Appendix 1

East Sussex County Council corporate statement on addressing unacceptable behaviour towards staff – February 2026

The welfare, safety and dignity of people who live and work in East Sussex is our priority. We all deserve to be treated with respect, regardless of our background or identity.

We are committed to protecting our staff from behaviour that is physically or verbally aggressive, threatening, abusive, violent, or discriminatory.

As part of this commitment we will:

• offer effective support to our staff and people using our services
• listen and be considerate, in order to respond in a fair way
• report incidents appropriately, act on, and learn from them together