Social work manager disciplined for ‘gender critical’ beliefs to take employer to tribunal

Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 4 October, 2023

A social worker manager is taking her local authority to an employment tribunal after being disciplined for expressing gender critical beliefs.

Lizzy Pitt is suing Cambridgeshire County Council, claiming she was victim of harassment and discrimination after making her views public in a workplace LGBTQIA group.

Pitt, who describes herself as “a lesbian who believes that sex is real” was subjected to a group complaint by colleagues.

It resulted in a disciplinary process being initiated by the local authority and formal “management action”.

Pitt said: “The whole process was intensely stressful and humiliating for me. It left me feeling that my colleagues and my employer regarded me as a bigot who could only be tolerated in the workplace if I was forced to keep my beliefs to myself even when they were relevant.”

Pitt, a qualified social worker for 15 years, has set up a crowdfunding appeal to raise £17,500 towards the preliminary hearing legal fees. 

Writing on the site - which so far had more than £8,000 in donations - she claims the “silencing and bullying” she has experienced is happening at local authorities, schools, colleges, universities and NHS trusts across the country.

“A false consensus is imposed through a climate of fear,” said Pitt. “Employers won’t learn that this kind of behaviour is unacceptable unless they can see other employers being found liable by a tribunal and having to pay compensation.”

Cambridgeshire County Council said it could not comment on internal employment issues. 

However, a spokesperson said: "Our council is committed to meeting our duties under the Equality Act 2010. 

"We work to eliminate discrimination and to promote diversity and equal opportunities to people who use our services or may need to use them in the future, to people living in our community or to our colleagues and prospective colleagues."

Pitt’s action follows social worker Rachel Meade who took Westminster City Council and regulator Social Work England to tribunal.

She was sanctioned for 12 months by the regulator after a Facebook friend reported private posts she had liked and shared during the consultation on the Gender Recognition Act 2004.

Social Work England found the posts “discriminatory” and “disgusting”, saying Meade had “engaged in a pattern of discriminatory behaviour which persisted over an extended period”. 

The regulator said her actions “could be perceived to be derogatory and potentially discriminatory to members of the transgender community”.

As a result, she was suspended by her employer and warned she was at risk of being dismissed.

Meade, whose tribunal decision is expected next month, raised almost £120,000 towards her legal costs.

• A gender critical perspective sees biological sex as a binary and immutable. 
• A transgender person is someone whose gender identity differs from the sex they were registered with at birth.

BASW’s position statement on social work with transgender people can be read here