding the diversity of our colleagues helps us make better decisions and create a workplace where everyone feels seen, supported and represented.

We invite colleagues to share their diversity information through our people system, and while this is entirely optional, with a ‘prefer not to say’ option always available, we recognise that some colleagues may still choose not to share certain details.

While not all characteristics listed in this report are protected under legislation, we collect and report this information to better understand the experiences of all colleagues and support an inclusive workplace.

This year, we have seen improvements across our diversity profile and a continued reduction in undeclared responses. Our ‘Count Me In’ campaign played an important role in this, helping colleagues understand why this information matters and how it is used, which in turn led to fewer people choosing to remove or withhold their diversity information.

We do not set formal diversity targets for individuals or teams. Instead, we use our data to understand trends, identify where action is most needed, and benchmark ourselves against wider population data, including Office for National Statistics (ONS) workforce benchmarks. This helps us track progress over time and focus our efforts on strengthening workforce and leadership diversity, with the ambition of matching or exceeding relevant UK benchmarks by 2028.

Our data also plays a significant role in shaping and prioritising our internal Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan. By understanding where representation, experience or outcomes differ, we can target activity more effectively, design appropriate positive action, and focus our efforts on the areas likely to have the greatest impact on fairness, opportunity and inclusion.

We remain committed to building trust by being transparent about how we use and protect colleague data, and by acting on feedback about where we can do better. We also regularly review our data processes and system categories through an inclusivity lens to ensure they are accessible, respectful and reflective of the full breadth of diversity, equity and inclusion at Homes England.

Encouraging colleagues to share their information continues to be an important part of strengthening our understanding of who we are, and supporting our ambition to create a truly inclusive agency where everyone feels they belong.

All colleague data

Age

95.9% of our colleagues are aged between 25 and 64. The age groups with the most colleagues remain 35 to 44 years (29%) and 45 to 54 years (27.5%).

Age	December 2024	December 2025
Under 25	2.3%	2.8%
25 to 34	22.8%	23.3%
35 to 44	30.8%	29%
45 to 54	26.7%	27.5%
55 to 64	16.2%	16.1%
Over 65	1.1%	1.3%

Disability

Within our organisation, 10% of colleagues declared a disability, which is higher than the 8.1% reported in 2024.

Disability	December 2024	December 2025
No	81.8%	80%
Yes	8.1%	10%
Prefer not to say	2.4%	2.7%
Not declared	7.7%	7.3%

Ethnicity

12.4% of our colleagues declared ethnicity other than White with a further 1.8% preferring not to say. This compares with 11.9% and 1.8% in 2024. Not declared reduced from 7.7% in 2024 to 6.9% in 2025.

Ethnicity	December 2024	December 2025
Asian or Asian British	7.3%	7.3%
Black, Black British, Caribbean or African	2.5%	2.6%
Mixed or multiple ethnic groups	1.8%	2.1%
Other ethnic groups	0.3%	0.4%
White	78.6%	78.9%
Prefer not to say	1.8%	1.8%
Not declared	7.7%	6.9%

Sex

The records of female or male sex from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) show that there are more females at 52.9%, compared to males at 47.1% in our organisation.

Sex	December 2024	December 2025
Female	52.5%	52.9%
Male	47.5%	47.1%

Gender identity

We encourage our colleagues to share their gender identity in our self-reporting system. The proportion of declared gender identity is:

• Female — 46.8%
• Male — 40%
• Non-binary — 0.4%

There has been an increase in colleagues sharing their gender identity, with not declared decreasing from 13.7% in 2024 to 11.9% in 2025.

Gender identity	December 2024	December 2025
Female	45.4%	46.8%
Male	39.9%	40%
Non-binary	0.3%	0.4%
Not declared	13.7%	11.9%
Other	0.1%	0.1%
Prefer not to say	0.5%	0.8%

Gender identity same as birth

85.5% declared their gender identity as the same as the sex they were registered at birth and 0.4% declared their gender identity as different to the sex registered at birth. Not declared reduced from 14.8% in 2024 to 12.7% in 2025. Prefer not to say remained the same as 2024 at 1.3%.

Gender identity same as birth	December 2024	December 2025
No	0.5%	0.4%
Yes	83.4%	85.5%
Prefer not to say	1.3%	1.3%
Not declared	14.8%	12.7%

Sexual orientation

Of our colleagues, 78.8% declared their sexual orientation as heterosexual. 6.2% stated that they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or another sexual orientation, an increase from 5.5% in 2024. We also saw a reduction in ‘not declared’ from 12.2% in 2024 to 10.6% in 2025.

