Citizens Advice Bureau rows over staff being urged to wear trans-friendly badges - 'Ideological instruction!'

Citizens Advice staff have hit out at a suggestion by its chief executive to wear trans-friendly badges displaying their pronouns.

Former Whitehall mandarin Dame Clare Motiarty told workers “we shouldn’t assume someone’s gender based on appearance”.

In a message seen by the Daily Telegraph, she told staff: “You can help to normalise sharing pronouns by sharing yours”.

Suggested badges include gender neutral ‘Ze/Zir/Zirs’ or ‘Ey/Em/Eirs’.

One worker claims many have been left “deeply unhappy” by the proposal despite it not being compulsory, describing it as an “ideological instruction”.

Dame Clare said: “We want a service where everyone is comfortable coming to us for help, and a workplace where everyone belongs”.

The four-page guide from the Citizens Advice Bureau says “the pronouns used to refer yo you are an extension of your name” and getting someone’s wrong is “misgendering”.

In this case, staff are urged to “thank them for correcting you and let them know it won’t happen again”.

They add: “If you realise you’ve misgendered someone, but haven’t been corrected, you should still correct yourself - they may not have felt comfortable correcting you themselves”.

If staff are concerned about slipping up, the charity urges them to seek guidance from controversial charities such as Mermaids and Gendered Intelligence.

The charity, founded in 1939, employs around 1,000 staff and has 22,000 volunteers.

Some of its local branches has spoken about the impact of the cost of living crisis, with the Telegraph saying many have spoken of “devastating” consequences.