Workforce Disability Equality Standard
The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is an annual assessment of key employee metrics by known disability status, including the workforce profile, board profile, and key staff survey results. It was introduced by the NHS in 2019 as a proactive tool to highlight and address differences in the experiences of disabled staff. The ultimate aim being to address inequalities, and create and inclusive workplace for all.
What the WDES measures and reports
There are 10 broad WDES metrics reported each year, they are:
- Our Workforce: Who our staff are, including splits by Non-Clinical, Clinical but not Medical, and Medical staff,
- Recruitment: Who is more likely to be successfully appointed to a role,
- Capability: Are there differences in which staff enter a capability process each year,
- Staff Survey: Who has experienced harassment from patients and the public, manager, or colleagues; and if this has been reported,
- Staff Survey: Do staff believe that career progression and promotion is fair and equitable,
- Staff Survey: Do staff believe they have flet pressure to come to work when not feeling well,
- Staff Survey: Do staff feel valued by the Trust,
- Staff Survey: Has the Trust provided workplace reasonable adjustments,
- Staff Survey: An assessment of disabled staff ‘voice’ and ‘engagement’ based on survey results,
- Our Board: Who are our Trust Board members.
What the data is telling us
Overall,
- 6.7% of our workforce has disclosed a disability in the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) (March 2025),
- Disabled applicants as a population, are less likely to be offered a role after an interview (2024-2025)
- Staff with no known disability are more likely as a population group to enter a formal capability process (2023-2025)
- There are no known disabled people on the Trust Board, based on ESR data (March 2025),
- Disabled staff were more likely to report that they have experienced harassment from patients and the public; and from another other members of staff,
- Disabled staff were less likely to agree that there is fairness in career progression,
- Disabled staff were more likely to say that they had felt pressure to come to work when ill,
- Disabled staff were more likely to say that they had felt the Trust valued their work,
- 75.8% of staff who identified as disabled in the survey said that they had been provided with workplace reasonable adjustments.
These are headline figures which are based on the experiences of different staff groups, grades (bands), and locations across Merseyside and West Lancashire. You may find it useful when thinking about who our workforce is, to read the Annual Workforce EDI Report, which provides a detailed breakdown of our known disabled staff by staff groups (e.g. nurses v medics), pay grades (bands), and clinical areas (called Divisions).
Read the Report
Useful Links
A note on definitions
A disability is defined by the Equality Act 2010, as a “physical or mental impairment, that has a substantial, adverse effect, on a person’s ability to carryout normal, day-to-day activities”. This definition is what is used to record a disability within the Electronic Staff Record. The staff survey uses a slightly different definition, which asks “Do you have any physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last for 12 months or more?”.