Fairness and equality at work

We aim to provide excellent services to all residents of the county. In order for us to succeed it is essential that our workforce has an awareness and understanding of the diversity of Oxfordshire and needs of our communities.

Values

Oxfordshire County Council recognises the contribution that every employee makes, value individual differences, and encourages respect for all. We are working towards achieving a diverse workforce that fully reflects our community. The council annually monitors the extent to which we achieve this.

• Annual Equality in Employment report (pdf format, 191 KB)

Recruitment

We aim to ensure recruitment to the council is fair to all, is accessible and encourages all sections of the community to apply. Please see our commitment to equality in our recruitment charter and our help pages for applying for council jobs.

Apprenticeships

The council is committed to developing apprenticeship and entry routes into the council. We recognise that barriers exist for some groups and people wishing to work within the council to respond to this we provide apprenticeship support and encouragement a greater diversity in recruitment. 

Disability equality

The county council is a Two-Ticks disability symbol user which means that we guarantee an interview to any applicant with a disability who meets the essential selection criteria.

The council also works to the following commitments:

• To interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy and to consider them on their abilities.
• To ensure there is a mechanism in place to discuss, at any time but at least once a year, with disabled employees, what both parties can do to make sure disabled employees can develop and use their abilities.
• To make every effort when employees become disabled to make sure they stay in employment.
• To take action to ensure that all employees develop the appropriate level of disability awareness needed to make sure these commitments work. 
• To review these commitments each year and assess what has been achieved, plan ways to improve on them and let employees and Jobcentre Plus know about progress and future plans.

We recognise that many staff, in addition to their paid employment, have unpaid caring responsibilities for relatives, children and friends who need support due to illness, disability, frailty or addiction. Visit the supporting working carers page for full details.