For the second year running, Croydon Council has moved up the rankings in the annual Stonewall Equality Index, placing in the top 10 local government employers.
Stonewall, Britain’s leading charity for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT rights), placed the council narrowly outside the top 100 employers to work for, in 101st place, up from 124 in 2018 and 219 in 2017. The council has also improved in the local government sector, being ranked in ninth place.
Every year Stonewall assess employers and employees from organisations across the UK on how inclusive their workplaces are on LGBT issues, with Croydon’s score of 106 putting them in the top 23% of all 445 companies that took part.
The annual index takes information from a number of areas taking in each participating business’ employment policies and practices, as well as an anonymous staff survey about how inclusive and diverse they think their organisation is.
The council’s placing in the annual index comes shortly ahead of February’s LGBT history month, with a number of events taking place between 5 February and 28 February. Croydon’s LGBT network has planned these events and will also be participating in Croydon Pridefest, the capital’s biggest celebration of its kind outside central London, in Wandle Park on 13 July.
“We are so close to the top 100 but it is another year of great progress moving up the Workplace Equality Index, which is getting tougher each year as more organisations take part and the bar to get into the top 100 gets higher.
“Congratulations to everyone involved for their hard work in getting so close to the top 100 and making progress not only for our LGBT+ staff, but our residents too.
“We are proud of our record on equalities and diversity as both a service provider and an employer. I hope we can use this momentum to submit an even more impressive submission to Stonewall and break into the top 100 next year.”
Councillor Hamida Ali, cabinet member for safer Croydon and communities
Andrew Curtis, chair of Croydon Council’s staff LGBT+ Allies Network, said: “Our submission to Stonewall was very strong and we can only have been one or two points off getting us into the top 100.
“While it’s a little disappointing to be just outside that list, we’ve had the achievement of improving our score massively in the past two years and there is a real drive within the council to continue to improve.
“Hopefully we can use this positive momentum to stay focused and get the council into the top 100.”
