Newcastle City Council is the most LGBT friendly employer in the UK

Newcastle City Council has been named as the most LGBTQ+ inclusive employer in the country by Stonewall, the country's leading charity for LGBT rights.

The recognition comes from The Stonewall Report 2020, which is based off the Workplace Equality Index, a voluntary and annual exercise which allows for employers to assess their inclusivity within the workplace for employees.

Whilst neither Newcastle University or Northumbria University reached the list, the council which governs over many factors of both universities was ahead of the game.

This however, is nothing new, with Newcastle City Council first entering the league in 2005 and since 2017 they have been the top performing local authority.

The report noted how the council was "being open and inclusive without exception" for it's 5,000 employees and is a trailblazer for full LGBT inclusion.

This was demonstrated through the collaborative conference which took place in November 2019 between Newcastle City Council, the NHS and relevant stakeholders in holding a conference to highlight the need for trans inclusion and how the council may better their services for the Queer communities in Newcastle.

The report further noted how Newcastle City Council has laid the gauntlet in providing cross-generational training across the board; Its active LGBT staff network group runs a reverse mentoring scheme for senior leaders, helping them to better understand the lived experiences of LGBT staff.

Newcastle will be the host of UK Pride 2020

With this, Newcastle City Council was also named as the Top Trans Employer and as having a Highly Commended Network Group.

Cllr Joyce McCarty, Deputy Leader of Newcastle City Council said: "I'm incredibly proud that our commitment to inclusivity has been recognised by this accolade, and it is a fantastic achievement for us to be first local authority to be named as Stonewall's Employer of the Year".

Dedicating the award to the people of Newcastle, Cllr McCarty described how inclusive Newcastle feels as a city.

She said: "Newcastle is a safe and welcoming city and the North East in general."

It was announced earlier by Northern Pride, that Newcastle would host UK Pride 2020, highlighting the city wide commitment to the LGBT community.

Executive Director of Stonewall, Sanjay Sood-Smith said:

"Newcastle City Council is paving the way for others to follow when it comes to putting LGBT inclusion and equality at the heart of their workplace.

"When staff feel comfortable, happy and understood, they will perform much better than if they're having to hide who they are, or if they're scared to go to work for fear of abuse".