Report shows lack of racial diversity in the heritage sector

A survey by Historic England has found there is a lack of diversity across the heritage sector workforce, with no respondents in higher managerial positions describing themselves as Black.

The research found that 90% of respondents, at all levels of seniority, identify as white, while less than 1% identify as Black or Black British. 

The Heritage Sector Workforce Diversity Survey, which published its results last week and was commissioned in order to gain “a more robust understanding of who is currently part of the sector”, surveyed over 500 individuals from an undisclosed number of heritage organisations.

Participants were asked about a range of characteristics protected under the Equality Act 2010, including ethnicity, gender identity, disability, and socioeconomic status.

The survey found that almost 20% of the workforce identify themselves as disabled, and 25% identify themselves as neurodivergent. However just 50% of disabled people in the sector have a full-time, permanent contract, compared to 67% of respondents overall.

The research suggested that social mobility is low in the heritage sector, with less than 10% of respondents saying they had a parent or caregiver who worked in a manual or service-level occupation.

Sean Curran, Historic England’s head of inclusive heritage, said: “We believe that an inclusive heritage sector is a resilient heritage sector, one which better represents and addresses the needs and concerns of society and is relevant to a greater number of people.”

The report comes four years after Historic England launched a diversity strategy to review its approach to recruitment for all roles and “identify strategies to attract more diverse candidates”, in order to “make sure that our people better reflect the communities in which we work”.

The public body currently runs a Race Equality staff network, and provides advice on making hiring processes more inclusive and drafting inclusion, diversity and equality strategies, as well as running an Emerging Talent Placements Programme for young people from underrepresented backgrounds.

Historic England plans to develop “targeted projects and programmes” to improve accessibility in the heritage sector as a result of the survey. The charity also intends to carry out follow-up surveys every two years to track the progress of these initiatives.

06/01/2025 This story was updated to amend the standfirst, which incorrectly attributed the survey to English Heritage