EDB Strategy action plan
Our Equity, Diversity and Belonging (EDB) Strategy is driving our journey to create a culture of authenticity and belonging, where everyone is welcomed, celebrated, supported, recognised and valued.
Our action plan sets out how we will deliver our EDB Strategy, enabling us to achieve our vision of being recognised as a bold, progressive advocate of equity and social justice, where everyone is welcomed and supported.
We’ve committed to 44 actions over the next three years, from 2024–2027. Each EDB strategic priority and aim has actions, with measures and timings.
We’ll review the plan each year to make sure the actions continue to be the right ones. And let you know how we’re progressing in regular updates and an annual impact report.
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EDB strategic priority 1: Accountability and commitment
Strategic aim: Through our actions, oppose discrimination, demonstrate effective allyship and be transparent and accountable.
| Action | Measure | When |
|---|---|---|
| Establish a support framework for staff who have experienced discrimination and harassment. | Support framework in place including clarity on formal and informal support routes. | 2024, 2025 |
| A member of RCOT’s Senior Leadership Team to sponsor each of the staff diversity networks to promote allyship and improve leadership visibility. |
Each staff diversity network has a Senior Leadership Team member as a sponsor who actively contributes to meetings, promotes the network and supports the network Chair. |
2024 |
| Collaborate with expert advisory groups and volunteers to define, plan and deliver a schedule of activities to raise better understanding of diversity and lived experiences. | Plan agreed and implemented in line with identified timescales. | 2024, 2025, 2026 |
Strategic aim: Demonstrate to the public, our staff, members, volunteers and stakeholders that EDB is part of who we are and how we work.
| Action | Measure | When |
|---|---|---|
| Hold drop-in sessions to raise awareness and create a better understanding of our EDB Strategy. |
Drop-in sessions run. Number of attendees. |
2024 |
| Put in place a process that enables us to identify and produce EDB related position statements to reflect the views of the members and needs of RCOT. | Process in place and agreed EDB related position statements published. | 2024, 2025, 2026 |
| Align our Workforce Strategy with our EDB Strategy. | Publication of Workforce Strategy with a clear link to our EDB commitment. |
2024, 2025, 2026 |
EDB strategic priority 2: Effective leadership
Strategic aim: Model the change we want to see through our culture, policies, practices and systems.
| Action | Measure | When |
|---|---|---|
| Review diversity and inclusion schemes and identify the ones we will work towards. | Diversity and inclusion schemes identified and plan in place to work towards them. | 2025 |
| Senior Leadership Team will be accountable for the delivery of the EDB Strategy action plan. |
Governance process in place to oversee delivery of the action plan. Roles and responsibilities within this process defined. |
2024, 2025, 2026 |
| Review our policies and introduce a standardised process to ensure EDB sits at the heart of everything we do. |
Initial policy review completed. Process and guidance in place to ensure EDB considered when new policies are created and/or existing ones reviewed and amended. |
2024, 2025 |
Strategic aim: Cultivate an inclusive culture, with health and wellbeing at its heart, to reflect our organisational and professional values.
| Action | Measure | When |
|---|---|---|
| Create a Health and Wellbeing Strategy and action plan, using insights from our Health and Wellbeing staff survey. |
Health and Wellbeing Strategy agreed. Actions defined and built into directorate delivery plans. |
2024 |
| Conduct a follow up Health and Wellbeing staff survey and implement further actions to support staff to remain engaged, in good health and ensure their wellbeing is supported. | Follow up survey completed and Health and Wellbeing Strategy action plan updated in light of survey insight. | 2026 |
EDB strategic priority 3: Diverse and thriving profession
Strategic aim: Work to ensure that our staff and volunteers better reflect the diversity of the UK.
| Action | Measure | When |
|---|---|---|
| Analyse staff and volunteer diversity data to identify gaps and under-representation and develop an action plan. |
Action plan in place to improve diversity within the organisation. Regular monitoring of diversity data and ongoing development of the action plan in place. |
2024 |
Strategic aim: Embed EDB throughout our standards and stakeholder relationships.
| Action | Measure | When |
|---|---|---|
| Extensively share our EDB Strategy, its purpose, actions and accountabilities with members, staff, volunteers and stakeholders. |
EDB Strategy and action plan published. Communications plan to raise awareness and understanding implemented. |
2024, 2025, 2026 |
| Embed the consideration of potential suppliers’ approach to EDB into our procurement process, inform and guide staff to implement the approach. | Staff understand how to follow the process and actively consider EDB when selecting suppliers. | 2024 |
| Benchmark, identify, adapt and adopt good EDB practices in healthcare organisations and other professions across industries. | Good practices shared and, where appropriate, adopted into our EDB practices. | 2025, 2026 |
| Embed our EDB commitment into our Learning and development standards for pre-registration education. | Learning and development standards for pre-registration education reflect our EDB Strategy. | 2025 |
| Embed our EDB commitment into our professional standards for occupational therapy practice, conduct and ethics. | Professional standards for occupational therapy practice, conduct and ethics reflect our EDB Strategy. | 2026 |
Strategic aim: Build alliances and partnerships with community groups to encourage those from historically underserved communities to see occupational therapy as a solution to their needs.
| Action | Measure | When |
|---|---|---|
| Carry out a volunteer survey to gain a deeper understanding of our volunteer community background and experiences. |
Volunteer survey completed. Percentage of volunteers participating in the survey. |
2024 |
| Through our volunteer survey, identify underserved communities our volunteers are working with, and work with them to explore barriers and identify how RCOT can support in addressing these. | Action plan developed reflecting insight from the survey and in collaboration with volunteers. | 2025 |
EDB strategic priority 4: Learning, development and confidence
Strategic aim: Build our members, staff and volunteers’ understanding of equity, diversity and belonging and develop skills and confidence to actively oppose discrimination.
