Cancer Research UK (CRUK) has set out an aim to increase its proportion of staff from ethnic minority backgrounds to 19% by 2027, after belatedly meeting its previous 16% target this year.
CRUK published its second equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategy this week, after launching its first organisation-wide EDI strategy in 2021.
It reported making “significant progress” since the first strategy was released, however it met its target of 16% of its staff being from an ethnic minority background later than planned.
In its new strategy, CRUK outlined renewed EDI ambitions for the next five years, with plans to build on what has worked and innovate new areas to make the charity more inclusive.
Learnings from previous EDI strategy
CRUK previously undertook a review of the impact of its first EDI strategy, in collaboration with a consultancy.
Key achievements from the first strategy included achieving an 80% inclusion measure in a staff survey (above industry benchmarks), and ensuring 99% of new health and patient information webpages are understandable to people with a reading age of 9-11.
However, Civil Society has also learned that CRUK failed to meet its target of 16% of its staff being from an ethnic minority background by the end of 2023.
A CRUK spokesperson said: “Upon the launch of our EDI strategy in 2021, the proportion of staff from ethnic minority backgrounds was 13.6%.
“We worked hard to increase this over the last three years, reaching 15.3% at the end of 2023. We reached our target of 16% at the end of June 2024.
“Our refreshed strategy outlines our ambition to increase the proportion of staff from ethnic minority backgrounds from 16% to 19% by 2027.
“We’ll do this by continuing to review and embed EDI considerations into how we recruit staff and volunteers, and developing specific initiatives aimed at bringing underrepresented groups into Cancer Research UK.”
CEO ‘proud of the substantial progress’
CRUK’s new strategy outlines how the charity intends to build on five strategic priorities, which include building an inclusive and diverse culture for all its staff and volunteers; ensuring greater inclusion and diversity across its governance and leadership, and engaging with people in inclusive, relevant and accessible ways.
The charity also published its ‘cancer and health inequalities strategy’ this week, which aims to help improve CRUK’s understanding of cancer and health inequalities within the population.
It also plans to publish a new ‘EDI in research’ strategy in 2025, which it says will help the charity and its partners to create a diverse and inclusive cancer research landscape by funding more research that addresses cancer inequalities and increasing the diversity of the people contributing to CRUK research.
The charity has set a three-year mark for a review of its new strategy.
Michelle Mitchell, CRUK’s chief executive, said: “I’m proud of the substantial progress we’ve made since launching our first organisation-wide EDI strategy in 2021.
“Our vision is a world where everybody lives longer, better lives, free from the fear of cancer. To get there, we have much more to do and areas to improve.
“That’s why we’re refreshing our ambitions for the next five years, so we can have an even bigger impact.”
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