Leicestershire social workers object to Reform policy which they fear ‘promotes exclusion and marginalisation’

Their comments follow a decision by Reform to change which flags can fly at the Leicestershire County Council headquarters, in Glenfield.

The new policy means that community flags, such as the Pride flag and the disabled people’s flag, will not automatically be raised in the inner quadrangle at County Hall to celebrate events and celebration days. Instead, a decision will be taken by the chief executive “following consultation with the leader of the council”, the party’s Dan Harrison, over whether they can fly or not, leading some to fear they will not be flown going forward.

Some 102 social workers at the council have now written to councillors and the new Reform cabinet to “loudly” and “overwhelmingly” oppose the change in policy. They said they felt that flying community flags was a “vitally important” symbol from the council that it was “supportive of marginalised groups”.

The letter adds: “This does not stop with a flag and will need continual work to support all, but a flag is an important outward symbol. Removing these flags promotes exclusion and marginalisation – it implies people represented by those flags are not welcome. This is in direct contradiction to the values and ethics of each and every social worker employed by Leicestershire County Council.”

The potential removal of certain flags “contradicts” the standards set out in their job registrations, the group said. Those include the requirements to “promote the rights, strengths and wellbeing of people, families and communities”, “establish and maintain the trust and confidence of people”, and “act safely, respectfully and with professional integrity”.

The letter continues: “In order to promote the rights of individuals, the respective flags are a positive outward symbol of support of already marginalised groups. It is also a positive step towards equality and equity.

“[We are] also reminded that the local authority has a strong commitment to anti-discrimination values. A flag is another important symbol of this.”

The group is calling for the decision made by the cabinet on Thursday, June 12, to be reversed. That decision has also been called in by opposition groups for further scrutiny, and is set to be debated tomorrow (Tuesday, June 24).

The new policy also states that the Union flag and county standard are to be flown on two of the three poles in front of County Hall, and either the St George’s or Lord Lieutenant’s flags displayed on the third. Previously, the Union flag, county flag and either the Commonwealth flag or, on the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian flag occupied the three poles at the front of the building, with the Lord Lieutenant’s flag also flown there when he was present.

The fourth pole, in the inner quadrangle, will now be used to “mark events such as Armed Forces Day, Commonwealth Days and Armistice Day”. The social workers group stressed that it was not opposed to any of those flags being flown.

Councillor Harrison previously told the LDRS: “When you look at how many flags have been flown throughout the year, it just goes on and on and on, so there’s a lot of flag flying. That’s not what we really would like. We’d like to see the national flag, our Union flag, flying as it has historically across all public buildings across the country.

“Staff are protected by law, so they’re safe in their environment. If they wish to fly flags, they could always fly them at home if they want to […].

“I will meet with their groups and assure them that their health, their safety, the [working] environment will be safe. Nobody would ever disrespect anybody because there’s a law to protect them, and we as a county council will guide the way to protect those people.”

He further claimed the new policy would save the hard-up council a “small amount” of money. Leicestershire County Council said it could not “put a figure” on the amount expected to be saved, saying it was “hard to quantify”.