Mishcon de Reya has today pledged its support for a fairer and more inclusive Oxfordshire by signing the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Charter.
There are significant inequalities across Oxfordshire: according to the 2019 English Indices of Deprivation, 17 of 61 wards in Oxfordshire rank amongst the most deprived in England. The Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership, a group of over 100 organisations working together to share knowledge, expertise and resources, created The Charter to address this.
The Charter aims to take specific actions to create a more equal and sustainable region with opportunities and benefits for all people within the county. Mishcon de Reya has an office in Oxford, having completed its merger with Taylor Vinters in January 2023.
The firm has agreed to a set of pledges that are grouped into the following categories:
- Support local and social economy - Using collective buying power to support the local economy and maximise social value.
- Create opportunities to work - Supporting those furthest from the labour market on their journey towards secure employment, understanding the barriers people face in accessing employment and what employees can do differently to remove these barriers.
- Recruit inclusively - Making jobs accessible for all residents and hiring from diverse communities through internal inclusive recruitment practices which enable people to gain employment, sustain their employment and thrive within the workforce and wider society.
- Improve training and educational attainment - Creating workplaces where employees can thrive and grow and supporting educational programmes for children.
- Sharing resources, skills and assets - Practical ways to ensure goods and services are accessible through things such as offering your staff the opportunity to volunteer, offering work experience to a student or financial or practical support to a local charity or foodbank.
- Provide fair wages - Ensuring employees have a fair and decent wage and are properly rewarded for the work that they do.
Mishcon de Reya has already demonstrated its commitment to creating opportunities to work, recruiting inclusively and improving training by working closely with organisations such as Rare Recruitment, Sutton Trust, Social Mobility Business Partnership and UpTree. The firm was recently recognised as a Top 75 employer in the Social Mobility Employer Index 2023 and was also named as a Top 30 Employer for Working Families in 2023.
Nicola McConville, Partner at Mishcon de Reya, commented: "The importance of a fair economy for everyone cannot be overstated and being a responsible citizen is an inherent part of the culture at Mishcon. We are already involved in a number of initiatives that strive for more inclusion and greater opportunity for all. Signing the Charter will bring some local focus to those efforts – we are thrilled to be involved and optimistic about the potential for change in the region."
Baroness Jan Royall and Jeremy Long, Co-Chairs of the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership (OIEP), commented: “We are thrilled to welcome Mishcon de Reya LLP as pledgers to the Charter of the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership (OIEP). Their commitment to creating a more inclusive economy for Oxfordshire is commendable and we look forward to working with them to achieve our shared goals. It’s fantastic to see the growing support for the aims of the OIEP. Mishcon de Reya LLP is joining a group of over a hundred organisations across Oxfordshire who are working together to share knowledge, expertise and resources to address some of our greatest challenges. We hope that their commitment will inspire other organisations to sign up to the Charter, and adopt some of its pledges, to create a more equal and sustainable region that creates opportunities and benefits for all people within the county.”
About the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership (OIEP)
The OIEP is a county-wide group that brings together employers, business, education, community groups and local government. Its aim is to work together to create opportunities and benefits for all people within the county by sharing knowledge, expertise and resources, and creating links between different areas of work. It is focused on four areas to deliver its vision: education, employment, social value and procurement, and place shaping. It aims to work with projects across Oxfordshire that the OIEP can support, grow or amplify their work and is also building a repository of resources, case studies and signposting to support organisations working towards a more inclusive economy.
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