| Action | Measure | When |
|---|---|---|
| Develop a discrimination, allyship and advocacy toolkit for members, staff and volunteers. |
Toolkit developed and available to members, staff and volunteers. Number of engagements with the toolkit |
2024 |
| Develop a modular toolkit on critical self-awareness, race and racism, ableism, LGBTQIA+ allyship and other areas. |
Toolkit developed and available to members, staff and volunteers. Number of engagements with the toolkit. |
2024, 2025, 2026 |
| Continue holding EDB Insights sessions and introduce follow up sessions on the topic. |
Four EDB Insights sessions held each year. Number of attendees. |
2024, 2025, 2026 |
| Develop an inclusive language and terminology good practice guide for members, staff and volunteers. |
Inclusive language and terminology good practice guide published and members, staff and volunteers encouraged to use it. Number of engagements with the guide. |
2024 |
| Carry out a learning needs analysis to identify current levels of EDB awareness amongst staff including leadership team. | Learning needs analysis completed and results shared with staff. | 2024 |
| Develop and deliver a learning and development programme to address learning needs. |
Learning and development programme in place. Improvement in levels of EDB awareness against baseline set by learning needs analysis. |
2025, 2026 |
| Collaborate with the colleague forum and staff diversity networks to define, plan and deliver a schedule of activities to raise a better understanding of diversity and lived experiences. |
Plan agreed and implemented in line with identified timescales. Number of activity attendees. |
2024, 2025, 2026 |
| Work with current and prospective volunteers to explore the role of community EDB champions and the support, resources and tools required for success. Use the findings to develop an implementation plan. |
Plan developed and implemented. Support given to all volunteers for their continuous development and upskilling on EDB. |
2024, 2025 |
| Hold safe spaces for staff to encourage equal and open discussions to raise awareness and understanding of EDB topics and lived experiences. |
Safe space forums held. Number of attendees. |
2024, 2025, 2026 |
Strategic aim: Build alliances and partnerships with organisations and groups that share our priorities, to support learning and increase EDB awareness of occupational therapists.
| Action | Measure | When |
|---|---|---|
| Identify health and social care bodies that share similar EDB priorities and work to form collaborative partnerships to share resources and expertise. | Number of partnerships formed and joint actions agreed. | 2025 |
EDB strategic priority 5: Safe and inclusive culture
Strategic aim: Increase representation and celebrate diversity in everything we do and the way we communicate.
| Action | Measure | When |
|---|---|---|
| Review our brand, marketing and communication processes and approach to ensure we are inclusive by design. | Brand, marketing and communication processes updated. | 2024 |
| Identify appropriate accessibility standards and apply these across our brand, marketing and communications. |
Accessibility standards identified and applied. |
2024, 2025 |
| Pro-actively work to increase the number of public contributors from diverse and under-represented groups. | Increase in public contributors from diverse and under-represented groups. | 2025 |
Strategic aim: Assist our members, especially those from historically marginalised and under-represented communities, to be the best they can be, as their true and authentic selves, throughout their career.
| Action | Measure | When |
|---|---|---|
| Collaborate with expert advisory groups to produce resources and plan to promote OT as a career to those groups currently under-represented in the profession. |
OT career resources published and promoted to under-represented groups. Plan created and actions taken to promote OT as a career to under-represented groups. |
2024, 2025, 2026 |
| Set up quarterly EDB meetings to share good practice with members and volunteers, demonstrate allyship and offer peer-to-peer support. |
EDB meetings held, and good practice shared with members and volunteers. Number of attendees. |
2025 |
EDB strategic priority 6: Transparency
Strategic aim: Share and celebrate successes and be honest about failings and things we need to change.
| Action | Measure | When |
|---|---|---|
| Extensively share our EDB Strategy with members, staff, volunteers and stakeholders. | EDB Strategy published in multiple formats and widely shared to support accessibility and engagement. | 2024 |
| Promote and share updates on the delivery of EDB work to members, staff, volunteers and stakeholders. |
Progress shared regularly through our communication channels. Impact report published annually. |
2024, 2025, 2026 |
| Provide quarterly reports to Council on the progress of this action plan, enabling them to be accountable for its delivery. | Council informed on progress and able to provide effective challenge and support. | 2024, 2025, 2026 |
Strategic aim: Understand the diverse needs of those we work with, and use a strong evidence base to provide constructive support, prioritise where and how we act, and measure our progress.
| Action | Measure | When |
|---|---|---|
| Redesign our process for capturing diversity characteristics so that we can collect baseline data and monitor diversity within our membership. |
Baseline data captured. Regular monitoring in place. Data being used to inform key decisions, policies and service delivery. |
2024 |
| Run a campaign to encourage members to provide additional diversity data. |
Campaign delivered. Increase in percentage of members’ diversity data captured. |
2025 |
| Review and revise our internal process for capturing diversity characteristics and increase the number of staff that submit diversity data. |
Baseline data captured. Regular monitoring in place. Data being used to inform key decisions, policies and internal support within RCOT. |
2024 |
| Set up a Carers expert advisory group. |
Carers expert advisory group in place and meetings started. Carers insight informing development of our activities and services. |
2024 |
| Explore an anonymous system for gathering insight on member experiences of discrimination so that we can better understand our members’ experiences with respect to EDB. | Proposal for system developed and considered by Senior Leadership Team. | 2024 |
| Implement a consistent process to collect demographic data about learners so that we build an accurate picture of the future workforce, consider trends and identify actions we can take to support retention and career progression. |
Data collection process in place. Data analysis taking place regularly and actions identified where needed. |
2025 |