How should charities be supporting their BAME employees and volunteers during the coronavirus pandemic?

Recent research and media reports have highlighted that people from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are at greater risk of becoming seriously ill with Covid-19.

A recent report in The Guardian found that while BAME workers represent 44 per cent of the NHS workforce, they accounted for 68 per cent of the 57 NHS staff known to have died with the virus at the time of publishing. Every one of the 14 doctors reported to have died at that point were from an ethnic minority. This is now being looked into in greater detail by the Government, NHS England and Public Health England.

Charities will doubtless already be providing considerable support to their employees and volunteers, but, bearing in mind this increased risk, what further steps should charities be taking to support their BAME employees and volunteers?

For more information, read Natasha Broomfield-Reid‘s article over on our Coronavirus hub.