Our story

Did you know that Islington is home to:

• 242,827 people 
• 16,097 people per square km (the highest in London)
• 10% of under 17s are ethnically Black Africans
• 19% of children have Special Educational Needs
• 33% of residents were born outside of the UK, most commonly Ireland, Turkey and US
• 14% of Islington residents live with a disability
• One of the largest LGBTQ+ populations in the country

Islington is also:

• The sixth most deprived borough in London
• and Islington has lower life expectancy for residents living in deprived areas

What we have done

In 2010 we launched our Fairness Commission, looking at what we could do to create a fairer borough. Since then we have had a clear vision to address the findings in that report and improve fairness throughout our community. We have made a number of crucial advances such as leading the way on the London Living Wage, first in the council and then amongst our partners and contractors. We have supported over 4000 local people into work and built the most new council homes in over 30 years. We improved our schools with nine out of ten rated Good or Outstanding, worked with the police to keep residents safe and invested in targeted support for young people at risk of turning to crime. We followed the recommendations of our Employment Commission to tackle inequality through understanding how we could better help.

The challenge we face today

Ten years after our Fairness Commission, however, it is clear that both locally and nationally, deep inequalities continue to hold back some parts of the community. Ahead stands a difficult task, with obstacles both old and new. An era of austerity, welfare cuts and spiralling living costs has exacerbated poverty and inequality. According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (March 2015), cuts have hit the poorest communities and residents the hardest. More recent research (Dec 2020) reveals that destitution in the UK was growing in scale and intensity even before the COVID-19 outbreak. Demographic change, digitalisation and the ‘gig’ economy are just a few more of the major changes threatening to make life more challenging for our residents.

The climate emergency has prompted a renewed sense of urgency to act to tackle the threat posed by climate change and ensure everyone can enjoy
a cleaner, greener, healthier future. Rising demand and an ageing population are creating huge challenges for the NHS, while Brexit has triggered even greater uncertainty for our economy and the cohesion of our communities. The rise in hate crimes that followed the referendum is only one indicator of the toxic discrimination communities still face today. Research from the Runnymede Trust (March 2017) has emphasised the need to form a more comprehensive understanding of how racial and socio-economic inequalities play out together to ensure Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities are not left behind as we exit the transition period. With Islington Police reporting 659 racist hate crimes in 2020, an annual increase of 15.2%, focused work to reduce hate and support
vulnerable victims will continue to be vital.

Reports from Public Health England and Islington’s Public Health resident engagement survey have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on our disadvantaged communities, including those with disabilities, the elderly and those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds. The COVID-19 Marmot review has further highlighted the contribution of pre-existing social inequalities to the UK recording the highest death rates in Europe. Crucially, however, the review also notes that the pandemic has exacerbated the deep inequalities that already existed in society. Written just before the COVID-19 crisis, the Runnymede Trust’s Colour of Money report (2020) outlines the extensive economic inequality faced by people from ethnic minority groups, some of whom are more likely to face higher unemployment rates and ‘occupational segregation’ in low-paid jobs with less opportunity to progress. Independent national reviews into the issues, treatment of, and outcomes for individuals from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups in the criminal justice system by David Lammy MP and the workplace by Baroness McGregor-Smith have further underlined such findings. The Lawrence report also paints a similar picture: Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities have been faced with more precarious employment, less accessible education, and worse housing conditions. Inclusion London has reported that Disabled people are experiencing increasing levels of psychological distress, workplace discrimination and unequal access to health care. These inequalities are not new. It is essential that we acknowledge and address long-standing structural disadvantages as they change shape.

Too often public services have approached these interconnected inequalities in silos, failing to see the multiple threads running through local people’s lives. Faced with this bigger picture, we can lose sight of the action that makes a tangible difference to the experiences of residents and staff. Creating an approach that is clear and concrete without masking this complexity has been a barrier we have had to overcome.

Building our Challenging Inequality Programme

We are challenging ourselves to be more radical and take decisive action through our Challenging Inequality Programme. Fairness and equality are two sides of the same coin. If we are to continue our mission as the council of fairness into the new decade we need to lead the way on challenging inequality for all oppressed, disadvantaged and marginalised groups. The programme sets out our long-term ambition, recognising that many of these issues are entrenched and will take time, sustained attention and unrelenting focus to tackle.

The programme builds on the work we started early last year around the ‘equalities gold standard’ an has been developed further in collaboration with staff, partners and the community, with strategic leadership and oversight from members through the member-led Race Equality Working Group:

• Input from our Race Equality Staff Network and our Staff forums has been crucial in shaping our programme actions. We will continue to work with all our staff forums including our Disabled Forum, LGBTQ+ Forum, and Women’s Forum to deliver our programme.
• To tackle inequality, racism and injustice we need to know and understand our residents, their lived experience, their thoughts, views and ideas for change. That’s why we’ve set up the Challenging Inequality Coalition, providing a community voice with which we can collaborate to shape the agenda and drive tangible change.
• Addressing these systemic issues requires a whole system response and is not something that the council can do alone. We need to harness our power, influence, and collective resources to take action. That’s why our Fairer Together Borough Partnership has agreed that Challenging Inequality will be a key priority across the partnership.

In the last few months, our successful Black History Month and UK Disability History Month events have been an opportunity to celebrate the diversity in our borough and workforce through facilitating conversations that inspire, challenge and raise awareness. Following feedback from our Race Equality Network, we now have a dedicated HR officer who is leading on the implementation of the Challenging Inequality employer actions, including reviewing our recruitment and selection policy and processes. We’ve already made a commitment to ensure all recruitment panels are diverse. We have launched a survey to look at how we as a council can be more inclusive through our communications and the language we use. We have learnt from the breadth of experience, passion and commitment to this work we share with our Challenging Inequality Coalition members at several meetings. Recognising that there is so much more learning to do, we have also funded Islington Black History 365 to ensure we celebrate Black history and culture year-round.

Following the death of George Floyd in 2020, a number of Black and Minority Ethnic staff came together to shape and drive action to challenge race inequality and injustice through a new Race Equality Staff Network (REN). The REN developed proposals on the following themes:

1. How do we continue the dialogue?
2. How do we increase representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff at senior levels?
3. How do we train the organisation to become culturally competent?
4. How do we support our staff including in relation to COVID-19?
5. What action do we need to take to promote race equality in our community?

The discussions have informed the development of the Challenging Inequality Programme and led to specific actions including new programmes to support staff development, introducing a specialised tailored service to support staff with deep set trauma and introducing an ‘internal first’ recruitment policy amongst others. The REN will continue to be an important part of the developing agenda, both shaping specific actions and taking an overview of progress and impact so we can reflect, adapt and improve in an iterative way.

Our Challenging Inequality Coalition is a collaborative project between organisations and residents in Islington standing in equal partnership with the council. Representatives come from a diverse range of community groups, including: Citizen's Advice, Help on your Doorstep, Islington Law Centre, Choices Islington, Gendered Intelligence, The Elfrida Society, Islington People's Rights, forum+, Maa Shanti, Finsbury Park Mosque, Islington Faiths Forum, Manor Gardens Centre, Centre 404, Voluntary Action Islington, Islington Pensioners Forum, Disability Action Islington, Mildmay Community Partnership, and Cripplegate Foundation.

Alongside hearing from our staff and local people, we have also learnt from amazing examples of progress through equalities projects across different organisations. This includes the Runnymede Trust’s Race Equality Scorecard project, the RACE Equality Code 2020 and the Black Curriculum. This process of internal and external reflection has informed our approach.