All Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) regulated firms have an obligation to collect, report and publish data about the diversity make-up of their workforce every two years, and the next collection date 2 August 2021.
What is the source of the reporting requirement?
The SRA Code of Conduct for Firms in SRA Principle 6 states that a firm must “act in a way that encourages equality, diversity and inclusion”. The SRA believes that monitoring the diversity of people working in your firm will help you assess whether your firm is diverse and whether you could do more to encourage equality, diversity and inclusion.
When is the next reporting deadline?
The SRA will be asking you to report your data to them by 2 August 2021. This means that firms should already be collecting data.
What information needs to be collected?
- Employee role
- Age
- Employee sex and the gender they identify with
- Information on any health issues or disabilities
- Ethnicity and religion
- Sexual orientation
- Education and background
- Childcare responsibilities
Which employees should information be collected from?
Everyone working at your firm is covered by the firm diversity data collection, not just solicitors. You should include:
- Full-time and part-time employees
- Employees on maternity leave or on long term sick leave (if they are able to respond)
- Temporary employees, those on a secondment contract, consultants or other contracted staff working with you for three months or longer.
How and where should firms publish their diversity data?
In addition to sending your diversity data to the SRA, firms should also publish a summary of their diversity data, as long as it complies with data protection legislation. Your diversity data should be made available to your staff and externally. Most firms will choose to publish on their website, but you can use alternative or additional publication methods such as a poster in your office reception area and/or meeting rooms or an article in your internal or external newsletter/bulletin.
VinciWorks is offering a free diversity reporting tool
VinciWorks is proud to offer the entire legal sector a simple, free and secure way to anonymously collect and aggregate diversity data via our compliance management software, Omnitrack.
After you sign up, we will provide you with a unique link to send to your staff. We will send you all data collected, together with aggregated data in the format required by the SRA, in advance of the reporting deadline. Click here to preview the questionnaire.
