Equalities Monitoring Report 2024-2025

Unfortunately, due to technical issues, data was not collected for this category, and we are unable to report on gender for this period.

Percentage of applications

Disability

	Yes	No	Prefer not to say	Not specified
Applied	5.59	92.11	2.3	0
Interview	4.9	90.52	4.58	0
Recruited	1.79	94.64	3.57	0
Census data - % of residents in Arun with a long-term health condition or illness.	17.6	82.6

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Summary:

There is a significant disparity between the percentage of applicants disclosing a disability (5.59%) and the population of Arun residents with a disability (17.6%). This suggests that individuals with disabilities are underrepresented in the applicant pool. Additionally, the appointment rate for applicants with disabilities (1.79%) is relatively low. This could indicate potential barriers in the recruitment process or other factors affecting the success rate of these applicants. Disability information is not disclosed to the recruiting manager, to ensure the process is unbiased. Therefore, the low appointment rate might suggest that more needs to be done to promote the support that can be offered to candidates and employees with disabilities.

Unfortunately, due to technical issues, complete data was not collected for this category, and we are unable to report accurately on ethnic groups for this period.

Religion

	Buddhist	Christian	Hindu	Jewish	Muslim	Sikh	None	Other	Prefer not to say/Not Specified
Overall	1.3	35.91	2.14	0.23	2.45	0.15	45.33	2.91	9.57
Applied	1.3	35.91	2.14	0.23	2.45	0.15	45.33	2.91	9.57
Interview	1.96	42.81	0.98	0.33	1.96	0	41.5	1.31	9.15
Recruited	0	37.5	0	0	0	0	57.14	0	5.36
Census data for Arun District 2021	0.3	52.1	0.2	0.2	0.7	0	39.9	0.5	6

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Summary:

There are notable disparities between the religious affiliations of applicants and the Census data, indicating potential underrepresentation and overrepresentation of certain groups. Several groups (e.g. Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims) do not appear to progress through the recruitment process as well as applicants without a religious affiliation. However, the number of applications within some of these groups are so small, it is difficult to draw any definite conclusions about any potential challenges at each stage of the process. Information about religious beliefs are not made available to the recruiting manager to ensure an unbiased process.

Sexual Orientation

	Heterosexual	Gay or Lesbian	Bisexual	Pansexual	Asexual	Other	Prefer not to say/Not specified
Overall	85.91	3.52	1.84	1.46	0.08	0	8.04
Applied	85.91	3.52	1.84	1.46	0.08	0	8.04
Interview	86.6	3.59	1.31	0.65	0.33	0	3.59
Recruited	89.29	3.57	1.79	1.79	0	0	1.79
Census data for Arun District 2021	90.3	1.4	1	0.1	0.1	0	7.1

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Summary:

Heterosexual applicants dominate across all stages, slightly increasing from applications to recruited. Gay or lesbian representation remains consistent, while bisexual and pansexual representations fluctuate. Asexual representation is minimal. Compared to the census data for Arun District, the recruitment process shows higher representation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and pansexual individuals but lower representation for those preferring not to disclose their orientation. 

Percentage and age group

Age

	16-19	20-24	25-34	35-49	50-64	65-74	75 and over	Not specified
Overall	4	7	28	31	26	2	0	2
Applied	4	7	28	31	26	2	0	2
Interview	4	6	23	31	32	2	0	2
Recruited	7	2	20	41	28	0	0	2
Census data - % of Arun's population by age group	3.7	4.5	10.8	16.4	20.9	14.1	14.3

(Recruitment stages by age)

Summary:

The majority of applications come from the 25-34 and 35-49 age groups closely followed by the 50-64 age group. The 35-49 and 50-64 age groups have a higher percentage of interviews compared to their application rates. The 35-49 age group has the highest recruitment rate while the 20-24 age group has a lower recruitment rate compared to their application rate.

Forces Spouse Status and Reservist Status

	Forces Spouse Status			Reservist Status
	Yes	No	Prefer not to say	Not Specified	Yes	No	Prefer not to say	Not Specified
Overall	0	0	0	100	0.15	86.06	0.23	13.55
Applied	0	0	0	100	0.15	86.06	0.23	13.55
Interview	0	0	0	100	0.33	87.91	0.33	11.44
Recruited	0	0	0	100	0	87.5	0	12.5

Summary:

Data in the above table shows that we have received limited interest in our vacancies from either force's spouses or reservists. Further work will be needed to promote Arun District Council as a potential employer for these categories and our newly obtained silver status for the armed forces covenant should be promoted in our job advertisements.

