Dr Annie Hedge

Dr Annie Hedge is the joint founder of Equality Works and set up the company with Jane Farrell in 1992. Her primary role is to oversee product development and quality assurance. She was also the lead consultant on our work with Transport for London which led to them achieving Level 5 of the former Equality Standard for Local Government.

Annie has spent the last 30 years in training, working first for the Industrial Language Training Service and then as an independent consultant. At Equality Works she has trained and been consultant to senior managers in national public sector organisations, universities and trade unions. She has designed, written and delivered many seminars and courses including Recruitment and Selection, Managing Performance and an award-winning course for London Underground on Ending Harassment.

Annie has extensive experience in Equality Impact Assessment and has carried out several complex EqIAs for clients including Transport for London (the temporary closure of the East London Line and the sharing of Greenways by non-disabled and disabled people), the Home Office (the national Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy) and NHS Waltham Forest (the development of world class commissioning). She has also devised and delivered training for people carrying out EqIAs and supported them as a critical friend.

She is co-author with Barbara Darling of Fair Interviewing (Trentham Books, 1992) and her doctoral research was on the discourse of equal opportunities. Her recent work for Equality Works has involved providing critical support for large and complex projects, such as the Managing Diversity Competence Programme at London Underground – the largest of its kind in the UK – and a recently commissioned assessment of equalities performance and progress across a Strategic Health Authority, which incorporated 24 different NHS Trusts, all with different communities and different priorities.

She is also providing a wide range of consultancy support, including EqIA training and consultation, to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.