Transgender civil servants report alarming rise in bullying, harassment and discrimination

Bullying and harassment faced by trans civil servants is on the rise, a new report has found.

Data collected by the Cabinet Office for the People Survey 2023 shows that at least 21 per cent of non-cisgender civil servants suffered discrimination in the workplace.

According to the survey, which analyses the attitudes and experiences of civil servants in the UK, bullying and harassment against cisgender officials remains at about eight per cent. However, 18 per cent of their trans colleagues said they faced discrimination between 2022 and 2023.

Meanwhile, 17 per cent of trans civil servants alleged experiencing a form of bullying, compared with 14 per cent in 2022.

Despite the rise, trans civil servants were found to be significantly less likely to report the incident, with just 36 per cent saying they had done so in 2023, compared with 45 per cent in 2022.

By comparison, 43 per cent of cisgender staff said they have reported harassment, an increase from the previous year.

According to the study, much of the reluctance of trans employees to report the problem comes from a lack of assurance that corrective action would be taken, with 64 per cent listing this as their reason for not reporting incidents, compared to 58 per cent of cisgender civil servants.

Only 36 per cent of those who did report bullying said the harassment had since stopped, while 44 per cent of cisgender civil servants had a similar experience.

In a break-down in the types of bullying said to have taken place, 40 per cent were humiliated in front of team members, with the same number having felt micromanaged negatively. Thirty-eight per cent said they had been ignored, and 34 per cent alleged intimidation or forms of aggression.

Rhetoric “begins at the top” and “percolates down”, said Chay Brown, the healthcare director at not-for-profit organisation TransActual.

“If civil servants are seeing trans-hostile language and behaviour from cabinet members, some will believe it’s OK to treat trans people that way,” Brown added. “Within the workplace, all staff should feel safe to report harassment and something should be done about it when they do.

“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.”

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