Our commitment to anti-racism

Hackney’s diverse and changing population gives it a distinct feel and identity. However, there’s a risk that some communities, which contribute to this uniqueness, might be excluded and marginalised, leading to unfair inequalities within the borough.

It is no longer enough for us to tackle inequalities. We must be actively anti-racist, building on the borough’s proud history of campaigning for equality.

We’re committed to putting anti-racist practices into our structures, systems, and processes. We’ll change behaviour across the council to build an anti-racist borough.

 

Anti-racism framework

The anti-racism framework was formally adopted in February 2024. See Plans, policies and strategies – Anti-racism framework.

This builds on work done over the last five years to tackle racial inequality, identifying and taking action that impacts at an individual, community, system, and societal level. It builds on our first Anti-Racism Action Plan in 2021. The plan saw us begin to lead from the inside out by investigating how inclusive we are and how we tackle all forms of racism in the community.

Understanding anti-racism

Watch our anti-racism animation, setting out the basis behind our commitment to becoming an actively anti-racist borough:

Engaging partners on anti-racism

We are working with partners across the system in Hackney and in London on anti-racism. We are doing this so we can work towards being not just an anti-racist council, but an anti-racist borough. To support this we led the development of an anti-racist statement for London Councils which was adopted in 2020.

See London Councils – London local government: Tackling Racial Inequality programme.

Watch this film from the Anti-Racism Partnerships Day we held in November 2023:

Our Equality Policy

The anti-racism framework is part of a wider Equality Plan, which was also adopted in February 2024. This helps us focus on achieving fair outcomes for Hackney residents and sets out how we can begin to address these challenges. It also shows where we can do more, and adopt a consistent approach across all the work of the council.

Our anti-racism standards for our children and education services

Our Children and Education – anti-racist practice standards (PDF 7.3mb) provide clear guidelines for how staff and users of our education and children services should work against racism. The purpose is to help and guide our partners, not to govern them.

Key moments in our anti-racism journey

Page updated on: 10 September 2024