Diversity and Inclusion

Our vision is a world that no longer tolerates the impact of arthritis. We refuse to accept arthritis insidiously stealing life’s fundamentals and we demand and deliver better answers for people with arthritis who face pain, fatigue and isolation. We create impact through funding world leading research, providing support and information, campaigning for change and giving people with arthritis a voice. We know that diversity and inclusion principles need to be embedded in our work if we are to reach the broadest range of people, address health inequities and defy arthritis together.

Everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect. We are committed to creating an organisational culture that is diverse and inclusive; a culture that nurtures and empowers every individual to flourish and reach their full potential, providing an equitable experience for all.

Diversity and inclusion strategy and reports

• Read the diversity and inclusion strategy in Welsh (PDF, 2.2 MB)
• Read the diversity and inclusion strategy as a Word document (Word, 80.1 KB)
  
  
• Read the diversity and inclusion annual report 2022/23 as a Word document (Word, 705 KB)
• Read the diversity and inclusion annual report 2021/22 (PDF, 875 KB)
• Read the diversity and inclusion annual report as a Word document (Word, 55 KB)
• Read the diversity and inclusion annual report 2021/22 in Welsh (PDF, 1 MB)
• Read the diversity and inclusion annual report in Welsh as a Word document (Word, 54 KB)

Our Strategy

Our strategy is a live document, committing to a deliberately ambitious vision as we want to do more than simply meet our legal obligations. It is a starting point, setting out our immediate and long-term activity. We will be continuously learning and refining our approach, developing our understanding in partnership with our staff and volunteers, while recognising that true organisational and cultural transformation will take time. We are committed to addressing areas of imbalance, adjusting our policies and processes if required.

Our vision

Diversity and inclusion will be at the heart of everything we do. Our research, services and influencing work will reflect the diverse needs of all those living with arthritis. Our employees, volunteers and Trustees will represent the broad diversity of the communities of which we are a part. Everyone will feel they can belong to the Versus Arthritis community, and feel comfortable and valued in bringing their whole self to our charity.

Our Values

Our values are the framework for our behaviours and decision-making and set out what we expect from our people at Versus Arthritis. We believe empowering our people to make values-based decisions will deliver better research, support and influence for people with arthritis. It will also help our people to feel involved, productive and energised to deliver our diversity and inclusion goals.

• We value our contribution to a truly inclusive and flexible organisation, that prioritises people’s health and wellbeing.

We continuously develop our understanding of the positive impact that diverse and inclusive practice and decision making has on people’s health and wellbeing.

• We value learning to increase our impact for people affected by arthritis.

We consistently support each other to learn and develop, recognising people have varying levels of understanding and will need equitable support.

• We value being accountable for our actions and have high expectations of each other.

We create safe environments, recognise our individual privilege and are comfortable to challenge ourselves and each other in our work on diversity and inclusion.

• We value persevering with challenges when we know it’s the right thing to do.

We know that diversity and inclusion work is not always comfortable or easy, but we will be tenacious in our efforts to progress our goals.

Our principles

• We share and understand challenges together.

We systematically collate diversity data to understand gaps in our support, research and influencing activity, action planning to ensure the broadest reach and impact.

• We give strength whenever it is needed.

We ensure our research, support and influencing activities are inclusive and accessible so no one is left behind.

• We never stop our search for new answers.

Using recent external research and practice, we continuously improve and review our diversity and inclusion work, striving for excellence.