12th December 2018

Uk Athletics Top Rankings At Vercida Awards

12 December 2018

UK Athletics is proud to be ranked number one BAME (black, Asian & Minority Ethnic) inclusive and LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi & Transgender) inclusive employer by VERCIDA in their annual awards.

The VERCIDA awards are given annually to recognise excellence and commitment to equality and diversity in the workplace.

This year’s award process was highly competitive and considered the 160+ highly-committed organisations working with VERCIDA on fair and people-focused employment. 

In terms of the LGBT-inclusive award, UKA has work closely with the home countries to develop and grow all areas of the sport including elite performance, coaching, major international events, competition and grassroots programmes within schools and clubs. Earlier this year, British Athletics supported Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces campaign at the SPAR British Athletics Indoor Championships and across British teams.

UK Athletics and the Home Countries also joined forces with VERCIDA to deliver the first ‘Raise the Bar’ conference in London for Transgender Awareness Week. A five-person panel comprising of Joanne Lockwood (SEE Change Happen), David Brown (UKA Welfare Officer), Jacqui Gavin (Transgender Activist) and Katherine Conway (Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Aon) came together at the event to answer questions from organisations and members of the public around the issues trans people face both in business and sport, focusing on what work Athletics is doing on the subject to help raise awareness.

In relation to the BAME-inclusive award, UKA created and hosted the first ever ‘COACH’ exhibition, celebrating the contributions of black and Asian athletes and coaches, both past and present, from grassroots to elite level. Recently, this was hosted at the Houses of Parliament in London at a special reception.

UK Athletics were also ranked within the top 10 lists for Gender-inclusive and Disability-inclusive employers.

Equality, Diversity & Engagement Lead at UK Athletics, Donna Fraser commented:

“We are honoured by this achievement, and I am very proud of the organisation for working hard to develop these areas as we seek to raise the profile of UK Athletics as an employer of choice for Equality and Diversity.

“We are committed to our Diversity Action Plan which runs between 2017-2020, and this recognition from VERCIDA is fantastic as we assess our progress at the end of 2018. But we know that the work doesn’t stop here, and we look forward to taking this forward continuing to improve our work in this space.”

More information about UK Athletics & Vercida can be found here.