Bullying, harassment and discrimination of transgender civil servants at work is on the rise, according to new data.
The Cabinet Office has published more detailed data showing how the People Survey 2023 results differ by demographic, alongside analysis of the figures.
The data shows that 21% of transgender/other (non-cisgender) officials said they were discriminated against at work in 2023, compared to 18% in 2022. The rate for cisgender civil servants has remained at around 8%.
It also shows that 17% of transgender staff experienced bullying or harassment at work, compared to 14% in 2022. Like the increase in discrimination, this is a three percentage-point rise. For cisgender officials, the bullying/harassment rate remained at around 8%.
Chay Brown, healthcare director at TransActual, a charity founded by a group of British trans people, told CSW that transphobic language and behaviour is set it motion by how ministers behave.
Commenting on the stats, he said: "This begins at the top and percolates down. If civil servants are seeing trans-hostile language and behaviour from cabinet members, some it will believe it's ok to treat trans people that way. Nor does this behaviour need to be overtly hostile, as we have seen previously."
As rates of bullying and harassment levels have risen, reporting levels have plummeted. Just 36% of those who experienced bullying or harassment said they reported their experience, down from 45% in 2022. In comparison, 43% of cisgender staff said they had reported their experience of bullying/harassment, a two-percentage points increase on 2022.
Brown said the civil service needs to do more to make sure that all civil servants feel safe to report unacceptable behaviour and ensure that all officials are clear about what is expected of them.
"Within the workplace, all staff should feel safe to report harassment and something should be done about it when they do," he said. "Policies need to be clear; because, as we have seen in recent employment tribunal cases, failure to set clear expectations around staff behaviour means employers may find themselves on shaky ground when trying to deal with discrimination and harassment."
He also called for focused training. "Last but by no means least, staff should be trained not just in trans awareness, but in how to be an ally to their trans colleagues and to step in when they witness transphobia," Brown said.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “We do not tolerate bullying, harassment and discrimination in any circumstances.
"We are conducting the most extensive cross-government review of the workplace support for victims of bullying, harassment and discrimination in the history of the civil service, which is expected to deliver its recommendations next year.
“Our priority is to ensure the civil service is an inclusive working environment for everyone."
The Civil Service Diversity & Inclusion Strategy 2022-25 committed the civil service to delivering the first major cross-government review into the best interventions to help tackle bullying, harassment and discrimination since Dame Sue Owen's 018 review.
The review is expected to deliver its recommendations in 2025 and will examine policies, processes, practices, and performance across the entire government to identify gaps in support frameworks.
Why have reporting levels dropped?
Of those who didn’t report it, 64% said “I did not believe that corrective action would be taken” was one of the reasons, compared to 58% among cisgender civil servants.
Of those who did report it, just over a third (36%) said the bullying and harassment has since stopped, compared to 44% among cisgender officials.
Asked “Does the culture where you work allow this kind of behaviour to continue?”, almost two-thirds (64%) agreed, compared to 58% of cisgender respondents. And almost a third (32%) said they felt like they were punished for reporting the incident, similar to the response from cisgender officials.
Last year, the Civil Service LGBT+ Network and a:gender – the support network for trans and intersex staff across government– developed a tool ;to record instances of bullying, harassment and discrimination experienced or witnessed by lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, queer, trans, non-binary and intersex colleagues “in response to anecdotal evidence of a recent increase in BHD towards LGBT+ staff, particularly for trans, non-binary and intersex colleagues”.
Humiliation, micromanagement and being ignored: the most common kinds of bullying and harassment
A dig into the data shows the nature of bullying/harassment most commonly involved:
- Being humiliated in front of team or others: 40%
- Negative micromanagement (for example, excessive control, making staff feel incompetent): 40%
- Being ignored, excluded, marginalised: 38%
- Intimidation, or verbal or written aggression (for example, shouting, making threats, sending aggressive emails): 34%
- Being treated less favourably than others: 33%
Some 43% of those who said they experienced bullying/experienced said it came at the hands of someone in their area, directorate or division, and almost a third (31%) said they were bullied or harassed by their manager.
For those who said they were discriminated against, the most common reason given was "gender reassignment or perceived gender" (38%), followed by disability (31%), gender (27%), mental health (21%) and sexual orientation (15%).