A structured, evidence-based assessment to help your organisation understand where you are on your anti-oppression and racial justice journey — and what to do next. Please answer honestly based on current reality, not aspiration. Identifying gaps is as valuable as identifying strengths.

Anti-oppression & racial justice diagnostic

Anti-Oppression & Racial Justice Diagnostic — Social Justice Collective

Anti-Oppression & Racial Justice Diagnostic · Estimated time: 25 minutes

Before you begin

This diagnostic invites your organisation to reflect honestly on its anti-oppression and racial justice practice. It goes beyond EDI compliance and asks about systems, power, and material outcomes.

Please answer based on actual practice and outcomes — not intent. Identifying where oppression is still being reproduced is as valuable as identifying what is working.

This diagnostic has eight sections:

Your organisation profile
Purpose, Strategy & Leadership
Data, Evidence & Transparency
Culture, Safety & Everyday Power
Policies & Processes
Learning
Repair, Accountability & Response to Harm
Resourcing, Power & Future Commitments

For each section you will rate three statements, then answer two questions about evidence and barriers. The rating scale used throughout is:

1 — Not in place, or actively harmful

2 — Early stage, inconsistent, or dependent on individuals

3 — Partly in place but not yet shifting power

4 — Embedded and producing measurable change

5 — Transformative — power is genuinely shared and outcomes are shifting

When you reach the end of the diagnostic, you will be asked to send your responses to the Social Justice Collective by email. We will then produce a tailored report and share it with you within 10 working days.

Section 1 of 9

About your organisation

This information helps us contextualise your diagnostic findings and write a report that is specific to your context.

Organisation name *

Your name *

Your role *

Email address *

Sector / industry

Organisation size

What is the primary purpose of your organisation? Who do you exist for and who are you accountable to? *

Primary communities served

Mission or vision statement (optional)

Do you have a union, staff representatives, or formal worker voice structures?

Yes No In development

Approximate composition of your senior leadership and board (optional)

Any recent public commitments, harms, or controversies relevant to justice work? (optional)

Section 2 of 9

Purpose, Strategy & Leadership

Rate each statement 1–5 using the scale from the introduction.

1. Our organisational purpose explicitly includes a justice or anti-oppression commitment — not just inclusion or diversity.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

2. We have a clear anti-oppression and racial justice strategy with time-bound goals that prioritise dismantling harmful systems — not just increasing representation.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

3. Leaders are held accountable through measurable justice outcomes — not just training completion or policy existence.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

What specific actions have your leaders taken in the last 12 months to redistribute power or resources? If you can't point to any, please say so.

Who decided your current anti-oppression priorities — and were the people most affected by oppression meaningfully involved in that decision?

Section 3 of 9

Data, Evidence & Transparency

Rate each statement 1–5 using the scale from the introduction.

4. We analyse diversity data alongside power indicators — seniority, pay, retention, disciplinary action, and decision-making influence.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

5. We gather evidence from marginalised staff and communities in ways that do not expose them to risk — and they are involved in deciding what data matters and how it is interpreted.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

6. We regularly share progress including what is not working — not only successes — and we can show where data has led to structural change.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

What evidence do you have that oppression is currently being produced or reproduced in your organisation or services?

What have you changed as a direct result of that evidence — and what have you not yet changed, and why?

Section 4 of 9

Culture, Safety & Everyday Power

Rate each statement 1–5 using the scale from the introduction.

7. Staff across all levels can challenge racism and oppression without retaliation or career penalty.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

8. Marginalised staff are not expected to educate others for free, carry disproportionate emotional labour, or act as the organisation's conscience without proper recognition and resource.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

9. The organisation actively interrupts oppressive norms in meetings, communication, workload distribution, and informal culture — not only overt discrimination.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

Describe one situation where your organisation successfully interrupted oppression or shifted culture. What made it work, and who drove it?

Where does resistance to anti-oppression work come from in your organisation — and how is it handled when it surfaces?

Section 5 of 9

Policies & Processes

Rate each statement 1–5 using the scale from the introduction.

10. Recruitment and progression systems are designed to dismantle inequitable criteria and gatekeeping — not just reduce bias at the margins.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

11. Pay, benefits, and job grading are reviewed against race, gender, disability, and class — with clear and time-bound action toward parity.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

12. Policies are shaped with input from impacted staff and communities — and you can show what changed because of that input.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

Name one policy or process redesigned specifically to shift power or improve material equity. What changed, who was involved, and who benefited?

Which policy or practice most needs dismantling or rebuilding — and what is stopping that from happening?

Section 6 of 9

Learning

Rate each statement 1–5 using the scale from the introduction.

13. Anti-oppression and racial justice learning focuses on systems, power, and material change — not awareness, intent, or individual bias alone.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

14. Leaders and managers are developed in accountability, repair, and power-sharing — not just inclusive leadership behaviours.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

15. You evaluate learning by its impact on behaviour and structural outcomes — not attendance or completion rates.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

What learning has led to tangible, observable changes in how your organisation operates — in decisions made, systems changed, or power redistributed?

What has felt performative, stalled, or produced backlash — and what does that tell you about where resistance lives in your organisation?

Section 7 of 9

Repair, Accountability & Response to Harm

Rate each statement 1–5 using the scale from the introduction.

16. We have clear, accessible, and trusted processes for reporting racism and oppression — and marginalised staff believe they will be protected if they use them.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

17. When harm occurs, we take responsibility — including for systemic and unintentional harm — and we practise repair rather than just investigation or discipline.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

18. We track patterns of harm, are honest about our institutional history, and rebuild systems to prevent recurrence — rather than managing individual incidents in isolation.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

Describe one example of harm that occurred in your organisation and how you responded. What did you do well, what fell short, and what would you do differently now?

What would it take for marginalised staff in your organisation to genuinely trust that harm will be addressed? What is currently in the way of that trust?

Section 8 of 9

Resourcing, Power & Future Commitments

Rate each statement 1–5 using the scale from the introduction.

19. Meaningful budget and resource is allocated to justice work — not just communications, one-off training, or symbolic gestures.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

20. Marginalised staff and communities have real decision-making power — not just consultation — and lived-experience contributors are compensated fairly.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

21. You expect resistance and backlash to justice work, and you have strategies to hold the line on commitments when that happens.

Not in place / harmfulTransformative

Where have you redistributed power, resource, or decision-making authority in the last 12–24 months? Be specific — if you cannot point to examples, please say so.

What are your top justice priorities for the next 12–24 months — and what power shifts need to happen to achieve them?

Almost done

Evidence folder

If you have documents, data, complaints records, pay gap analyses, governance papers, or other evidence you are willing to share, please add them to a secure shared folder (Google Drive, Dropbox, or similar) and paste the link below. Please make sure info@socialjusticecollective.co.uk has access. This is optional — but will significantly strengthen your report.

Link to your evidence folder (optional)

Anything else you would like us to know before we write your report? (optional)

✅

Thank you — your responses are ready to send

Click the button below to open a pre-filled email addressed to the Social Justice Collective. Your responses will be in the email body — just click send.

If the button doesn't open your email client, you can copy your responses using the link below and paste them into an email to info@socialjusticecollective.co.uk

Open email to submit →

Anti-oppression & racial justice diagnostic

Before you begin

About your organisation

Purpose, Strategy & Leadership

Data, Evidence & Transparency

Culture, Safety & Everyday Power

Policies & Processes

Learning

Repair, Accountability & Response to Harm

Resourcing, Power & Future Commitments

Evidence folder

Thank you — your responses are ready to send

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