Britain’s equality watchdog has been accused by prominent race campaigners of unfairly targeting black and minority ethnic employees for compulsory redundancies.
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission received a letter on Friday claiming that its “credibility, authority and legitimacy” within black and Asian communities have been damaged by a new cuts programme.
It follows a decision by the statutory body to select 12 staff for compulsory redundancies. It is claimed only two of those were white British, while eight were from a BAME background, four of whom were Muslim, and six were disabled.
Seven of the 12 were informed of the decision by email last month, according to the letter. The ECHR has rejected this claim, and pledged to increase the number of “underrepresented groups” in senior positions in the commission.
Lord Ouseley, the cross-bench peer who headed the now defunct Commission for Racial Equality, is among 14 signatories to the letter from established academics and campaigners.
The letter sent to David Isaac, the EHRC’s chair, claimed there were no visible minorities among the senior management team after the only black director was selected for redundancy, while all but two remaining BAME workers were on the lowest three pay grades.
“In our opinion, it is not satisfactory or acceptable simply to say the percentage of BAME workers reflects the percentage in the national population and especially not with main offices in London and Manchester,” the letter said.
“But this is not just about numbers: the personal experiences and viewpoints, which a diverse workforce brings, are essential if the commission is to challenge the majority or mainstream beliefs.
“In a climate of rising levels of racist and Islamophobic attacks and where the majority opinion in GB seems to be anti-immigrant, anti-black and anti-Muslim, then it is even more important that the commission’s staff can stand firm against prevailing views.”
The EHCR was established in 2007 to help eliminate discrimination, reduce inequality and protect human rights in the UK after the amalgamation of existing statutory bodies including the Commission for Racial Equality.
According to the National Audit Office, the EHRC’s budget has been cut by almost 70% since it was created. Its current budget will be cut by a further 25% over the next four years.
Other signatories of the letter include Prof Gargi Bhattacharyya of the University of East London, Hanef Bhamjee from Action for Southern Africa, and Peter Herbert from the Society of Black Lawyers. Operation Black Vote and the GMB Regional Equality Forum also signed.
They said they were appalled by the way the employees were made redundant on 9 February amid planned industrial action by the PCS and Unite unions, and asked to meet with Isaac.
“Sadly, we now have serious doubts about the commission’s credibility, authority and legitimacy with our communities,” the letter concluded.
An EHRC spokesperson said: “It is wrong to say staff have been sacked by email. This has been a long process and face-to-face meetings took place over many months, including to notify people at risk when their redundancy letters would be issued.
“Like the rest of the public sector, our budget has been reduced. The world we are operating in is different from when we started 10 years ago and as an organisation we need to change to be able to carry out our important work. The difficult changes we are making will ensure we can still deliver our ambitious programme and we will remain a robust and independent voice to protect people’s rights.
“We will now work harder to develop skills and strengthen the way into senior roles for underrepresented groups. Future appointments will help address this balance and we are setting ourselves targets to increase the representation of disabled and BAME staff in senior roles, supported by a new positive action programme.”
