By GB News (World News) | Created at 2025-04-04 06:41:21 | Updated at 2025-04-05 10:43:55
1 day ago
A flagship Labour council is telling staff to undergo a "privilege" test as part of efforts to combat unconscious bias against ethnic minorities, insiders have claimed.
Westminster City Council is seeking to boost recruitment of "global majority" candidates for senior posts.
The council is also alleged to be giving preferential treatment to ethnic minority applicants over equally qualified white candidates.
It also ensures there is at least one ethnic minority candidate on shortlists for jobs.
All managers and staff involved in hiring must undergo mandatory unconscious bias and inclusive recruitment training.
Insiders have told The Telegraph that staff are offered a virtual "privilege walk" quiz.
Participants gain or lose points based on various factors in their lives.
Points are awarded if parents read to you as a child, if you drive a new car, or have never been stopped by police.
Being a white male scores the highest at +15 points.
Points are deducted if you take annual leave for religious holidays, live in rented accommodation, or have a disability.
Staff are asked to reflect on their privilege and share scores anonymously.
The council's recruitment policy aims to promote opportunities to "all sections of the community" and increase staff from under-represented groups.
Managers who fail to shortlist "global majority" candidates must contact Stuart Love, the council's chief executive, to discuss their decision-making.
Those who don't have any such applicants must seek guidance from their "recruitment lead".
The policy has reportedly led to a sevenfold increase in senior "global majority" managers, up from just five per cent.
The council document states candidates will still be "shortlisted and appointed on merit" based on objective criteria.
The approach to diversity is the brainchild of Love, who has been in the role since 2018.
He has previously said his "guilt" from growing up as a white child during apartheid in South Africa fuelled his commitment to equality.
Last year, he told Management Today that he embraced "wokeness" as an awareness of social injustice.
"We should all be woke, but particularly in local government where we are delivering services to communities," Love said.
He added: "I lean into this term because it's been hijacked and weaponised. I am quite happy to be accused of being socially aware of injustice."
Neil O'Brien, a Tory MP and former minister, criticised the documents, saying Westminster council was running "racist hiring policies on an industrial scale".
"If all this is not breaking the law, it certainly should be. It shows how far the public sector has drifted from the idea of meritocracy," he wrote in The Telegraph.
The council has defended its approach - 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."
The spokesman added the presentation "does not form any part of our formal policy, training or recruitment process."