Sexual orientation	December 2024	December 2025
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, self-described	5.5%	6.2%
Heterosexual	78.5%	78.8%
Prefer not to say	3.7%	4.3%
Not declared	12.2%	10.6%

Religion or belief

50.1% of our colleagues declared their religion or belief and 33.2% declared no religion, with not declared decreasing from 11.8% in 2024 to 10.4% in 2025.

Religion or belief	December 2024	December 2025
Agnostic	1.2%	1.9%
Atheist	3.3%	5%
Buddhist	0.5%	0.6%
Christian	35.4%	34.4%
Hindu	2.2%	1.8%
Jewish	0.1%	0.2%
Muslim	2.9%	3%
Sikh	1.5%	1.6%
No religion or belief	32.8%	33.2%
Other or prefer to self describe	1.8%	1.6%
Prefer not to say	6.4%	6.2%
Not declared	11.8%	10.4%

Answers with minimum response rates at either data point have been grouped to ‘Other’ for comparison purposes.

Senior leadership data

The following data shows the profile of our senior leadership. This includes colleagues at grade 19 and above, namely:

• executive
• directors
• corporate directors
• assistant directors and equivalent

Age

98.2% of senior leadership are aged between 35 and 64 with 0% under the age of 25 and 0.9% over 65. We saw a decrease of 0.8 percentage points in the age range 25 to 34.

Age	December 2024	December 2025
Under 25	0%	0%
25 to 34	1.7%	0.9%
35 to 44	32.8%	21.8%
45 to 54	37.1%	50.9%
55 to 64	26.7%	25.5%
Over 65	1.7%	0.9%

Disability

6.4% of senior leadership declared a disability, down from 6.9% in 2024. 9.1% chose not to declare or preferred not to say in 2025, an increase from 8.6% in 2024.

Disability	December 2024	December 2025
No	84.5%	84.5%
Yes	6.9%	6.4%
Prefer not to say	1.7%	2.7%
Not declared	6.9%	6.4%

Ethnicity

86.4% of senior leadership are from a white background with 8.2% not declaring or preferring not to say. 5.4% are from an ethnic minority background, significantly lower than the 12.4% ethnic minority population across the organisation.

Ethnicity	December 2024	December 2025
Asian or Asian British	1.7%	1.8%
Black, Black British, Caribbean or African	0.9%	0.9%
Mixed or multiple ethnic groups	2.6%	2.7%
Other ethnic groups	0%	0%
White	86.2%	86.4%
Prefer not to say	2.6%	2.7%
Not declared	6%	5.5%

Sex

55.5% of senior leadership are male, which is higher than the 47.1% in the overall organisation. Currently 44.5% of our senior leadership are female, a decrease from 44.8% in 2024.

Sex	December 2024	December 2025
Female	44.8%	44.5%
Male	55.2%	55.5%

Gender identity

We know that gender is not binary and we encourage our colleagues to share their gender identity in our self-reporting system. The proportion of declared gender identity in our senior leadership is:

• female — 37.3%
• male — 45.5%
• non-binary — 0%

Not declared and prefer not to say are the same as in 2024.

Gender identity	December 2024	December 2025
Female	37.9%	37.3%
Male	44.8%	45.5%
Non-binary	0%	0%
Not declared	16.4%	16.4%
Other	0%	0%
Prefer not to say	0.9%	0.9%

Gender identity same as birth

81.8% declared their gender identity as the same as the sex they were registered at birth and 0% declared their gender identity as different to the sex registered at birth. Not declared increased slightly from 17.2% in 2024 to 17.3% in 2025. Prefer not to say remained the same as 2024 at 0.9%.

Gender identity same as birth	December 2024	December 2025
No	0.9%	0%
Yes	81%	81.8%
Prefer not to say	0.9%	0.9%
Not declared	17.2%	17.3%

Sexual orientation

3.6% of senior leadership identify as either gay, lesbian, bisexual or ‘self-described’, which is lower than that across the overall organisation at 6.2%. 14.5% did not declare or chose ‘prefer not to say’, an increase from 13.8% in 2024.

Sexual orientation	December 2024	December 2025
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, self-described	3.4%	3.6%
Heterosexual	82.8%	81.8%
Prefer not to say	1.7%	2.7%
Not declared	12.1%	11.8%

Religion or belief

53.6% of our senior leadership declared their religion or belief and 30% declared no religion, with ‘Not declared’ decreasing from 10.3% in 2024 to 10% in 2025.

