Equality Strategy 2025-2029

The Equality Strategy 2025-2029 aims to engage and support those who experience disadvantage both within our workforce, and our wider resident population to ensure that they can fully participate and benefit from this work. 

This will be achieved through a continued focus on maximising the impact of available supports and considering how we design and deliver our services to ensure that they fully include all residents and meet their needs as far as possible.

To be successful with this work we must also find ways of identifying and seeking to overcome barriers to tackling poverty and enabling social mobility for our most disadvantaged residents and meet their needs as far as possible.

To be successful with this work, we must also find ways of identifying and seeking to overcome barriers​ to tackling poverty and enabling social mobility for our most disadvantaged residents, whether those be financial supports, employment and education opportunities or access to better quality housing.

As part of this strategy, we will do this in partnership with our residents and communities, seeking to better understand their perspectives and needs and ensuring that these are fully reflected in our plans to build a better future for all residents who choose to make North Lanarkshire their home.

These commitments are fully woven into our Programme of Work and intrinsically linked to the goals of our Resilient People, Brighter Futures, DigitalNL and One Service programmes of work.

Background

Since the publication of our last Equality Strategy in 2019, the world – and North Lanarkshire – has experienced significant change. Global and national events such as the cost-of-living crisis, the COVID-10 pandemic, and Brexit have had far-reaching impacts on our communities. For individuals already facing disadvantage – particularly women (including lone parents and older women), Black and minority ethnic people, disabled people and young people – these crises have deepened existing inequalities across areas such as income, wealth, living standards, employment, health, education, and life opportunities.

Objectives for Mainstreaming Equality

The strategy outlines four key objectives for integrating equality into council operations. ​

Objective i) To work in partnership with our communities through a shared understanding and purpose

Objective ii) To demonstrate leadership in equalities and human rights, both within the council and amongst partners, and organisational commitment to excellence

Objective iii) To ensure that local public services are responsive to different needs and treat users with dignity and respect

Objective iv) To develop and sustain a skilled and committed workforce able to meet the needs of all local people. ​

The North Lanarkshire Diversity Profile

Information about our people and communities is contained within this section of the strategy.

Our Delivery Plan 2025-2029

This section sets out some of the main legislative duties and regulations that informs our work, and how through our objectives and enablers we will meet the requirements of those duties, and particularly our ten equality outcomes for the next four years.

NLC Equality Outcomes Performance Management Framework 2025-2029 

Appendix 1 of the strategy contains the performance indicators under each equality outcome.