Croydon Council has come within a hair’s breadth of making the top 100 LGBT employers list.

The authority climbed 23 places to number 101 in the 2019 Stonewall Equality Index – a list of the top 100 employers for LGBT people to work.

Andrew Curtis, chair of Croydon Council’s staff LGBT+ Allies Network is confident that next year the council will make it to the top 100.

He said: “Our submission to Stonewall was very strong and we can only have been one or two points off getting us into the top 100.

“While it’s a little disappointing to be just outside that list, we’ve had the achievement of improving our score massively in the past two years and there is a real drive within the council to continue to improve.

“Hopefully we can use this positive momentum to stay focused and get the council into the top 100.”

Although it was not quite in the top 100, it is ranked in the top 10 local government employers according to the list, and is the only London council to make the top 10.

Stonewall is Britain’s leading charity for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT rights).

Each year the charity assesses how inclusive organisations across the UK are.

As well as employment policies, it carries out an anonymous staff survey about how inclusive and diverse they think their organisation is.

Councillor Hamida Ali, cabinet member for safer Croydon and communities, said: “We are so close to the top 100 but it is another year of great progress moving up the Workplace Equality Index, which is getting tougher each year as more organisations take part and the bar to get into the top 100 gets higher.

“Congratulations to everyone involved for their hard work in getting so close to the top 100 and making progress not only for our LGBT+ staff, but our residents too.

“We are proud of our record on equalities and diversity as both a service provider and an employer. I hope we can use this momentum to submit an even more impressive submission to Stonewall and break into the top 100 next year.”

Friday (February 1) marks the start of LGBT history month.

From February 5-28 there will be a series of events in Croydon which can be found here: www.croydon.gov.uk/community/equality/lgbt-history-month