Welsh Revenue Authority strategic equality plan and objectives 2025 to 2028

The Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA) helps deliver a fair tax system for Wales. Since 2018 we’ve been responsible for the collection of Landfill Disposals Tax (LDT) and Land Transaction Tax (LTT) which are the first taxes raised in Wales, for Wales, in 800 years.

We’re helping to raise over £1 billion in our first 4 years to directly fund Welsh public services such as in health, schools, and social care. 

We’re a Civil Service organisation, the first non-ministerial department created by Welsh Government. We’re small and specialist with over 100 members of staff and 14 professions. Our people are highly engaged, rating highly in the annual Civil Service People Survey, with particularly high ratings from our staff for Inclusion and Fair Treatment.

You can find out more about working here by looking at our most recent People Survey results. 

We’re proud to rank highly across the Civil Service for Inclusion and Fair Treatment (first place in 2023 and fourth place in 2024). Our people are highly engaged, ranking sixth in the annual Civil Service People Survey in 2024 from over 100 employers.

You can find out more about what our people think about working for us by looking at our most recent People Survey results. 

We’ve innovated a Welsh way of doing tax called ‘Our Approach’. We use this approach to work with taxpayers and others to make sure the right tax is paid at the right time. By working together, we help deliver a fair tax system for Wales. 

We base everything we do on our corporate plan. Our strategic equality objectives and strategic equality plan is closely aligned with this. This sets out our purpose, strategic organisational objectives and longer-term ambitions. We report on our work annually. See our latest annual report and accounts. 

We’re an agile and multi-skilled organisation, employing over 100 people with skills and experience spanning 14 different professions. We champion innovation, collaboration and shared decision making. And we empower and entrust our people with high levels of responsibility and autonomy. 

Read more about the WRA on GOV.WALES website. 

Our equality objectives reflect our ongoing commitment to equality and are shaped by our legal responsibilities under the:

• Equality Act 2010 (Statutory Duties) (Wales) Regulations 2011
• Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) Specific Duties for Wales
• Future Generations Commissioner’s Five Ways of Working Principles 

We’re committed to fostering an inclusive environment that values and respects individual differences. We actively work to remove or reduce disadvantages, take steps to meet the specific needs of people who share protected characteristics, as well as recognising intersectionality.

Our equality objectives are inclusive of and apply to all nine protected characteristics: 

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• marriage and civil partnership
• pregnancy and maternity
• race
• religion and belief
• sex
• sexual orientation 

Our strategic equality objectives for 2025 to 2028 build on the foundations laid in our 2020 to 2024 strategic equality plans. That plan included five objectives developed collaboratively with other public bodies in Wales through the Wales Public Bodies Equality Partnership, alongside eight internal equality objectives.

You can read more about our equality objectives in our equality plans and reports.

As part of our commitment to the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) set out in the Equality Act 2010 (Statutory Duties) (Wales) Regulations 2011, we’ve developed our strategic equality plan in collaboration with our stakeholders. This approach ensures that our actions are informed by those with lived experience and that our actions are meaningful and inclusive. 

The WRA has carefully considered its requirements under the general duty, which requires us to:

• eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited under or by the Equality Act
• advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not
• foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not 

Additionally, the WRA has considered its requirements under the specific duties for Wales, which are to:

• assess and monitor policies and practices
• identify and collect relevant information about equality
• revise and publish, outcome focused equality objectives
• identify and collect information about differences in pay
• training and collecting employment information
• revise and publish a strategic equality plan
• involve people who represent one or more of the protected groups and who have an interest the way we carry out our functions
• consider the general duty in procurement processes
• produce an annual report each year
• publish accessible documentation 

We carried out extensive consultation including engagement with staff at all levels in the organisation, such as Tȋm Arwain (Executive Team), the Service Delivery Leadership Group, and a number of cross-organisation focus groups as well as Trade Unions.

