NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard

Since 2015 all NHS organisations have been required to demonstrate how they are addressing race equality issues in a range of staffing areas through the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES).
WRES 2024 report findings
The WRES 2024 Data Analysis Report for NHS trusts published in June 2025, highlights the experience of black and minority ethnic (BME) people working in the NHS. It provides an overview of the data on all nine WRES indicators and where possible, comparison against data from previous years.
- Key findings indicated that the proportion of BME people in the NHS workforce continues to rise. 28.6 per cent of the workforce across NHS trusts came from a BME background, an increase of 14 per cent on the previous year.
- Although the percentage of representation of BME staff at very senior manager (VSM) level has increased from 11.2 per cent to 12.7 per cent since last year, the largest representation of BME staff is at Agenda for Change (AfC) band 5 at 42.3 per cent. This indicates that BME staff are finding it harder to progress than their white counterparts. At 80 per cent of NHS trusts, white applicants were significantly more likely than BME applicants to be appointed from shortlisting, a worsening of the figures by 4 percentage points since 2003.
- BME board membership has also reached its highest level of 16.5 per cent since the WRES was established. However, its growth has not kept up with the rise in BME staff across the NHS workforce.
- For staff from a black background only 42.2 per cent believe their trust provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion.
- 24.9 per cent of BME staff reported experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from staff in the last 12 months, compared to 20.7 for white staff. This shows there is still a long way to go for NHS employers to facilitate true workplace equality for BME staff.
If you have any queries, or require any clarification please contact the WRES team at england.WRES@nhs.net.