Religion or belief	December 2024	December 2025
Agnostic	2.6%	2.7%
Atheist	0.9%	1.8%
Buddhist	0.9%	0%
Christian	45.7%	45.5%
Hindu	0.9%	0.9%
Jewish	0%	0.9%
Muslim	1.7%	1.8%
Sikh	0%	0%
No religion or belief	29.3%	30%
Other or prefer to self describe	1.7%	0%
Prefer not to say	6%	6.4%
Not declared	10.3%	10%

Answers with minimum response rates at either data point have been grouped to ‘Other’ for comparison purposes.

Our gender pay gap

On average, female colleagues are paid less than male colleagues, primarily due to differences in representation across pay levels. As of March 2025, our mean gender pay gap is 9.46%, our lowest mean gap since reporting began in 2017, and our median gender pay gap is 8.19%. Compared with March 2024, the mean has reduced by 1.37 percentage points (from 10.83%), while the median has increased by 0.89 percentage points (from 7.30%).

These results show continued progress in narrowing the average difference overall, alongside a reminder that year-to-year movements can differ between the mean and the median. We will keep a sustained focus on the underlying drivers, particularly representation across pay quartiles and progression pathways, so that progress is both balanced and lasting.

Mean and median gender pay gap comparison

Mean gender pay gap — hourly rate

Snapshots taken in March each year.

	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Hourly rate	18.4%	18.2%	18%	16.9%	13.20%	11.59%	12.52%	10.83%	9.46%

Median gender pay gap — hourly rate

Snapshots taken in March each year.

	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Hourly rate	19.6%	17.5%	15.5%	15.3%	7.90%	7.74%	10.50%	7.30%	8.19%

Our ethnicity pay gap

We began voluntarily reporting on our ethnicity pay gap in 2023 as part of our commitment to creating a workplace where everyone feels they belong and can thrive.

On average, colleagues from an ethnic minority background are paid less than White colleagues, driven by differences in representation across roles and seniority. As of March 2025, our mean ethnicity pay gap is 11.75% and our median gap is 14.40%. Both measures have improved since March 2024. The mean has reduced by 3.05 percentage points (from 14.80%), and the median has reduced by 4.64 percentage points (from 19.04%).

These positive shifts reflect the impact of our ongoing work to improve representation, strengthen inclusive recruitment and progression, and build a supportive culture for colleagues from all ethnic backgrounds.

While there is still more to do, these results reinforce the importance of continuing to monitor our data, act on what it tells us, and focus on long-term change.

Mean and median ethnicity pay gap comparison

Snapshots taken in March each year.

Date	Mean	Median
2023	14.72%	18.76%
2024	14.8%	19.04%
2025	11.75%	14.40%

If you would like to learn more about our analysis, progress and planned actions, you can read Homes England gender and ethnicity pay gap reports on GOV.UK.

What our people tell us

Our November 2025 Let’s Talk colleague survey gives us valuable insight into how people across Homes England are feeling, using scores out of 10 to help us understand what is working well and where we need to improve.

The results show areas of real progress, alongside clear signals about where colleagues want to see more change. Listening to colleagues’ voices is central to creating an inclusive and supportive workplace, and the feedback from this latest survey helps shape the actions we take next. The commitments in our internal equality, diversity and inclusion action plan will continue to guide our work, ensuring we act on what colleagues have told us and make meaningful improvements that help Homes England become an even better place to work for everyone.

The latest results tell us that we are improving across 6 areas measured since last year:

1. The overall survey average score increased by 0.1 to 6.9.

2. The engagement index increased by 0.2 to 6.8.

3. The colleague response rate increased to 87%.

4. The score for ‘colleagues who feel they truly belong here’ has increased from 6.6 to 6.9.

5. There has been an increase in ‘colleagues who feel we value diversity’ and ‘colleagues who feel we demonstrate a commitment to an inclusive workplace’ — from 7.1 to 7.4.

6. When it comes to ‘being able to bring their whole self to work’, the score increased from 7.3 to 7.5.

Looking ahead to financial year 2026 to 2027

Our focus is on creating a workplace where everyone feels valued, supported and able to do their best work. The priorities we set last year are still the right ones, and we will keep building on the progress we have made. Staying focused and consistent will help us make a real and lasting difference.

Our data shows us we need to continue to improve the diversity of our workforce, especially at senior levels. We want our leadership to better reflect the communities we serve, with leaders who bring different perspectives and make decisions that work for everyone.

