A new diversity body to promote codes of professional practice has been set up and officially registered, it has emerged.
The doomed Learning and Skills Council (LSC) last year recommended that a new association should be developed after a £230,000 study of equality professionals found they lacked support in their development and career progression.
But despite publishing a 100-page summary outlining how the body could work, the LSC admitted it would never actually establish the body itself. This led experts to brand the project a waste of money.
However, 11 brave equality professionals met last Tuesday to decide how to develop the body, with some taking responsibility for key areas including marketing, membership and professional standards.
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The meeting was hosted by association management consultancy Kingston Smith (KSAM), which in March wrote to more than 100 diversity professionals asking for their input before establishing an association.
Minutes from the meeting said: “The new Institute is to be run by the members and not by KSAM. The new company has been set up and registered at Companies House, and work on a website is in progress.” The group meets again on 30 June.
