A Labour council has been accused of telling staff to take a ‘privilege’ test asking if they shop at Waitrose or if English is their first language in its efforts to fight unconscious bias against ethnic minorities.
It is claimed that Westminster City Council wants to increase recruitment of ‘global majority’ candidates for senior positions and also make sure there is at least one ethnic minority candidate on shortlists for jobs.
However, a council spokesperson has denied this is being achieved by forcing staff to sit the ‘privilege’ test, saying ‘that is simply not true’.
This is despite documents seen by the Telegraph revealing a council test that assesses staff’s social advantage by gaining or losing points in an online quiz based on questions such as whether your parents read to you, if you drive a new car, and if you have never been stopped and searched by police.
Questions asked also include if their first language is English, if you have to take annual leave for religious holidays and if you food shop at Waitrose or Marks and Spencer.
Managers who don’t include global majority candidates in their shortlist will have to contact the council’s chief executive, Stuart Love, to ‘discuss your decision making before proceeding further’.
The checklist scores points of +5 if English is your first language, if your parents read to you when you were young, if you drive a new car, if you have a designer handbag, if you are confident someone could bail you out financially and if you shop at Waitrose or Marks and Spencer.
A score +10 is given if you have never been stopped and searched by police and +15 if you are a white male.
The test also takes -5 points away if you are in rented accommodation, if you have a disability or illness, if you are a carer, if you have to take annual leave for your religious holidays, if you see members of your race, ethnic group, gender or sexual orientation negatively portrayed on TV, and if you would think twice about calling the police when trouble occurs.
Managers who don’t include global majority candidates in their shortlist for new positions will have to contact the council’s chief executive, Stuart Love (pictured)
The checklist scores points of +5 if you shop at Waitrose or Marks and Spencer (file image)
It is also said that the privilege’ test’ adds a score of +10 if you are a white male (file image)
Hiring managers and staff must take the mandatory unconscious bias and inclusive recruitment training as the council looks to increase the proportion of ‘global majority’ employees to match the 45 per cent in the borough’s resident population.
The council has been using the term ‘global majority’ to describe primarily black and Asian people since it scrapped the term BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) in 2022.
In the same year the council announced its commitments to include ‘to be an anti-racist organisation’, to ‘continue sustained action to remove pay gaps’ by 2025.
Mr Love said at the time: ‘Our Global Majority Network has challenged, driven and held us to account to be a more diverse and inclusive organisation.’
He told Management Today last year that he linked the rise of ‘wokeness’ with the increased focus on social injustice.
‘We should all be woke, but particularly in local government where we are delivering services to communities,’ Mr Love said.
Last month, the council faced major backlash after it launched its first ever evening and night-time plan in an effort to curb anti-social behaviour in London’s busiest nightlife district.
Recommendations from the plan include encouraging venues to host ‘quiet nights’ with reduced noise levels, dimmed lighting, and designated calm zones.
The checklist scores points of +5 if you drive a new car or if you have a designer handbag (file image)
If your parents read to you when you were young that would a give you +5 on your overall score (file image)
And if you haven’t been stopped by police +10 would be added to your score (file image)
It is claimed that Westminster City Council wants to increase recruitment of ‘global majority’ candidates for senior positions and also make sure there is at least one ethnic minority candidate on shortlists for jobs. Pictured: Westminster City Hall
The council’s recruitment policy has led to a sevenfold increase in the proportion of senior ‘global majority’ managers, up from just five per cent, council chief executive Mr Love said.
However, figures from the Taxpayers’ Alliance revealed that it was the council with most employees on salaries of at least £100,000 with a total of 73 in 2023/24, up 13 from the previous year.
The council’s recruitment policy claims to promote employment of under-represented groups a give opportunities to ‘all sections of the community’
The document is also says that ‘job applicants will be shortlisted and appointed on merit and selected based on objective criteria, including the required skills and experience, values and behaviours for the position’.
A Westminster council spokesman said: ‘Westminster city council’s recruitment policies are industry standard, entirely consistent with UK employment law and have been in place for a number of years. In keeping with many public sector and private companies, we are committed to ensuring all candidates can compete for a range of roles and we actively promote ourselves as an inclusive employer.
‘This PowerPoint presentation, which we believe was available on the council’s staff intranet from 2021, does not form any part of our formal policy, training or recruitment process.’
