Diversity Champions

We are delighted to announce that Herefordshire Council joined Stonewall's Diversity Champions programme for employers in June 2007.

Diversity Champions is Britain's good practice forum for Sexual Orientation issues in the workplace.

We will be working with Stonewall - Britain's leading gay equality organisation - and other members of the programme, to improve our working environment for our lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) staff. We wish to have a workplace culture that allows our employees to be valued for themselves, and give 100%.

By joining Diversity Champions we hope we will send a strong signal to our LGB staff, providing reassurance that their contribution will be valued and their sexual orientation respected in a positive working environment.

We also hope that our customers and service users will see our firm commitment to diversity as a positive step towards making Herefordshire Council a better local authority for everyone.

In January 2008, an annual index produced by Stonewall listed the council as number 139 in the ranking of gay-friendly employers. Employers are ranked on the effectiveness of their equalities policies. The council scored 64 per cent in its assessment. It is unusual for a first time applicant to score over 40 per cent. We hope to improve this result and move up the list next year.