The Employment Panel of Bury Council was scheduled to discuss a new Anti-Racist Organisation Strategy and the establishment of an all-age commissioning function. The meeting also included the review of minutes from a previous session and a report on post-redesignation for Legal and Democratic Services.

Anti-Racist Organisation Strategy

A key item on the agenda was the proposed two-year Anti-Racism Organisation Strategy, designed to move the council from being a non-racist to an anti-racist organisation. This strategy aligns with the council's commitment to the GM Race Equity Framework and responds to rising instances of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and racism. The strategy aims to embed anti-racist principles systemically, focusing on policies, procedures, workforce capability, leadership commitment, service delivery, community engagement, and a zero-tolerance approach. Year one is dedicated to education and internal processes, while year two focuses on putting learning into practice and working with partners and communities. The report highlighted local and national contexts, including demographic data for Bury, hate crime statistics, and the socio-economic factors impacting ethnic minority communities. It also outlined the Pyramid of Hate model to illustrate the escalation of racist behaviours and defined the progression from an institutionally racist to a non-racist, and finally, an anti-racist stance. The strategy's six goals include ensuring policies and systems support anti-racist outcomes, building workforce capability, demonstrating leadership commitment, delivering anti-racist services, amplifying the voice of ethnic minority communities, and ensuring a consistent zero-tolerance approach.

Establishment of an All-Age Commissioning Function

The panel was also scheduled to consider the establishment of a new all-age commissioning function, a recommendation stemming from an independent review of Children's Social Care and Adult Social Care by the consultancy IMPOWER. This integrated approach aims to improve resident outcomes, strengthen prevention, enhance market management, and achieve financial benefits by bringing together commissioning, sufficiency planning, and market-shaping activities across both children's and adult services. The report indicated that this would become the council's long-term operating model, with temporary arrangements in place for leadership and organisational structure during implementation. The recommendations included supporting the establishment of this new function, noting the temporary expansion of responsibilities for the current Director of Adult Social Services and Community Commissioning for up to 24 months, and supporting an honorarium payment for these additional duties. Consequential interim arrangements for operational leadership of Adult Social Care services were also proposed, with a full review of the operating model to be undertaken post-implementation. The report detailed progress made in sustaining practice improvement, strategic commissioning, sufficiency, and prevention and demand management, as well as the strategic case for change, outlining the benefits of a coordinated approach to commissioning across the life course. The proposed function would encompass children's strategic commissioning, adult strategic commissioning, and cross-cutting strategic functions such as market shaping, sufficiency planning, and provider relationship management, with strategic partnerships including NHS Greater Manchester and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The panel was due to review and approve the minutes from the previous Employment Panel meeting held on 20 July 2026. The report pack indicated a minor amendment was to be made to Minute EP.5 concerning the Workforce Policy review, specifically regarding the wording about advertising roles on Greater Jobs and the discretion for redeployees.

Post Redesignation Legal and Democratic Services

A report concerning post-redesignation for Legal and Democratic Services was also listed on the agenda, though no further details were provided in the available documentation.