Additionally, we drew on insights from:

• the Wales Public Bodies Equality Partnership, a collaboration of 12 organisations focusing on equality
• findings from the Civil Service People Survey, which provided valuable feedback on staff engagement, inclusion, and organisational culture
• ongoing dialogue with equality-focused networks and external stakeholders 

These conversations helped us shape our strategic equality plan and ensure our objectives are contextually relevant and aligned with our organisational culture of innovation, collaboration, and kindness. 

Our objectives and strategic equality objectives for 2025 to 2028 build on the objectives and actions that have already been taken during the life of the 2020 to 2024 plan.

We’ll foster a fair and inclusive place to work where our people can thrive 

We will: 

• seek to increase the diversity of our applicants by engaging with diverse communities through outreach
• encourage our people to disclose meaningful equality data, as well as monitor other equality data
• continue to nurture a positive place to work where people feel their wellbeing is valued and supported

We commit to: 

• engaging with diverse communities to encourage applications from diverse groups (biannually)
• supporting people with applying for our jobs (annually)
• monitoring our recruitment data quarterly and our gender pay gap annually to highlight areas of focus (quarterly and annually)
• encouraging our people to disclose meaningful data through regular communication and encouragement (annually)
• considering our people survey results to benchmark the PERMA index and Stress Proxy score, as well as other relevant indicators (annually) 

We’ll increase our understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) to remove discrimination and bias from service delivery 

We will: 

• deliver relevant EDI training to our people
• continually monitor the needs of our customers so that we can deliver our services inclusively
• nurture a workplace where people feel able raise concerns about bullying, harassment, victimisation and unlawful discrimination 

We commit to: 

• offering learning and development opportunities that include the sharing of lived experience (annually)
• considering the impact of our services and policies through a range of means, including user research and completion of equality impact assessments (ongoing)
• continuing to monitor and improve our recruitment practises to ensure they're inclusive and free of bias for example, by maintaining our Disability Confident Leader status (ongoing)
• promoting campaigns and policy awareness to encourage people to raise concerns (annually) 

We’ll make our services accessible to all 

We will: 

• ensure new services are accessible and comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2, AA Standard
• review the accessibility of our existing services to comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2, AA Standard 

We commit to: 

• starting with design requirements covering accessibility and champion these through every stage of building a service (ongoing)
• utilising both automated and manual testing techniques to cover the standards (ongoing)
• ensuring our people have access to the relevant guidance and understand accessibility within their respective disciplines (ongoing)
• working closely with a digital accessibility provider to ensure our services are reviewed and implement their recommendations as a priority (ongoing)
• being transparent in our published accessibility statement (annually) 

We’ll reflect equality in our procurement process 

We will: 

• include social value expectations in all our higher value contracts (over £25,000)
• encourage all our suppliers to become Disability Confident through the Disability Confident Employer Scheme
• require all our higher value suppliers (over £25,000) to have policies and training in place promoting EDI 

We commit to: 

• developing social value quality criteria to include in procurement processes over £25,000
• including a statement within our procurement documents, highlighting we're a Disability Confident Leader and encourage all suppliers to sign up (ongoing)
• requiring our higher value suppliers (over £25,000) to confirm they have EDI policies and training in place, or commit to having these in place should they be awarded a contract with us (ongoing) 

To ensure the effective delivery and continuous improvement of our strategic equality plan, we‘ve embedded clear monitoring and review of the actions through our existing governance structures. These include: 

• Tîm Arwain (Executive Team) holds overall accountability for the implementation of the strategic equality plan, ensuring alignment with our corporate strategy and values
• the Corporate Delivery Leadership Group and the Service Delivery Leadership Group regularly review progress against the plan (at least quarterly) and integrate equality considerations into service planning and delivery 

We will also: 

• include our progress as part of our published annual equality report, to maintain transparency and accountability
• continue to use data such as the Civil Service People Survey, audits, and feedback mechanisms to assess the impact of our actions
• review our strategic equality plan annually and formally every four years, in line with our statutory requirements