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Inclusivity Guidelines

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When we design services for our residents, we should make sure that everyone can use the service.

In this section, we will discuss how to make services inclusive (For accessibility guidelines, see the section on accessibility).

Why we need to be inclusive

Our users don’t have a choice when it comes to accessing our services, so we need to make sure we include everyone. We also have a legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 not to exclude protected groups. We can’t discriminate because of:

  • age
  • gender
  • marital status
  • being pregnant or having recently given birth
  • disability
  • race, nationality, ethnic or national origin
  • religion, belief or lack of religion or belief
  • sex
  • sexual orientation

For more information, see GOV.UK’s guidance on making your service more inclusive.

Asking for personal information

There may be many different reasons why we need to ask our users for personal information. Most often it’s through questions on forms or surveys.

Before asking the question, ask yourself ‘is it really necessary?’ Chances are, it isn’t.

You must have a reason for collecting each type of personal data and explain this to the user.

Asking questions about gender or sex

We follow the GOV.UK Design System when it comes to asking gender or sex questions.

You should only ask users about gender or sex if you genuinely cannot provide your service without this information.

If you do need to ask, use ‘sex’ when you need biological data. For example, if you’re providing a medical service. In all other cases, use ‘gender.’

Asking about gender

If you have to ask about gender, these are the options recommended by our LGBTQ+ Employee Network:

  • Agender
  • Bigender
  • Female
  • Gender fluid
  • Male
  • Non-binary
  • Pangender
  • Transgender
  • Prefer to self-describe (provide a text box for response)
  • Prefer not to say

You should list the fields in alphabetical order.

Asking about sex

If you have to ask about sexual orientation, these are the options recommended by our LGBTQ+ Employee Network:

  • Asexual
  • Bisexual
  • Gay man
  • Heterosexual/straight
  • Lesbian/gay woman
  • Pansexual
  • Skoliosexual
  • Prefer to self-describe (provide a text box for response)
  • Prefer not to say

You should list the fields in alphabetical order.

Writing to residents

Messages are often addressed to ‘Dear Sir or Madam’. However, this excludes people who do not identify as male or female. We recommend addressing things to people in context, such as ‘Dear resident’ or ‘Dear service user’.

Asking other equalities questions

As a general rule, we follow GOV.UK’s Design System when building digital services.

We recommend using their guidance when asking questions on:

  • age
  • disability
  • ethnicity
  • marital status
  • religion

Find information on how to ask users for equality information on GOV.UK.

Contact us

If you have any questions about inclusivity, email the Equalities team at [email protected].

If you have any questions or feedback about our Digital Manual, email the Service Transformation team at [email protected].