By gender

	No. of Males	No. of Females
Full Time	134	166
Part Time	16	96
Total	150	259
Total as a percentage	48.2	51.8
Census data for Arun District 2021	48.2	51.8
% difference	Underrepresented by 11.53%	Overrepresented by 11.53%

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Summary:

The table above presents workforce data for Arun District in 2025, highlighting a female dominated workforce of 166 full time females compared to 134 males, and 93 part time females compared to 16 part time males. Overall, females constitute 63.33% of the workforce, whereas males make up 36.67%. This contrasts sharply with the census data, which indicates a more balanced gender distribution (48.2% males and 51.8% females). The workforce data reveals an 11.53% underrepresentation of males, and an equivalent overrepresentation of females compared to the census figures.

By Disability

	No. of staff declaring a disability	No. of staff not declaring a disability	Not known
Number	22	369	18
As a percentage	5.3%	90.3%	4.4%

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Summary:

The number of staff declaring a disability equates to 5.3% of the workforce.  Census data states that 27.8% of the population have a disability although it is not known how many of those are economically active and considered able to work.  Future work on equality, diversity and inclusivity should take into consideration these figures and a review of how we can attract more people to the organisation with a disability needs to be undertaken.

By age

	Age 15-19	Age 20-24	Age 25-29	Age 30-34	Age 35-39	Age 40-44	Age 45-49	Age 50-54	Age 55-59	Age 60-64	Age       65-69	Age        70 -74
Number	2	11	27	33	35	55	45	67	68	50	9	7
Percentage	0.4	2.7	6.6	8.1	8.6	13.4	11	16.4	16.6	12.2	2.2	1.7

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Summary:

This table provides the age distribution of our staff, highlighting the number and percentage of individuals in each age group. The data reveals that the age groups 50-54 and 55-59 have the highest representation, with 67 and 68 individuals respectively, accounting for 16.4% and 16.6% of the total workforce. The age group 40-44 also has a significant presence with 55 individuals (13.4%). Conversely, the youngest age group (15-19) and the oldest age groups (65-69 and 70-74) have the lowest representation, with percentages ranging from 0.4% to 2.2%.

Sexual orientation

	Heterosexual	Lesbian/Gay	Bisexual	Other	Not known/Not disclosed
Number	208	12	7	3	179
Percentage	51%	3%	1.7%	1%	44%

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Summary:

A significant number of the workforce, 44%, have chosen not to disclose their sexual orientation.  Of those that have disclosed this information, 51% are heterosexual which is not unexpected considering census data shows that 90.3% of the Arun population is heterosexual.

By ethnic origin

	Ethnic origin White British	Ethnic origin Other	Ethnic origin White Other	Ethnic origin Mixed Caribbean	Ethnic origin Black Caribbean	Ethnic origin Not Known
Number	301	11	8	1	2	86
Percentage	73.4%	2.7%	2%	0.2%	0.5%	21%
Census data	95.8%	0.6%			0.5%

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Summary:

The table above presents the ethnic demographic of our staff, showing a predominant representation of White British individuals, who constitute 73.6% of the workforce. Other ethnic groups include White Other (2.7%), Mixed Caribbean (0.2%), Black Caribbean (0.5%), and those whose ethnic origin is not known (21%)

By religion

	Church of England	Christian	Methodist	Roman Catholic	No Religion	Religion Not known
Number	20	81	0	1	78	229
Percentage	4.9	19.8	0	0.2	19.1	56

Summary

The largest proportion of individuals (56%) have not disclosed their religion, which limits the ability to draw firm conclusions about religious representation. Among those who did disclose:

• Christian denominations make up a combined 24.9% of the workforce, with Church of England (4.9%), Christian (19.8%), and Roman Catholic (0.2%).
• 19.1% of individuals reported having no religion.
• There is no representation from the Methodist denomination.

Top 5% of earners that are women

	Male	Female
Number	7	3
Percentage	70%	30%

Among the top 5% of earners, 30% are women and 70% are men. This indicates a gender imbalance at the highest earning levels, suggesting that women may face barriers to progression into top-paying roles. Further investigative research would be required to determine whether there were any underlying reasons for this disparity.

