Diversity, equity and inclusion: you can make the messenger but not the message redundant

President Donald Trump’s ‘war’ on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives is real, at least in the United States, where the US government is firing 1000s of workers employed in DEI-facing roles. The question is whether the same ‘war’ on DEI will happen in the UK? Our view is that it won’t, mainly because of the comprehensive framework of equality legislation in the UK, but also because of wider cultural shifts. Some commentators have commented that we will follow America and ‘turn back the clock’ on equality initiatives, but this won’t happen, at least in the lifetime of this parliament. 

The background

First, some context. In each year of our working lives, Britain has become a more, not less, inclusive and equal place to work. There has been a general increase in the percentages of women, ethnic minorities and disabled employees in the UK workplace over recent decades and indeed the numbers are striking:

• 30 years ago, 62.2% of women were in the workforce compared to 76% of men. Today, these figures are 71.8% and 78.2%;
• 20 years ago, 58% of ethnic minorities were in the workforce compared to 74% of white employees. Today these figures are 69% and 76%;
• 30 years ago, 38.3% of people with disabilities were in the workforce compared to 78.7% of non-disabled employees. Today, these figures are 53% compared to 81.6%.

Unlike the United States, the UK has a comprehensive (government mandated) legislative framework banning unlawful discrimination in the workplace. This is mainly set out in the Equality Act 2010, which codified almost all of the UK’s anti-discrimination legislation in one place and made it unlawful to treat a worker less favourably because of a protected characteristic, the main ones being: sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, religion or belief. Most of these laws derived from European directives and they are now part of UK domestic law. A comprehensive ‘purposive’ body of case law has been built up around these rights. In addition, since 2010, the UK has enacted additional equality orientated regulations, including enhanced rights to request flexible working for parents and, in 2024, a new duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

It is also the case that there will not be a rowing back from worker-friendly employment legislation any time soon. The government’s Employment Rights Bill (ERB) is working its way through parliament and is about to receive Royal Assent. The government recently published a list of amendments to the ERB in an Amendment Paper, collating all the proposed changes. The ERB will be the biggest (pro-worker) reform to employment law in over 25 years.

DEI-facing roles

It is right that in certain public bodies (mainly local councils), but also in certain ministries of state, universities and certain regulators, roles promoting DEI have been created and recruited, ostensibly with a view to promoting and inculcating (what are seen as) good employment practices. Will those DEI-facing roles now be made redundant in the UK? Will we follow the US down the road to an ‘anti-woke’ future? The view of this author is: no. A limited number of DEI-facing roles may be made redundant, but this will probably have more to do with a more fundamental need to save overheads from perceived non-critical roles (and there will be many others), rather than a wholesale elimination of the equality-orientated market. Overall, as illustrated above, the UK remains a diverse and inclusive place in which to work. 

Further, the number of people working in HR (people-facing) roles has increased from around 300,000 workers in 2011 to more than 500,000 in 2023. This increase has been driven not by the increase in DEI (the Equality Act was passed in 2010), but because of an increasingly educated and ‘right-aware’ UK workforce requiring HR officers to resolve ever more complicated and challenging workplace issues, including those around neurodiversity. 

And so, our prediction is that Trump’s ‘war on DEI’ will not be replicated in the UK and we will not ‘turn the clock back’ on workplace equality initiatives. For the duration of this parliament, there will be more, not less employment and equality rights. Donald Trump and Elon Musk may advocate firing the DEI messenger but, in the UK, the message will persist.