Our Mission:
Diversity

We want local leaders to reflect Camden’s diverse communities and for young people to have the skills to lead in the future. We also want residents living in the borough to have the power to shape the decisions that affect their lives and where they live.

Camden’s diversity makes it one of the most vibrant places in London. It’s home to people from all walks of life, speaking dozens of languages and sharing cultures shaped by unique experiences and history.

But although diversity is Camden’s strength, life in the borough is unequal.

Our residents face inequality in many areas, including school attainment, job prospects, wealth, safety, housing and much more.

To radically reduce inequality, we need those in positions of power and those making decisions to reflect the diversity of our communities.

Our key areas of focus are:

Diversifying leadership and decision-making

• Increasing leadership diversity in institutions and businesses
• Amplifying community voices in local decision-making

Supporting the next generation to lead

• Developing an education system that prepares young people for leadership
• Creating a local economy that supports entrepreneurial diversity

What we’ve achieved so far

We want to lead by example and inspire others to join us to achieve the Diversity Mission.

At Camden Council, we’ve been working to make our organisation a fairer, more inclusive and equal place to work. And we’re collaborating with partners on projects to create inclusive opportunities for Camden’s communities.

Read more about our journey to becoming a more inclusive organisation.

There is much more to do but we are proud to celebrate our achievements so far:

• Working transparently: We have been voluntarily publishing our ethnicity, disability and gender pay gap data since 2015. We were also the first council to publish our pension gap based on gender.

• Fairer recruitment: We have focused on improving the fairness of our recruitment processes, with compulsory diverse interview panels and diverse shortlisting for mid-level and senior positions.

• Representation in leadership: As of 2024, 49.8% of the Council’s highest 5% of earners are women and 38.5% of senior officers are Black, Asian, or from other ethnic backgrounds, which is almost representative of Camden’s population (40.8%).

• Progress networks: We introduced the Women of Colour and Men of Colour Progression Networks, which are safe spaces organised and hosted by Camden employees for our Black, Asian and other ethnic minority colleagues to connect, share experiences, and support each other’s professional journeys.

• Disability support: We have created the Disability Inclusion Learning Offer for managers and HR staff to provide the knowledge and understanding to better support disabled staff, and introduced 10 days of disability leave. We have also been accredited as a Disability Confident Employer.

• Partnership working: We’ve partnered with Olmec to create ‘Black on Board’ to prepare underrepresented residents for leadership roles. We’ve also collaborated with Future Leaders UK and Camden Learning to equip young people with skills for social action and school governance – preparing the next generation to lead locally.