Fair access to opportunities remains a significant priority. While we have made good progress, we know there is more to do to ensure all colleagues, whatever their background or protected characteristic, have the same chance to develop, progress and succeed at Homes England.

Over the next year, our focus will be continuing to get the fundamentals right. Our 1-year plan will strengthen our internal EDI work, creating strong foundations before widening our focus across the sector.

A particular focus will be to strengthen our analytical capability to move beyond headline representation measures. This includes a review of workforce diversity data and pilot adverse impact testing within selected recruitment campaigns, starting with our most under-represented grades.

Our objectives and priority areas are grounded in what our data and colleague insight tell us will have the greatest impact. While overall representation has improved, focus remains on senior levels matching our wider workforce and communities.

Focusing on the following areas allows us to target activity where gaps are most evident and concentrate effort where it will make the greatest difference to all of our colleagues.

Our financial year 2026 to 2027 objectives

Our objectives are to:

• define and embed clear leadership commitments, supported by an internal action plan

• improve colleague experience by increasing our score for the inclusion question in our Let’s Talk annual survey to at least 8 ^{[footnote 3]}

Our financial year 2026 to 2027 priority areas

These are:

• gender and ethnicity — representation, opportunities and pay
• disability and carers — strengthening our support, accessibility and working environment
• EDI culture — continuing to build an inclusive culture that supports belonging, fairness and respect

EDI Action Plan 2026 and 2027 (internal)

Our action plan sets out the practical steps we will take over the next year to make Homes England a place where everyone feels they belong. It focuses on the everyday experiences that matter most to colleagues, including how we work and lead in daily practice, how we support development, and how opportunities are created.

Governance

Strong governance will continue to guide our work and ensure accountability. Progress against our action plan will be tracked and reported through:

• regular updates to the executive leadership team
• reporting to the Nominations and Remuneration Committee and the Board
• ongoing updates through internal communications to keep colleagues informed and connected to our progress

Our external focus

Homes England is committed to meeting the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) across all that we do. This includes our employment practices, our policies, programmes and day-to-day public-facing activity that affects partners, suppliers, customers and the communities we serve. We use practical tools and clear expectations to help ensure we give due regard to eliminating discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations.

Considering impacts in policy and delivery

To embed equality considerations into our decision-making, we encourage the use of Equality Impact Assessments (EqIAs) for new and revised policies, practices, strategies, projects and plans. This helps us understand who may be affected by our work, assess potential impacts across protected characteristics, and consider how proposals align with the 3 aims of the PSED. This approach supports informed decision-making and helps us identify where adjustments or mitigations may be needed.

Influencing partners and suppliers through procurement

We use our role in the sector to encourage inclusive practice beyond Homes England. Through our Delivery Partner Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), our flexible procurement route that sets clear standards for organisations joining our delivery frameworks while allowing new suppliers to apply at any time, we have introduced clear equality, diversity and inclusion criteria that organisations must meet, or commit to meeting, to join our frameworks and panels.

These expectations cover areas such as:

• inclusive policies and recruitment practices
• diversity data collection and monitoring
• mandatory EDI training
• published objectives
• inclusive supply chain expectations
• community-centred design

We also support shared learning through supply chain diversity forums, helping partners share good practice and strengthen their collective impact.

Making public information and services accessible

Accessibility is a core part of equality. Our guidance on publishing and service design highlights the importance of meeting public sector accessibility standards, supporting people who use assistive technology, and considering assisted digital support for those without internet access, skills or confidence. This helps reduce barriers and ensures more people can access and use our information and services.

Engaging communities and reaching seldom-heard voices

We continue to develop how we listen to and involve the communities affected by our work. This includes using a mix of digital and more traditional engagement approaches to enable wider participation. For example, digital engagement platforms and webinars have been used alongside targeted communications to reach people who may not otherwise engage, helping ensure local insight informs decision-making and shapes more inclusive outcomes.

Looking ahead

We will continue to strengthen how we evidence and explain our equality considerations in public-facing work. This will make sure our reporting reflects the progress we make for colleagues, and how we consider the people and communities affected by our policies and practices.

1. Homes England strategic plan 2025 to 2030 ↩

2. This data is based on voluntary diversity declarations and gives a strong indication of the diversity of our early careers cohorts. Some colleagues may choose not to formally declare their information, so representation may be wider than reported. ↩

3. “I believe that Homes England values diversity and demonstrates its commitment to an inclusive workplace.” Score in 2025 was 7.4. ↩ ↩²