Equality and diversity
Justice for everyone
The Supreme Court (and JCPC) is committed to providing fair and open access to justice for everyone. We recognise, respect and value diversity, serving the interests of people from all sections of society.
We continue to proactively reflect the diversity of the society we serve and truly value the contributions all sections of society make to our work.
Accessibility is also important to our work. We have a building that is physically accessible to all and find ways to support visitors with disabilities, including people who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or partially sighted.
We were the first court in the UK to stream all cases live on our website, and are working to improve our website where possible.
Our equality and diversity strategy
In 2016, the Supreme Court launched a four-year strategy, setting out the actions we would take to embed the principles of equality and diversity in all we do. It also outlined our approach to implementing the civil service diversity strategy "Promoting Equality, Valuing Diversity".
The strategy focused on five key linked themes designed to help us mainstream equality and diversity across the Supreme Court and JCPC.
Behaviour and culture
- Informing and encouraging staff to support our equality and diversity aims
- Seek more about the views of staff
- Tackling behaviour that fails to support the Court's equality and diversity aims
Leadership and accountability
- Put equality and diversity at the heart of our organisation.
- Role model equality and diversity best practice at all levels.
- Tackle inappropriate behaviours and follow our Statement of Expectation
Talent management
- Actively identify, encourage and inspire talented staff from diverse backgrounds.
Representation
- Develop a clear picture of representation across the Supreme Court and JCPC.
Service delivery
- Understand where our equality gaps are in the delivery of Supreme Court and JCPC policies and services.
- Review what we do to ensure equality and inclusion for visitors, court users and staff
- Have systems in place to collect sufficient information to identify and prioritise where improvements can be made
- Ensure compliance with equalities legislation.