Equality and diversity

We know that we have, and have always had, a key role in building a more equal district and will identify and design accessible, inclusive, services that meet the diverse needs of our communities, along with being an excellent employer for people of all backgrounds.

Equalities

Our Equalities Scheme 2022 – 2026 explains our duties and role in respect of equality and diversity and sets our objectives to meet these. Each year a Position Statement will be published to demonstrate what progress has been made against the objectives each year. The information covers progress towards our objectives up to December 2024.

Reasonable adjustments

Our workforce

We are committed to developing a workforce that continues to reflect our local community in regard to the protected characteristics and monitor our workforce against the local labour market profile in respect of:

  • age
  • ethnicity
  • sex
  • disability
  • marital status.

You can view our annual workforce profile reports here:

Gender pay gap

Our residents

Data from the 2021 census show us that:

  • Population size has increased from 119,497 in 2011 to 126,305 in 2021 (+5.7%). This is lower than the overall increase for England (6.6 percent) and the East Midlands (7.7 percent)
  • 19.7 percent of the population are over 65, an increase of 22.5 percent from 2011, and 18.6 percent are 15 years or younger, an increase of 4 percent from 2011
  • 50.3 percent of our residents described themselves as having no religion, an increase of 16.5 percent from 2011 and 42 percent residents described themselves as Christian, a decrease of 16.2 percent since 2011
  • 96.4 percent of households had English as their main language
  • 22 percent of the population said disability limited their day to day activities a little or a lot and 38.5 percent of households in Ashfield has one or more disable resident
  • 2.6 percent of the population over age 16 years describe their sexual orientation as other than straight or heterosexual
  • 338 residents describe their gender identity different from their sex registered at birth
  • 91.8 percent of Ashfield residents describe themselves as White British, 1.6 percent as Asian or Asian British, 1.3 percent as Black, Black British, Caribbean or African and 1.6 percent as Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups
  • 44.2 percent of our residents are married or in a registered civil partnership.

2021 census key statistics can be found at the Office for National Statistics website, along with the full key statistics from previous census:

Additional information

Further information about equalities in Ashfield can be found at:

Contact details

Page last updated 10 September 2025

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