I am Lola, the Marketing Executive within IPS Grow. On 22 July, I went to Manchester for an in-person Community of Practice (CoP) focused on race equity. Hosted by members of the IPS Grow North team, the day brought IPS professionals together to reflect, share learning and identify practical ways to make services more equitable and inclusive.

What stood out immediately was the energy in the room. Vicky Lomas (IPS Grow Lead) described colleagues engaging in “honest, meaningful conversations about race equity”, with a clear passion to drive change, challenge assumptions and reflect on practice. John Flaherty (IPS Grow Lead) was equally encouraged by the level of participation and by the willingness of attendees to share vulnerable, honest reflections. In his words, “this enabled deeper and more meaningful conversations around the tables”.

Race equity is everyone’s responsibility

One of the clearest messages from the day was that race equity cannot sit with one person, team or senior leader. As one attendee put it,

It actually needs to come from everybody, not just directors.

This was echoed across the North team’s reflections. Maggie (IPS Grow Lead) highlighted curiosity, collaboration and the understanding that race equity belongs across organisations rather than with one individual or team. Rebecca (IPS Grow Support Lead) also noted the importance of involving Employment Specialists and keeping communication open between teams, partners and clients. The discussions reinforced that it is OK to be curious, ask questions, and challenge assumptions. Natalie Crampton (IPS Grow Lead) reflected that services thoughtfully explored the reasons behind race equity work and openly shared meaningful stories, life experiences and client voices. For her, the day reminded her that equity and inclusion are not separate from IPS delivery; they are fundamental to how we support people every day.

During the Race Equity Action Plan (REAP) activities, services drew on one another’s experiences and explored how local data can help identify barriers and inequalities. Many teams already had a strong understanding of their local data and thoughtful ideas about the thematic areas they wanted to address.

The conversations also highlighted gaps in representation within data. Participants discussed the need to look beyond headline percentages, consider the actual numbers and relate findings to the communities in each local area. Questions such as “how many people of colour are disengaging from services?” showed why detailed, locally informed analysis is important.

The aim is not simply to produce an action plan, but to embed it. Natalie Irvine, Quality and Social Value Lead at Pure Innovations, described her key takeaway as reviewing the plan and making it part of everyday work.

Personal stories and client voices made the discussions taking place especially powerful. In one discussion, it was noted that it can be quite startling to notice that once you reach Band 5, the higher up you go, the less diversity you see. Tyron Coley from Groundwork Greater Manchester shared feedback from a client who said how much difference it made to work with someone who looked like them.

Attendees also spoke about engaging the right stakeholders, adapting processes where needed and identifying learning and development opportunities that can support sustainable change. Vicki summarised three values to help drive this work forward: opportunity, belonging and teamwork.

Collaboration beyond the room

The day also introduced me to wider work taking place in the region. Mysha Williams from The Growth Company chairs the Race, Equity, Injustice and Health Forum, which aims to improve access to services such as IPS. Connections like this offer valuable opportunities for services and partners to share learning and work together. If people would like to learn more or get involved, she suggested contacting her here: Mysha.Williams@GCEmployment.uk.

John Flaherty offered a reminder during the day:

We’re not going to change the world with this, but we can do our best locally.

That stayed with me. The scale of the challenge should not prevent us from taking practical steps within your own services, teams and communities.

I left Manchester encouraged by the collective commitment in the room. Services were keen to review and strengthen their REAPs, collaborate on solutions and learn from one another.

Actions they wanted to take with them included keeping race equity on team agendas at least monthly, holding regular conversations, understanding what is working and what is not, and reviewing progress in six months.

There is still a lot to do, but this CoP showed that race equity is firmly a priority across the services represented.