Introduction
WMAS have committed to meeting the requirements of the Workforce Disability Equality Standard for NHS Trusts’ and this will be our third publication. WMAS have submitted the Trust’s workforce data, for disabled and non-disabled staff, to the national WDES team and will publish the agreed action plan by 31st October 2025 in line with the requirements.
We have identified gaps through our data which will allow the Trust to use this as a basis for the WDES Action Plan. The plan covers the next 12 months and the Trust Disability, Carers & Advocates [DCA] have been involved in developing this Action Plan.
The focus has been on these key metrics:
- Bullying & Harassment from patients/service users, relatives or Public (Metric 4 Staff survey q14a)
- Bullying & Harassment from colleagues/staff (Metric 4 staff survey q14c)
- Presenteeism – pressure from managers to come to work, despite not feeling well enough to perform duties (Metric 6)
- The engagement of Disabled staff NHS Staff Survey – METRIC 9
Monitoring and Evaluation
The action plan will be monitored by the Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group (DISAG) and People Committee, and through the Executive Management Board and Trust Board for end of year assessment and evaluation. Please note that the rag rating correlates to the actions that have been completed and does not necessarily mean the outcomes have been achieved yet as these are often medium to long-term goals.
Action Plan
Metric 1
% of disabled staff in AfC pay bands and very senior managers compared with the percentage of staff in the overall workforce.
Action
1.1 Continue to promote to all disabled people to declare their disability status on ESR, regular WB articles, online webinar drop in to demonstrate how to do this and offer support. Promotion should include benefits of declaring including access to targeted development opportunities
Outcome
There will be an accurate recording of the disability status of people in our workforce who have a disability.
Lead
Ellie Huddleston (ESR)
Timeline
September 2025
Action
1.2 Develop a process within the recruitment team in relation to:
A) Requesting additional information where there are gaps on the commencement form for disability status
B) Where applicants request reasonable adjustments/declare a disability throughout the recruitment process they are provided information about the health passport scheme and also how to record their disability status on ESR
Outcome
There will be accurate recording of the disability status of people in our workforce who have a disability and people who have a disability will understand more about the health passport scheme and how to update their disability status
Lead
Louise Jones (Recruitment)
Timeline
October 2025
Action
1.3 Develop a process to ensure that all students who request adjustments within the Education & Training process e.g. additional time for dyslexia, are provided information about the health passport scheme and also how to record their disability status on ESR
Outcome
There will be accurate recording of disability status of people in our workforce who have a disability and people who have a disability will understand more about the health passport scheme and how to update their disability status
Lead
Paul Tolley/Louise Jones
Timeline
March 2026
Action
1.4 Session at SMTs (E&U/IEUC/PTS) to make managers aware of the self-service update process, when to prompt staff and be able to guide those discussions to best support staff to update their disability status. Also provide a reminder of the health passport scheme.
Outcome
Managers will have an increased awareness of how members of staff can update their disability status to be able to access support.
Lead
Lucy Mackcracken
Timeline
Dec 2025
Metric 4
Percentage of Disabled staff compared to non-disabled staff experiencing Harassment, Bullying or Abuse (HBA) from: Q14a – Patients/Service users, their relatives or other members of the public Disabled staff more likely to experience HBA at 60.36%
Action
4.1 Q14a
Promote body worn cameras and link in with on-going trials
Outcome
Evidence of harassment, bullying and abuse will have been captured enabling successful prosecutions.
Lead
Dan Knight
Timeline
March 2026
Progress
These metrics are addressed within the Trust’s submission/action plan for the NHS England Violence, Prevention & Reduction Standard, which is a contractual requirement by the Trust.
Action
4.2 Q14a
New incident reporting system IRS- collect data on whether more staff are reporting and promote specifically to under-represented groups, Promoting case studies including outcomes where possible.
Outcome
Promotion of the IRS may result in increase of reporting which could be a positive step and successful collation and promotion of case studies and sharing of outcomes will provide confidence that action is being taken
Lead
Dan Knight
Timeline
31 March 2026
Progress
These metrics are addressed within the Trust’s submission/action plan for the NHS England Violence, Prevention & Reduction Standard, which is a contractual requirement by the Trust.
