Warwickshire Pride holding 'emergency protest' at Shire Hall against proposed funding cuts to equalities service

Last week, we highlighted plans to entirely axe Warwickshire County Council's funding of the county-wide equalities service.

A public consultation is being launched on pulling the £135,000-per-year county contribution to the charity EQuIP – Warwickshire’s Equality and Inclusion Partnership.

EQuIP provides discrimination and hate crime support, equalities training and guidance and aids engagement and community cohesion, services that include support to community groups, faith groups, businesses, schools and public sector organisations.

Data published on the Charity Commission website shows that the county council funding made up more than 60 per cent of EQuIP’s income in the financial year 2024-25 – a total of £56,190 came from three government grants.

Although the council funding is in place until March 2027, the contract contains a clause that allows it to be withdrawn with three months' notice.

The county council’s report acknowledges that EQuIP “provides a mechanism” that supports its legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010.

It adds that “the engagement and community cohesion element of the service” helps to ensure that “minority voices (are) heard by council decision makers” in line with the Act.

Despite those obligations, EQuIP is a discretionary – optional – service with the report highlighting “the pressing need to identify savings” and that such projects are “not a priority for the council” as the thinking behind the proposed cut.

A list of risks and implications follows, including the potential reduction in support for community safety and cohesion, the wider impact on trust and confidence in the council among the voluntary and community sector, the “foreseeable equalities impacts” on vulnerable people as well as the risk to the council’s compliance with the law.

This section of the report concludes: “A key part of the consultation will be to explore these risks and how they might be avoided or mitigated.”

Portfolio holder for customer and localities Councillor Mike Bannister (Reform UK, Nuneaton Abbey) is set to sign off an eight-week public consultation at Friday's (May 22) meeting at Shire Hall in Warwick.

Following this news, the charity Warwickshire Pride has organised an ‘emergency protest’ at 11.30am outside Shire Hall.

A spokesperson from Warwickshire Pride said: “The Reform administration at Warwickshire County Council is meeting on Friday to decide whether to consult on cutting funding to the Equality & Inclusion Partnership (EQuIP), which is a local organisation supporting victims of hate crime, handling discrimination cases, and doing great work across the whole equalities spectrum.

“Their work is vital and Warwickshire Pride works closely with them.

“We know that the consultation is a box tick exercise because Reform councillors have already made their mind up. They want rid of EQuIP.

“This is Reform's latest attack on equalities as they push forward with their agenda to stop all equalities work at Warwickshire County Council.”

They also called on the community to support the protest.

They said: “Please join us, other people in the community from across the equalities spectrum, and councillors from other political parties as we protest against Reform's actions.

“We will then sit in the public meeting to listen to the discussion and decision that Reform makes.

“Please attend if you are able to. This is an emergency and we need community power.

“We will have pride flags to hand to anyone who wants to wave one.

“Now is the time for direct action and fighting back against Reform's attempts to withdraw support and erase us.”

Responding to the news of the protest, a spokesperson for Warwickshire County Council said: “A proposal to consult on the future of arrangements for the externally commissioned equalities provision is due to be considered by the portfolio solder on Friday May 22.

“The proposal reflects the financial pressures facing the Council and the need to identify savings ahead of the next Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2027/2028.

“In this context, commissioning and funding an external equalities provision is not considered a priority for the Council at this time.

“No decision has been made at this stage. Should consultation be approved, any feedback received would be carefully considered alongside all relevant information before any further decisions are taken.”