The Wheel’s Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Policy

n early 2022, following the work of the Governance & Nominations subgroup on this, the board decided that the organisation would have a new board-approved policy on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) by the end of 2022. To further this, it established The Wheel Equality, Diversion and Inclusion Working Group [EDI WG] to provide considerations for the Governance & Nominations subgroup in relation to an EDI policy development.  The EDI WG comprised of board, staff and members of The Wheel.  In addition, as there was more interest that there were places on the WG, a consultative group [made up of staff and members] was formed to enable further discussion that was then fed back to the WG. 

The EDI WG produced its report in September 2022 and the board agreed that a draft EDI Policy should be based upon the principles and values expressed in the EDI WG report and should be relevant for staff, board and members. The policy document reflects the EDI WG Report as agreed.

• Our EDI policy is an action-learning policy as this is a hugely important area of work, which is complex, and requires adequate investment of time and resourcing.
• The implementation of the policy is being led by the staff members of the EDI WG.
• Many possibilities have been suggested to us, as part of the implementation of this policy, including undertaking a diversity and inclusion audit.
• This work will be reviewed in late 2023/early 2024, to ensure the organisation is constantly learning, improving and is making every effort to effectively implement the policy.