Addressing the under-representation of black and minority ethnic communities
10/2/2009

Skills for Care, working with the Merseyside Health and Social Care Alliance, commissioned a report  to identify the barriers that Black Minority Ethnic (BME) Merseyside residents face in accessing social care employment and enterprise opportunities in the North West of England.

The key findings from the report included:

• Top level commitment within organisations is a key driver for pushing forward equality and diversity principles
• Increasing focus on legislative and regulatory frameworks is encouraging better actions, such as awareness raising work, consultation and engagement and performance measurement
• Training forms an essential component of equality strategies

• Organisations are increasingly developing holistic approaches to managing diversity, but equally finding it more difficult to disaggregate race equality impacts
• There are established systems for capturing diversity monitoring data, however, there is variable practice in the collection and analysis of ethnicity information through self-assessment methods
• Positive outcomes are more likely to be achieved in areas of service development, rather than in respect of employment outcomes.

Download the full report