Top 5% if earners from ethnic minorities

	White	Not disclosed
Number	7	3
Percentage	70%	30%

70% of top earners are White, while 30% chose not to disclose their ethnicity. The lack of disclosed data makes it difficult to assess ethnic minority representation accurately. However, the absence of any confirmed ethnic minority individuals in this group may point to underrepresentation.

Top 5% of earners with a disability

	Disabled	Not Disabled	Not disclosed
Number	1	9	0
Percentage	10%	90%	0%

Summary:

Among the top 5% of earners, 10% identify as disabled, while 90% are not disabled. No individuals in this group chose not to disclose their disability status. This may look disproportionate; however, this is based on a small pool of just 10 staff which means a change of just one person at this level can significantly affect the figures.

Leavers

Leavers

	Count	As a percentage
Total no. of Leavers	48	12%

By gender

	Number of employees	As a percentage of the male/female workforce	As a percentage of leavers
Male	24	6%	50%
Female	24	6%	50%

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Summary:

The data shows that both male and female employees had an equal number of leavers (24 each), representing 6% of their respective gender groups and accounting for 50% of total leavers each, despite females significantly outnumbering males in the overall workforce (259 vs. 150).

By age group

	Age 15-19	Age 20-24	Age 25-29	Age 30-34	Age 35-39	Age 40-44	Age 45-49	Age 50-54	Age 55-59	Age 60-64	Age       65-69	Age        70 -74
No. of staff that have left	0	0	4	1	1	5	4	7	5	9	7	5
% of staff in that age group that have left	0	0	15	3	3	9	9	10	7	18	7	71
As a % of overall number of leavers	0	0	8	2	2	10	8	14	14	18	14	10

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Summary:

The analysis of staff leavers by age group reveals that older age brackets, particularly those aged 60-64 and 65-69, exhibit higher turnover rates, likely due to retirement. The 70+ age group has the highest internal turnover rate at 71%, contributing 10% to overall leavers. Mid-to-late career employees (ages 50-59) also significantly contribute to workforce attrition, accounting for 14% of total leavers each. Younger age groups show strong retention, with no leavers in the 15-24 age range. These trends suggest the need for succession planning, knowledge transfer, and targeted retention strategies to manage workforce transitions effectively.

By disability

	Count	As a % of staff with a disability	As a percentage of leavers
No of leavers with a disability	1	4.5	2

Summary:

Only one staff member with a disability left the organisation, representing 4.5% of the staff with a disability and accounting for 2% of total leavers. This suggests a relatively low turnover rate among employees with disabilities, which may indicate effective inclusion and retention practices, though the small sample size limits broader conclusions.

By ethnic group

	No. of employees	As a percentage of leavers
No. of employees	26	54
B/British Caribbean	1	2
B/British Other	0	0
Mixed/White Asian	0	0
White - Irish	0	0
White - Other	1	2
Not disclosed	20	42

Summary:

The majority of staff leavers (54%) identified as White British, while 42% of leavers did not disclose their ethnicity, significantly limiting the clarity of diversity insights. Minimal representation was observed among other ethnic groups, with only one leaver each from Black/British Caribbean and White - Other backgrounds.

The 2024-2025 Equalities Monitoring Report for Arun District Council provides a comprehensive overview of workforce diversity, recruitment trends, and staff turnover. The data reveals a female-dominated workforce (63.3%), with males underrepresented compared to local census figures. While the recruitment process is designed to be unbiased, applicants with disabilities and from minority religious backgrounds appear to face challenges progressing through to appointment, despite anonymised processes. Notably, only 1.79% of recruited applicants disclosed a disability, compared to 17.6% of the local population reporting long-term health conditions, suggesting potential barriers or a need for more inclusive outreach and support.

Age-related trends show that older staff (60+) have the highest turnover, likely due to retirement, while younger age groups (under 25) show strong retention. The top 5% of earners are predominantly male (70%) and non-disabled (90%), indicating a gender and disability imbalance at senior levels. Ethnic diversity data is limited due to high non-disclosure rates (42% among leavers), but the majority of leavers identified as White British (54%).

Recruitment data also highlights underrepresentation of forces spouses and reservists, despite the council's Armed Forces Covenant status. Additionally, sexual orientation disclosure remains low, with 44% of the workforce not disclosing, though representation of LGBTQ+ individuals appears higher than local census averages.

Overall, the report highlights the need for:

• improved data collection (especially for ethnicity and gender identity),
• targeted recruitment strategies to attract underrepresented groups,
• continued focus on inclusive practices
• succession planning to address the ageing workforce.