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Equality, Diversity & Inclusion News and Insights

EDI in 2025: What Shifted, What Didn't...

   
   

Reflecting on 2025: Milestones, Lessons, and the Road Ahead

   

2025 marked a turning point for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. After years of performative commitments and trend-led action, fatigue set in. Political pressure grew, profit often came first, and many organisations quietly stepped back—leaving staff disengaged and leaders cautious.


Our latest blog reflects on a year where EDI lost momentum but opportunity was presented. The backlash exposed the limits of quick fixes and surface-level change, creating space to reset.


Looking ahead to 2026, our position is clear: this version of EDI is done (performative and superficial version). We’re going back to basics—evidence-led, honest, and built to last.


👉 Read the blog and join us as we reframe EDI.

   
   
   
   

Key Moments in 2025💡

   
   

Across sectors in 2025, EDI became more visible, more resourced, and more contested. We saw progress in policy, sport and research, alongside increased scrutiny of workplace impact and growing backlash in some contexts. The common thread? Visibility alone isn’t enough. Where EDI was embedded into leadership, governance and accountability, progress held. Where it was treated as optional, reputational, or performative, momentum stalled.

   
   

🏛 Public Sector & Policy


Equality Law & Policy Debate
2025 also saw heightened debate around equality law interpretation, particularly relating to single-sex spaces and trans inclusion, with charities warning of mental health impacts when policy lacks clarity or nuance.


⚕️ Health & Care


NHS Equality, Diversity & Human Rights Week

Across the UK, health and care organisations used EDI Week 2025 to spotlight inclusion as critical to workforce wellbeing, leadership culture and patient outcomes.

⚽ Sport & Culture


Same-Sex Ice Dance Teams in the UK
British Ice Skating announced that same-sex couples will be permitted to compete nationally, marking progress for LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport — even as international rules remain restrictive.


EDI Strategy in Football
The English Football League continued to report progress under its long-term “Together” strategy to tackle discrimination and under-representation.

💼 Workplace & Employment


Women in the Workplace 2025
Research highlighted stalled — and in some cases declining — progress for women, particularly around advancement, support and leadership accountability.


Scaling Back DEI Under Pressure
Internationally, some employers reduced or reframed DEI efforts in response to political and cultural backlash, highlighting the fragility of progress when EDI isn’t embedded.

🌍 Research, Education & Global Context


EDI Action Planning in Research Systems
Bodies such as Research England published updated EDI action plans focused on inclusive research environments, signalling a shift toward more system-level approaches.
   
   

Internal Round-Up: What we've been building🧠

   
   

Leadership Unfiltered - Podcast Series


This year, we delivered Series 8 of Leadership Unfiltered, hosted by Mac and Scarlett Allen-Horton (Harper Fox) — continuing to create space for honest, challenging conversations about leadership, power and accountability.

Across the series, episodes explored what leadership looks like beyond titles and good intent, interrogating the realities leaders face when inclusion, responsibility and decision-making collide.


🎧 Final episode out today:
 What’s the hardest truth about leadership? 

A fitting close to the series — unpacking accountability, discomfort and the moments leaders rarely talk about openly.


✍️ A New Era for The Equal Group Blogs

2025 marked a shift in our blog content — sharper, more opinion-led, and unapologetically honest about where EDI is heading.


This year’s standout pieces included:

  • AI, EDI & calling out the bullshit

  • Flags, protests and the workplace

  • 10 thoughts on the death of EDI

  • EDI in crisis: Why have the loudest voices have gone the quietest


Together, these blogs signalled a clear move away from safe commentary towards critical reflection — asking harder questions about power, performance and progress in the EDI space. 


👉 What would you like to hear our thoughts on next year?


🧠 Beyond the Buzzwords — New Series

We also launched a new Beyond the Buzzwords series, designed to unpack some of the most overused — and misunderstood — terms in EDI.


So far, we’ve explored:

  • Privilege — beyond defensiveness and denial

  • Allyship — when it becomes performative, and what real practice looks like

The series continues to challenge surface-level language and re-centre accountability, action and impact. 2026 should explore....


   
   

A Word from the CEO


2025 has been a pivotal year for TEG, we have spent the year in listening mode, seeking to be self critical and build on work that we've delivered alongside some great organisations. We are committed to making 2026 as significant as possible for EDI in the face of economic, political and social pressures, but we are confident that sustainable progress will be made. A huge thanks to you all for being part of our journey and we look forward to increasing our collective impact in 2026 and beyond. 

   
   
   
   

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