Reform wants to cut council diversity roles. The problem is there are already barely any
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/13/reform-uk-savings-cutting-diversity-and-equity-roles-councils?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-5
Posted by BestButtons
Reform wants to cut council diversity roles. The problem is there are already barely any
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/13/reform-uk-savings-cutting-diversity-and-equity-roles-councils?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-5
Posted by BestButtons
24 Comments
> Councils run by Reform UK have an average of fewer than 0.5 diversity and equality roles each
> According to freedom of information requests, across the 10 Reform-run English councils there was a combined 4.56 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs connected to equality and diversity, not including roles required by law such as those for inclusion in education, including for pupils with disabilities.
> Even using an assumed average full-time salary of £50,000, cutting all the roles would save the Reform-run councils slightly less than 0.003% of their combined budget.
Don’t let that stop you, let’s twist the facts:
> Asked by the BBC shortly after the local elections how much money Reform could save from councils by cutting diversity efforts, the party’s then-chair, Zia Yusuf, was slightly vague. He hinted that some authorities had tried to hide equalities roles by giving them to “other people who have basically that same job but under a different title”.
The real numbers:
> One much-repeated figure was that cutting such schemes in central government could save £7bn a year. Official statistics show the actual amount spent in 2022-23, the last year for which figures were available, was £27m.
Reform’s numbers:
> Reform UK said the £7bn figure came from sums compiled in 2022 by a rightwing thinktank, Conservative Way Forward. However, this also covered government budgets for any charities and quangos that carried out what the report saw as “woke” activities.
And good luck cutting these roles:
> Since then, Yusuf has said little about equalities initiatives, beyond praising Reform-run Durham council for “renaming several key departments to remove references to climate change and equality and inclusion”. Durham has 1.8 full-time-equivalent diversity roles, but said that these were all connected to duties required by law.
Don’t have to understand anything to throw out big numbers, however:
> In June he said Kent council, also now run by Reform, had spent nearly £90m a year on “a contract for recruitment services”, saying this was 22% of their annual payroll. However, this was not a contract but a framework for a national public sector recruitment system operated by Kent, with critics suggesting this showed Yusuf did not understand procurement systems.
Even their wildly exaggerated made-up potential savings of £7bn is still a fraction of the [£40bn](https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/economics/article/predictions-of-40bn-hit-to-public-finances-from-brexit-correct-bzr63nw8d) additional revenue that could be made by reversing Brexit.
The last council (A London Borough) that I did some work for it was half of an FTE.
That same council had multiple care packages that were costing more than that in a month.
A single high needs child moving into a council’s area would wipe out the “savings” made by cutting all “diversity” spending.
And that’s before you get sued for failing the legal responsibilities put forward under the public sector equality duties.
The problem is there is a few. Hence the cutting part
It’s almost as if just blindly copying the Trump playbook just isn’t going to work in the UK.
Of course there aren’t. It’s not about money it’s about causing pain and suffering.
Reform are just trying to copy the MAGA lot across the pond. Sadly I think people in the UK are bitter enough that they will support with glee a party that promises to inflict pain on others.
You mean there are some, they’re getting rid of them, doesn’t affect many people.
Typical right wing ploy. Declare there’s a problem which doesn’t exist, so a few weeks they can declare victory in solving it.
Trump playbook. Watch out. They want what’s happening in the US to come here.
Sooner all position in every council go Ai the better
90 percent of bodies are a huge waste of money.
I have yet to meet a council Waller who isn’t a jobs worth and isn’t a condescending a hole.
They hate minorities and are actively trying to eradicate trans people from society as it couldn’t get lower in Europe for state sponsed hate.
if you invent a fake problem you get to claim victory when people point out it doesn’t exist
For most people it’s not the money but the ideology that’s the issue. Diversity roles make give people the impression that councils are recruiting based on diversity criteria, not merit. Widely unpopular.
Why are we still giving these clowns the time of day?
Every rage-bait post put on here is just pennies in their pocket and legitimises them over other parties who aren’t just out to whitewash society.
Reform want to do a lot of stuff that will end this way – because they’ve taken their voters on a wild goose chase from the start, and are rapidly approaching the point where some evidence of said geese may be expected of them.
It’s almost as if they just make shit up to get votes and people believe them because it matches their pre-existing prejudices.
Why does anyone pay attention to this grifting fuckwit? When was the last time he was in Clacton? Prick
Barely and Vs. any is the problem. Councils are bloated with non jobs and that needs to be addressed.
I’m still waiting for the 250 million a week to the NHS promised by the Brexit bus.
In politics it’s far more important to tell people what they want to believe is true than to tell them the truth.
I know a couple of people in this type of role, they’ve been the ones saying things like “yeah but he’s funny though” and “he was just waving” all this time.
Every time I see things like this I am reminded of this interview from 2009 when Toby Foster from radio Sheffield interviewed English democrat Peter Davies after he was elected mayor of Doncaster after promising to eliminate certain roles in the council. Davies didn’t have a clue. [https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/admiralty/episodes/2009-06-11T11_47_27-07_00](https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/admiralty/episodes/2009-06-11T11_47_27-07_00)
A 270 times inflation of the “savings” here is huge cause for concern.
How can you trust a parties promises to run a country when they can make such huge “errors” in potential savings?
Is mathematics now woke or something?
Solving real problems is hard solving imaginary ones is super easy