Action
4.3 Q14a
Managers will be briefed to encourage staff to report incidents of Harassment, Bullying and discrimination from member of the public/patients
Outcome
Staff will feel supported and valued
Lead
Dan Knight
Timeline
September 2025
Progress
These metrics are addressed within the Trust’s submission/action plan for the NHS England Violence, Prevention & Reduction Standard, which is a contractual requirement by the Trust.
Action
The Trust has limited data surrounding V&A against BME and non-white colleagues. The Security & Safety team are working to improve this data set through the new and improved IRS system.
The Security and Safety Team will develop an interactive dashboard and collect personal characteristics data such as ethnicity and disability.
Outcome
The new tool that will be developed will enable a detailed analysis and interpretation of the data which will inform additional actions that need to be put in place leading to effective management of incidents for staff from protected groups.
Lead
Dan Knight
Timeline
February 2026
Metric 4
Percentage of Disabled staff compared to non-disabled staff experiencing Harassment, Bullying or Abuse (HBA) from Colleagues
Action
4.2 Q14b&c-
Briefing sent out to managers and at hubs around the importance of respecting staff with disabilities – civilities and respect. (awareness around misuse of equipment designated for disabled staff)
Outcome
Briefing will ensure that managers understand behaviours which are not acceptable leading to a reduction in incidents.
Lead
Mohammed Ramzan
Timeline
September 2025
Action
4.4 Empowering colleagues to speak up and calling out unwanted behaviour or phrases etc – to prevent escalation. FTSU and EDI to do a joint briefing that is cascaded to FTSU Champions and Diversity Champions and shared by DCA at events including Disability Pride, Disability History Months and to DCA members
Outcome
Will enable staff to call out behaviours which are not acceptable leading to a reduction in incidents.
Lead
Pippa Wall (FTSU) and Mohammed Ramzan (DCA)
Timeline
December 2025
Metric 6
Percentage of Disabled staff compared to non-disabled staff saying that they have felt pressure from their manager to come to work, despite not feeling well enough to perform their duties.
Disabled staff are 13% more likely, compared to non-disabled staff, to have felt pressured to come into work despite not feeling well enough to perform their duties. Both disabled and non-disabled staff in 2023 saw a decrease in the % of staff that felt pressured by their manager.
Action
6.1 Ensure that members of staff, with a declared disability, who are then absent due to sickness, have their disability taken into consideration as part of any formal absence management processes.
Outcome
Disabled staff feel supported to come to work and have the opportunity to discuss any reasonable adjustments they may require.
Lead
Lucy Mackcracken
Timeline
March 2026
Action
6.2 Continued promotion of Health and Carer’s Passport Schemes, in the 1) Weekly Brief 2) Disability History Month 3) Disability Pride Week
Outcome
Staff will be utilising the Health Carer’s passport leading to a reduction in the percentage for presenteeism
Lead
DCA Network supported by Stephanie Simister
Timeline
Nov 2025
Metric 9
NHS Staff Survey – The engagement of Disabled staff
In 2023 the engagement score for Disabled staff increased by 0.16 (5.05 to 5.21), however disabled staff remain less likely to feel engaged.
Action
9.1 Continue to support the DCA network on events including support during the year re: Disability History month and engage with members on appropriate equality impact assessments, Equality Strategy and Equality Objectives
Outcome
Disabled staff members will be fully engaged and feedback will inform policy and decision making which will result in year-on-year increase of engaged satisfaction
Lead
Mohammed Ramzan, DCA Network, Steph Simister
Action
9.2 Use various staff engagement events and opportunities to encourage disabled staff to have conversations about what needs to happen to make them feel more engaged, also as an additional support mechanism to talk to staff about self-declaration on ESR.
Ensure all CPD/development is accessible and promoted as appropriate either through mass or targeted promotion.
Outcome
Disabled staff members will be fully engaged and feedback will inform policy and decision making which will result in year-on-year increase of engaged satisfaction
Lead
Barbara Kozlowska
Action
9.2 As well as continuing to include Disabled staff in Staff Stories to the Trust’s Board of Directors, feature Disabled staff in the weekly brief, raising awareness promoting good practice and role models
Outcome
Disabled staff members will be fully engaged and feedback will inform policy and decision making which will result in year-on-year increase of engaged satisfaction
Lead
DCA Network
Timeline
March 2026