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Supporting a workforce that reflects our communities

Ayrshire College Diversity Monitoring 2026

We remain firmly committed to cultivating a culture of trust in which colleagues feel assured and supported in sharing their personal data. This commitment is essential to enabling robust analysis of our workforce profile and to identifying structural barriers that may contribute to inequality or discrimination.

Read on for key insights from our diversity monitoring data.

Equality Outcome 4

‘Our staff and Board of Management represent the diversity of the community that Ayrshire College serves, with a particular focus on disability and race, to support a more inclusive and innovative College community’.

Contents

Section One - Our People

Ayrshire College total number of employees:

2023-24 = 739 employees

2024-25 = 749 employees

 

Staff Residence:

Reside in Ayrshire – 88%

Reside out with Ayrshire – 12%

Click here for key insights

  • Our current staff composition aligns with the local communities that Ayrshire College serves and has remained consistent for a number of years.
  • Our staff predominantly reside in Ayrshire.
  • 12% of our staff base comes from local authority areas out with North, East and South Ayrshire
  • When staff mainly come from the local area, the college is more likely to mirror the ethnicity, age, disability, and socio‑economic profile of its community which can result in community trust, relatability for students and culturally informed decision‑making
  • Recruiting locally can create employment pathways for groups under‑represented in the labour market, support local regeneration and offer meaningful work in areas with fewer high‑skilled job opportunities. From an equality’s standpoint, this benefits protected groups often over‑represented in low‑income communities.
  • Given that the local population is predominantly White, as is typical across much of Ayrshire, a workforce drawn largely from the surrounding area may under‑represent minority ethnic groups. This can limit progress on race equality outcomes and reduce the visibility of diverse role models for students, making it more challenging to meet national expectations for improving race equality across the college sector. To address this, the College’s Equality Outcome 4 prioritises enhancing workforce diversity, with a particular focus on increasing representation of minority ethnic and disabled staff.

Age

Click here to view our key insights for age:

  • Our data shows that from our staff composition, a significant proportion of staff (>70%) are from either the 41–55 or 56–64 age groupings in both years.
  • The age group 16 – 25 has remained consistent over the two years.
  • The College has also introduced key initiatives designed to strengthen connections across the organisation. For example, our Learning and Teaching Academies and Staff Networks support colleagues in the early stages of their careers to build relationships and develop professional networks across the College.
  • Staff belonging to the 65+ age grouping went from 5% in 2023-24 to 6% in 2024-25. This reflects National Records of Scotland (NRS) projection of people aged 65 and over is estimated to grow by 30% by 2045 from 1.06 million to 1.37 million.
  • We recognise that an ageing workforce may lead to increased caregiving responsibilities and health‑related needs. We remain committed to supporting colleagues through flexible working options, and by providing access to MCL Medics, our Occupational Health Team, and other relevant external supports.
  • A higher proportion of staff nearing retirement age may signal potential gaps in: teaching expertise, specialist vocational knowledge, leadership and management capacity and some curriculum areas (e.g., engineering, construction, health professions) may have particular vulnerabilities where talent pipelines are already narrow.