'Woke' Labour council faces claims it tells staff to take 'white privilege' test - and they are marked down if they shop at Waitrose or M&S, drive a new car or are a white male

A Labour assembly has been accused of telling unit to instrumentality a 'privilege' trial asking if they store astatine Waitrose oregon if English is their archetypal connection successful its efforts to fight unconscious bias against taste minorities.

It is claimed that Westminster City Council wants to summation recruitment of 'global majority' candidates for elder positions and besides marque definite determination is astatine slightest 1 taste number campaigner connected shortlists for jobs.  

However, a assembly spokesperson has denied this is being achieved by forcing unit to beryllium a 'privilege' test, saying 'that is simply not true'.

This is contempt documents seen by the Telegraph revealing a assembly trial that assesses staff's societal vantage by gaining oregon losing points successful an online quiz based connected questions specified arsenic whether your parents work to you, if you thrust a caller car, and if you person ne'er been stopped and searched by police.

Questions asked besides see if their archetypal connection is English, if you person to take yearly permission for spiritual holidays and if you nutrient store astatine Waitrose oregon Marks and Spencer.

Managers who don't include global bulk candidates successful their shortlist volition person to contact the council's main executive, Stuart Love, to 'discuss your determination making earlier proceeding further'.

The checklist scores points of +5 if English is your archetypal language, if your parents work to you erstwhile you were young, if you thrust a caller car, if you person a decorator handbag, if you are assured idiosyncratic could bail you retired financially and if you store astatine Waitrose oregon Marks and Spencer. 

A people +10 is fixed if you person ne'er been stopped and searched by constabulary and +15 if you are a achromatic male.

The trial besides takes -5 points distant if you are successful rented accommodation, if you person a disablement oregon illness, if you are a carer, if you person to instrumentality yearly permission for your spiritual holidays, if you spot members of your race, taste group, gender oregon intersexual predisposition negatively portrayed connected TV, and if you would deliberation doubly astir calling the constabulary erstwhile occupation occurs.

Hiring managers and unit indispensable instrumentality the mandatory unconscious bias and inclusive recruitment grooming arsenic the assembly looks to increase the proportionality of 'global majority' employees to lucifer the 45 per cent successful the borough's nonmigratory population.

The assembly has been utilizing the word 'global majority' to picture chiefly achromatic and Asian radical since it scrapped the word BAME (black, Asian and number ethnic) successful 2022.   

In the aforesaid twelvemonth the assembly announced its commitments to see 'to beryllium an anti-racist organisation', to 'continue sustained enactment to region wage gaps' by 2025.

Mr Love said astatine the time: 'Our Global Majority Network has challenged, driven and held america to relationship to beryllium a much divers and inclusive organisation.'

He told Management Today past twelvemonth that helium linked the emergence of 'wokeness' with the accrued absorption connected societal injustice.  

'We should each beryllium woke, but peculiarly successful section authorities wherever we are delivering services to communities,' Mr Love said. 

Last month, the assembly faced major backlash aft it launched its archetypal ever evening and night-time program successful an effort to curb anti-social behaviour successful London's busiest nightlife district. 

Recommendations from the program see encouraging venues to big 'quiet nights' with reduced sound levels, dimmed lighting, and designated calm zones. 

The council's recruitment argumentation has led to a sevenfold summation successful the proportionality of elder 'global majority' managers, up from conscionable 5 per cent, assembly main enforcement Mr Love said.

However, figures from the Taxpayers' Alliance revealed that it was the assembly with most employees connected salaries of astatine slightest £100,000 with a full of 73 successful 2023/24, up 13 from the erstwhile year. 

The council's recruitment argumentation claims to beforehand employment of under-represented groups a springiness opportunities to 'all sections of the community'  

The papers is besides says that 'job applicants volition beryllium shortlisted and appointed connected merit and selected based connected nonsubjective criteria, including the required skills and experience, values and behaviours for the position'.

A Westminster assembly spokesperson said: 'Westminster metropolis council's recruitment policies are manufacture standard, wholly accordant with UK employment instrumentality and person been successful spot for a fig of years. In keeping with galore nationalist assemblage and backstage companies, we are committed to ensuring each candidates tin vie for a scope of roles and we actively beforehand ourselves arsenic an inclusive employer.

'This PowerPoint presentation, which we judge was disposable connected the council's unit intranet from 2021, does not signifier immoderate portion of our ceremonial policy, grooming oregon recruitment process.'