Valuing diversity in recruitment

Our commitment

Here at Lincolnshire Police, we value people from all backgrounds and we are working hard to build our workforce so that it reflects the rich diversity of our vast communities by attracting experience and talent from the widest pool of people

To help achieve a representative workforce we have expanded our eligibility criteria to enable us to recruit more people who speak English as their second language. Our current police officers with second language skills are integral to community engagement in towns and villages across Lincolnshire, particularly in Boston, South Holland and Lincoln. We are also proud that expanding our eligibility criteria has enabled us to focus recruitment activity in areas such as British Sign Language and Makaton speakers. This shows our determination to be reflective of all minority groups.

Strengthening our workforce diversity is also key to achieving our "Making Lincolnshire Safe" force strategy. A more diverse workforce helps us to understand our mix of different communities and supports our efforts to communicate, listen and work with them so that we can understand their needs and more effectively respond to the problems they face.

We are fully aware that there is still a lot of progress we need to make so we are seeking to become more proactive in our attraction and recruitment, making particular effort to target our seldom reached communities.

We are committed to making ourselves a diverse and inclusive organisation of equal opportunities where everyone feels welcome whatever their background.

Positive action

Positive action is a term used to describe the range of initiatives organisations are legitimately able to use to encourage under-represented people to join the police force and to help candidates overcome disadvantage experienced in selection.

We do this by:

• encouraging individuals from under-represented groups apply to join us, for example, candidates who speak a second language especially in areas where we have higher numbers of Eastern European’s living, working and visiting, female front-line officers and candidates from black and ethnic minority backgrounds
• attending recruitment fairs and holding workshops/online sessions to inform individuals about what to expect during the recruitment process, and answering any questions about joining the police.
• individuals may want to simply talk through their queries and concerns so we can put candidates in touch with officers/staff who can mentor them through each step of the process from their initial enquiries to joining and beyond as people develop through their career.

We treat all applicants fairly and in accordance with current legislation. Positive action is not about giving some people favourable treatment; it's about levelling the playing field. We are looking for a talented workforce who can best serve our communities and that means looking at a wide and diverse range of applicants, identifying and overcoming barriers which prevent people from applying.

Support through staff networks

We are committed to making ourselves a diverse and inclusive organisation of equal opportunities where everyone feels welcome whatever their background. We demonstrate this commitment through support provided through the staff networks within the force. Our networks are:

• Supporting minorities in Lincolnshire through Engagement (SMILE)
• Women’s Inclusive Network (WIN)
• LGBT+
• Neurodiversity Working group
• Menopause support
• Family Support Network
• Carers Network
• Christian Police Association

All networks are passionate about wanting to ensure Lincolnshire Police attract and recruit, and retain and support officers and staff's development throughout their careers by making the workplace inclusive and representative of the community we serve. Our staff networks also provide support through positive action initiatives too.

Disability Confident leader

We are a Disability Confident leader. This means that are taking an active leadership role in encouraging and helping other employers on their journey to becoming Disability Confident. We encourage people to tell us about any long term health conditions, disabilities and/or neurodiverse conditions early in the recruitment process so that we can ensure adjustments are put in place to remove any barriers that may hinder people performing at their best at each stage and into their training and employment.

You may contact a member of the Equality Diversity and Inclusion Team to confidentially talk about any additional needs or support you may have  [email protected]

Read more about the Disability Confident employer scheme on www.gov.uk.

Neurodiversity in Business

Neurodiversity in Business (NiB) is an industry forum to support the participation of neurodivergent individuals in the workplace recently launched at the Houses of Parliament. NiB draws upon the cumulative knowledge of neurodivergent experts and leading companies to share best practices and improve the employment and experience of the neurodiverse workforce.

Dan Harris, CEO of NiB said:

“We are delighted that Lincolnshire Police has become a founding member of NiB. It signals their commitment to ensuring a truly inclusive workplace and a desire to strive for the best in diversity and inclusion standards. We look forward to working with Lincolnshire Police and all our members in delivering meaningful change for the neurodivergent across business.”

The carers charter

The carers charter is the force’s pledge and commitment to supporting officers, staff and volunteers who have caring responsibilities outside the workplace. The commitment includes creating a culture in which carers are valued and appreciated, seeking to overcome obstacles or barriers for carers in the workplace, sharing best practice and learning from others and ensuring training opportunities are accessible to carers. 

If you would like to talk about how your caring responsibilities could work with you joining Lincolnshire Police, please contact [email protected] and a member of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team will contact you. 

Inclusive Top 50 UK employer

In recognition of our continued dedication to workplace diversity, Lincolnshire Police was ranked 41 in the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers List 24, the third year running the force has made the Top 50 list.

Compiled by Inclusive Companies, the list acknowledges and ranks businesses which are most consistent throughout the whole tenure of their organisations and encompass all types of diversity. Compiled by a dedicated advisory panel, the list has been collated based on each organisations performance in a range of areas within the diversity arena. Organisations featured have provided sufficient evidence on an amalgamation of topics including recruitment procedures, training, workforce data and a host of diversity related initiatives. The Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers List is a national accreditation, acquired by organisations annually who wish to be seen as credible competitors in the field of diversity and inclusion.

Find out more at the Inclusive Companies website

Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme

Lincolnshire Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Marc Jones are proud to recognise the enormous importance of armed forces personnel and their families in Lincolnshire by signing up to the Armed Forces Covenant.

The Armed Forces Covenant 2020 is an assurance that ex-service personnel and members of the military are treated with fairness and respect. Ensuring that members of the Armed Forces community have the same access to government and commercial services and products as any other citizen. Recognising that in some circumstances special treatment may be appropriate for the injured or bereaved.

Find out more about our commitment to the Armed Forces Convenant 

Flexible working

Applications for flexible working patterns are considered for all roles across the organisation – for both those joining the force and also our current workforce. We will work with individuals to ensure that wherever possible, such requests can be accommodated in order to meet the needs of our workforce and also our service to the public.

Menopause-friendly

We are proud of how far we have come with our Menopause Network and have had great feedback from our workforce since becoming a menopause-friendly employer.

We are working through an accreditation process, delivering more awareness, more training and doing more listening. There is a clear criteria we need to meet and knowing that we are working towards this accreditation is reassuring to our colleagues. We are committed to ensuring menopause is a subject we all feel comfortable discussing. The more awareness we have, the better we can support our colleagues, friends and family.

More information

If you would like to find out more about positive action, contact the Equality Diversity and Inclusion team [email protected]