About the Race Equality Hub

The Hub will build upon the city region’s reputation as a place of innovation and of support for social justice in order to take decisive action to tackle the inequality that impedes potential and prevents communities from fully contributing to the economic and social life of LCR.

The background is important: LCR has become increasingly more diverse in the last 10 years, at a faster rate than the national average. Over the past decade, the share of residents from ethnic minorities more than doubled. While Liverpool is relatively more diverse, all six local authority areas have seen an increase in the proportion of residents born outside of the UK. Yet research shows that decades of persistent racial inequalities have unfairly led to significant disadvantage among many of the LCR’s residents on the basis of their race and ethnicity (ONS Annual Population Survey, 2018).

The evidence suggests that people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds are less likely to:

• Less likely to work in highly-paid, senior jobs. For example, while 14% of the national population is from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, only 6% held top management positions
• Less likely to hold wealth or assets
• More likely to have lower educational attainment that their White counterparts at GCSE, A and degree level

The negative economic and social effects of race inequality are significant. These disadvantages harm the life chances and opportunities of people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds and limit the growth potential of businesses and the wider economy. Some of the major challenges the city region faces are:

• Lower rates of participation and progression within the labour market than White counterparts
• Racial diversity within businesses is not representative of the population
• Racism and unconscious bias in organisational cultures and processes
• Lack of social capital with comparatively limited networks and access to opportunities
• Underrepresentation in organisational leadership roles and a lack of positive role models.

There is a clear moral, ethical and business rationale for the establishment of a Race Equality Hub, and we have huge ambitions for this initiative in tackling the decades-long, systemic inequality that remains a feature of our region. It represents a new, exciting, innovative and long-term approach, and will act as a model of good practice with wider application across other parts of the UK and beyond. It will contribute significantly to ensure that LCR develops as the most racially literate area of the UK and builds upon the city region’s reputation of support for issues of equality and social justice.