Reflection on the last Corporate Strategy

With the launch of our new Corporate Strategy in early 2026, we wanted to take the opportunity to look back at everything we achieved during our last Corporate Strategy.

Here's what we learnt

Data and insight must drive decisions.

Without robust EDI data and insight, it is difficult to evidence impact or target interventions effectively. While progress has been made, data gaps still limit assurance.

Inclusion is the outcome - EDI is the framework

A key shift has been recognising that EDI activity alone does not guarantee meaningful change; inclusion must be the measurable outcome, reflected in customer experience and colleague engagement.

Governance needs to focus on outcomes, not on activity.

Previous approaches were more operational and reporting heavy. We learned that Board and governance discussions must focus on outcomes, risk, and impact rather than volume of activity.

Lived experience is critical to effective policy and service design.

Direct engagement with customers and colleagues (e.g. forums, insight work) has proven essential in shaping policies like adaptations and workplace adjustments.

What we’re doing differently now

In response to these lessons, we have made several important shifts:

Moving to an inclusion-led strategy.

We transitioned from a traditional EDI strategy to a new Inclusion Strategy, aligned to the corporate strategy and focused on measurable outcomes.

Resetting governance and accountability

EDIG has reconfirmed its position as a challenge, assurance and influence forum.

Embedding EDI into core business decision-making.

Equality Impact Assessments are now systematically integrated into policies, service design, strategic decisions and change programmes. This ensures inclusion is considered early and proactively, not retrospectively.

Using insight to target action.

We now use data more effectively to identify community cohesion hotspots, understand service outcomes across protected characteristics, and inform policy changes.

Sharpening strategic priorities.

Disability inclusion has become a clear, evidence-led priority, with tangible investment and outcomes.

What we've stopped

  • Over-reliance on activity-based reporting without clear outcomes
  • Treating EDI as a standalone function, rather than a whole-organisation responsibility
  • Viewing Equality Impact Assessments as a tick-box compliance exercise
  • Broad, less targeted interventions not grounded in data or lived experience.
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