Concerns raised after Wolverhampton Council staff asked to reveal sexuality

Staff have been asked repeatedly to complete a "diversity tab" for the authority's HR system, including details of sexuality, ethnicity and any disabilities.

Some staff are understood to be uncomfortable with the request, particularly around questions on LGBT. It's claimed office staff have been sent regular reminders to fill in the forms and have been offered incentives such as shopping vouchers for doing so.

One member of staff, who asked to remain anonymous, questioned why the council needed to know intimate details about its workforce.

But the council said collecting personal data was crucial to build a picture of its workforce and to help it understand if it was offering equal opportunities. It added disclosure of personal information was voluntary.

LGBT campaign group Stonewall revealed last year 35 per cent of LGBT people have kept it hidden at work for fear of discrimination.

The council worker said: "I have no reason to believe that the council's motives are not genuine. However, I feel this is a highly insentive way of going about it and pressuring staff to reveal deeply personal information which will be stored on a computer file against your personal HR record is rather sinister.

"Needless to say, many colleagues have not filled in their diversity tab because I'm sure they feel it is none of the council's business to keep a record of somebody's private life in this way."

A council spokesman said: “Wolverhampton Council is incredibly proud of its diverse workforce and is committed to creating an equal and inclusive workplace.

"We are one of only 10 local authorities in the country to hold the coveted equalities excellence status awarded by the Local Government Association.

"Collecting equalities monitoring data is important for any organisation which takes diversity seriously and helps us to establish the make-up of our workforce and to assess whether equalities policies are working.

"Any information collected is confidential and it is entirely voluntary whether employees choose to disclose the information of not. We do encourage colleagues to provide the information because monitoring can only ever be as good as the data collected."

Stonewall said the collection of such data was "common practice" but that it should be done so sensitively.

Head of policy Josh Bradlow, said: ‘In the UK, capturing LGBT data is common practice and helps organisations and services meet their legal equality duties. To be effective, it’s absolutely crucial that this data is captured sensitively, and respondents are supported to understand why this information is being collected, and how this data will be used."