Achieving 20% diverse production teams

What we ask producers to do

For all new commissions from April 2021 we are asking production companies to commit to at least 20% of their production teams being from the following under-represented groups:

Those from Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds
Those with lived experience of a disability
Those from lower-income backgrounds - to achieve socio-economic diversity (SED)

Further information about how we define these groups can be found below.

We ask that the 20% is made up of at least two of these three under-represented groups. However, we are flexible in how the overall percentage is achieved and appreciate different productions will have different considerations in terms of location, content, talent, company and population characteristics. We therefore encourage indies to have active conversations with commissioners about how to achieve the 20% and identify any challenges to that.

The WHOLE production team from runner to executive producer, craft roles and post production are included in the 20%.

We encourage producers to build these plans into their pitch from the start. We want to commission ideas and companies that support our ambition.

How we work with production companies

Commissioners will have conversations with production companies ahead of a programme being commissioned to discuss how the 20% will be achieved 鈥� and, in some cases, if they might be able to go further.

This forms part of the formal diversity conversation between the producer and commissioner ahead of a final decision, and the outcomes are recorded in the commissioning specification. If you need further advice or support at this stage, our Creative Diversity team may be able to help.

On some productions, the commissioner and producer may agree to target specific roles where they want to develop a broader pool of diverse off-screen talent for the benefit of future series and/or wider sector, which may be beyond what is achievable within the production budget. Where commissioners believe there are valuable interventions to be made beyond the existing budget 鈥� they can draw on the diverse talent development fund. Discussions will be had with the production company ahead of commission if this is the case, and funding agreed. We welcome ideas from producers who want to do this, but please note that the diversity development fund is not available for ideas that are not commissioned.

We will continue to discuss progress with companies during production, by asking for updates at each payment stage. We recognise there may be unforeseen challenges and the make-up of teams can change during production. We expect our suppliers to notify us as soon as possible if they are encountering problems achieving the 20%, and our Creative Diversity team can offer advice and support.

Where possible, we encourage all producers to support their teams and the diverse members to find further work at the end of a production and progress their careers. See our resources section for insight and advice about ways of supporting individuals in production.

How we measure progress

Throughout the production we will continue to check how a company is doing against their commitment in the production progress report.

We ask all producers to report on what percentage of their production team comes from the three underrepresented groups in the end of production report, along with any actions taken to increase off air diversity which were agreed and recorded in the programme commissioning specification. The end of production report can be accessed via the finance and invoicing page along with a list of the information required.

At the end of the production we will also use Diamond diversity data to judge if a production has met the 20%. Diamond is the pan-industry monitoring tool used to track diversity in a production, both on and off screen. We expect production companies to ensure their teams are engaged with Diamond reporting and encourage them to self-declare their diversity information via the system. Find out more about using Diamond and how to encourage individuals to self-declare.

We will not be able to track progress on Socio-Economic Diversity through Diamond until agreement is reached with The Creative Diversity Network and other Broadcasters, and changes are implemented in the system. We are working to do this as soon as possible.

Under-represented groups: the definitions

The definitions for the three under-represented groups are as follows:

Those from Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds.

Defined as:

Black/African/Caribbean/Black British. Selection: Black African, Black British, Black Other, Black Caribbean, Other Black background
Asian/Asian British. Selection: Asian British, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian, Other Asian background, Pakistani
Mixed/Multiple Ethnic Groups. Selection: Mixed Ethnicity
Other Ethnic Group. Selection: Middle/Near Eastern/Arab, any other Ethnic Group

Those with lived experience of a disability

Defined as:

Under the Equality Act 2010 a person is disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a 鈥榮ubstantial鈥� and 鈥榣ong-term鈥� negative effect on their ability to do normal daily activities.

Those from lower-income backgrounds 鈥� to achieve socio-economic diversity (SED)

We use 鈥榩arental occupation鈥� as the key factor to determine this group ie anyone whose parents were in 鈥榬outine and manual occupations鈥� at the age of 14. For example:

Semi-routine manual and service occupations such as: postal worker, machine operative, security guard, caretaker, farm worker, catering assistant, sales assistant.
Routine manual and service occupations such as: HGV driver, cleaner, porter, packer, labourer, waiter/waitress, bar staff.

We appreciate that socio-economic diversity is not as established an industry standard as ethnicity and disability 鈥� and we are working with other Broadcasters, The Creative Diversity Network and Pact to improve the consistency of definitions, monitoring protocols and reporting through Diamond. In the meantime, we will work with producers to make positive progress, and you can find useful resources to help below.