Mick Hartley

Standing up to the ideologues, one step at a time:

A sacked civil servant has received a £100,000 settlement after she reported concerns about political activists operating in Whitehall and expressed her belief that people cannot change sex.

Anna Thomas, 32, had said that political activism was infiltrating the civil service and cited the dissemination of critical race theory in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Thomas, formerly a work coach at a Jobcentre in Portsmouth, tried to raise the alarm about resources for staff, including an exercise asking employees to “assume” that they were racist.

Thomas also posted on an intranet blog expressing her opinion that people could not change sex. “One of the comments I made that they took massive offence to was [that] you cannot identify as a female. I believe you either are one or you’re not,” Thomas said. “It wasn’t intentionally meant to offend anyone — but they said transgender colleagues could find it offensive.”…

Thomas was dismissed in November 2021. She said she understood it was because she was found to have caused “upset”, “distress” and “offence”. She claimed to be the victim of unfair dismissal, belief discrimination, victimisation and harassment.

After three preliminary hearings, the DWP has agreed to pay her £100,000, of which £27,500 is for injury to her feelings. It did not admit any liability.

A DWP spokesman said: “We can confirm an employment tribunal claim was settled . . . without the need for further legal proceedings.”