'Bias' concerns at Lewisham Council over BAME applicants offered jobs

This comes as the mayor and cabinet asks the head of resources and regeneration to respond to the concerns.

A July review of the council’s employee profile showed that while 35 per cent of job applicants were white in 2017/18, 42.9 per cent of jobs were filled by white applicants.

For the same time period, 40.5 per cent of those interviewed were white.

Black and minority ethnic applicants made up 58.8 per cent of all job applications at the council, but only 38.3 per cent of jobs were filled by black and minority ethnic applicants.

Of those that were interviewed, 49 per cent were black or minority ethnic.

Nearly 20 per cent of those who were hired did not state their ethnicity.

The concerns were raised by the Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee in July, according to Lewisham Council documents.

“The committee were concerned as to why there was a fall between the number of black and minority ethnic applicants at interview stage who went on to be successfully offered a position and a further fall in those who were successfully hired compared to the number of white candidates at interview stage who were successful in being offered a position and then successfully hired,” the documents read.

The reasons for the variance were not known, with work being done to understand this, according to the documents.

“The committee heard that often jobs attract a high number of applicants without the necessary qualifications or experience, who apply in order to keep receiving jobseeker’s allowance, and that this could be a factor,” the documents explain.

“Members were extremely concerned that the hiring process was flawed, suggesting unconscious bias.”

Officers told councillors the ethnic representation on the council reflected the borough’s demographics, of which 46.5 per cent are black and minority ethnic.

Work was ongoing to look at whether a black and minority ethnic pay gap exists in Lewisham, according to the documents.