INTRODUCTION
Having been at the forefront of cricket’s drive to be fully inclusive to put Wellington cc on the map as the family and community club. This strategy document sets out our continuing commitment to grow and develop our processes, policies and priorities relating to all of the protected characteristics. Our Equality Action plan will accompany this document to provide focus and enable us to measure our progress. This document and the action plan will also underpin our long-term strategy and will be reviewed and updated for each season.

KEY STRATEGIES
The club’s key strategies (listed below) demonstrate that equality, diversity and inclusion are one of the important priorities at the club.
• Build a common understanding of the purpose, vision and direction of Wellington cc supported by the values and behaviours of ECB and Shropshire Cricket board and embraced by the Wellington cc family
• Develop a high-performance culture where people are respected, rewarded and empowered to reach their full potential regardless of the 9 Protected Characteristics.
• Empower all players and staff to achieve their very best, regardless of their background and heritage
• Develop a team of disciplined, hungry cricketers who are role models for young people of all backgrounds while playing a brand of successful cricket.
• Build a club with supporting infrastructure, thus being inclusive of our diverse members and guests.
• Establish effective communication within the whole team, creating a united integrated team philosophy with equality for all
• Ensure all our staff and volunteers feel safe and supported at all times
• Enable everyone to have equitable opportunities to enjoy cricket as a member or fan
• Encourage effective decision-making, through a wider range of diverse voices contributing to discussions throughout the Club.
• Enhance the experience that our players, staff and communities gain, through increasingly diverse representation at all levels
• Nurture the growth of the Club, through the diversity and inclusivity of our player, coaching, ground, managerial and support staff, and our local communities
• Respond effectively to legal obligations in line with the Equality Act 2010
• Deliver a compassionate and progressively effective club

EDI RESOURCE
In order to further our ambitions, we have appointed a new role of an EDI officer in addition to an existing safeguarding team with a strong focus on Equality, Diversity Inclusion. Our management committee will meet regularly to review progress against our Equality Action Plan.

WORKFORCE TARGETS
We have identified long-term targets in relation to our workforce, allowing us to measure success. These are centred around the most recent changes in the demographics of Telford town and are linked to our key equality priorities, reviewed on an annual basis. We are keen to have a workforce/members/officials which represents the community in which we operate and engage in. Our chosen areas for these targets are:
• Black, Asian and Mixed Heritage
• Female
• Disability
• LGBT

The plan will continue to grow and change over the years, in line with the growth of the town and as we continue to develop our workforce/members/officials
The tables below show our targets. We will measure our progress against the targets through the annual data collection window for our workforce/members/officials , which will take place in March – October

SUPPORTER ENGAGEMENT
The Wellington cricket club brings our historic family club ethos together with our ongoing work in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
We will continue to consult with community groups within the town of Telford to advise, guide and support us as we gather a better understanding of different cultures. This will enable us to maintain the strong, day to day relationships we’ve forged with them, so they feel comfortable in being able to give advice and correcting us when needed.
The links we have built place the club at the very centre of our local community. The groups we’ve worked with have the confidence to recommend further ties with new groups and charities.

LADIES TEAM
Recent success of our ladies teams in last 5 years will be the catalyst for further development of the Wellington cc Ladies squads. Regular use of the club’s training ground already takes place and the team’s social media accounts are also fully utilised to encourage more attendance at matches. We will continue our full support for their involvement

TACKLING RACISM AND OTHER FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION
We aim to provide a clearer route for supporters/players/members/officials to report incidents. We continue to encourage incidents to be reported to us. All incidents are and will be recorded to track progress and review areas of concern which may need more focus as part of our Action Plan.
Club will continue to be strongly encouraged to highlight incidents of discrimination.
We will also continue to find ways to help our players, staff and people associated with the club in vocalising and representing their views and beliefs.

A PROACTIVE APPROACH TO DELIVER POSITIVE CHANGE: THE ACTIONS
We acknowledge that the challenges we face in both addressing issues of inequality and inequity, and embedding a more positive EDI culture at Wellington Cricket Club are complex, multifaceted and ever-changing. Our approach is to confront these challenges directly, on an ongoing basis, and at different levels – utilising the variety of assets and resources at our disposal.
As with anything that needs a concerted focus for continuous improvement and transformation, the evidence-base for change and meaningful engagement with our stakeholders are the foundation for success. At the heart of our strategic approach to EDI is our commitment to pay simultaneous and sustained attention to those strategic enablers that have been shown to improve operational and cultural aspects of a club. We have identified a range of objectives and associated actions which will enable us to deliver on our vision. These are outlined as follows:

1- Demonstrable leadership at all levels
Leadership and direction are amongst the most critical components when progressing to make a positive impact on EDI within any club. Demonstrable and committed leadership on EDI, at all levels, is key to constantly improving on this agenda.
Objective: Ensure leaders demonstrate commitment to EDI, role-modelling and driving the right behaviours and actions across the organisations to develop and sustain a fully inclusive environment and culture.

2- Effective Governance and accountability
Work on EDI will have maximum impact when it is positioned within the mainstream business and governance of the club.
Objective: Ensure all staffs are committed to embedding transparency on EDI throughout our club and to ensure our governance, decision-making structures and dayto-day operations

3- Building insight and knowledge
Data and insight are essential to make the right and appropriate decisions concerning EDI.
Objective: Develop and analyse evidence and insight, based on internal data sources and those obtained through our external partnership and engagement work, to understand the nature of the barriers and inequalities that our players/staff/stakeholders face. Use this insight to explore interventions and initiatives necessary to address challenges.

4- Empowering our people
EDI is everyone’s responsibility and cultural change in our club will only happen when our players/staff/members are empowered, educated and work together in support of this strategy.
Objective: Ensure our players/staff/members have the understanding, capability and confidence in respect of EDI to behave in the right way, share experiences and challenge actions and behaviours which are not acceptable

5- Establishing meaningful partnerships
EDI work cannot progress in isolation. We need to ensure that we are collaborating and working with the right people and organisations, that our Players and stakeholder networks bring on board under-represented voices and perspectives and that these inform our policies, processes and practices.
Objective: Ensure we draw on external expertise and collaborate with a range of people and organisations who can offer insight, lived experiences and best practice, but also who can challenge and support us to enable underrepresented voices and perspectives to be heard

6- Inclusive communication and stakeholder engagement
Work on EDI needs to be built on clear and consistent messaging, players, staff and stakeholder engagement that is both meaningful and sustained, and the raising of awareness through specific and accessible communication channels.
Objective: Ensure all our communications (both internal and external) and players/staff/stakeholder engagement processes reinforce our commitment to making cricket a sport for everyone. Ensure meaningful engagement that supports the principles of inclusion and social mobility

Continuous Improvement
Our plan for delivering equity, diversity and inclusion within the Club is both bold and ambitious. At its heart is an aim to change operational processes and culture in all parts of the Club. This requires commitment from everyone, including all those who lead teams, support and manage staff and volunteers, to embrace EDI in their own leadership. There are already excellent examples where EDI is considered, in ways that help embed inclusive behaviours and practices in all that we do.

The goal is that everyone can clearly identify how they can make a positive change to consider EDI in the way that they work. The overall mission of our EDI Strategic Delivery Plan is for the Club to be a place where everyone is respected and has a high degree of belonging, are safe and supported, and diversity is both celebrated and used to support the growth. These will help us achieve continuous improvement on the EDI agenda – to help ensure everyone counts.