Wandsworth Council has responded to national media coverage of internal guidance on pronouns, confirming the document dates from 2022, was always optional, and was never enforced.
The guidance, which suggested staff could add pronouns to email signatures and mention them at the start of meetings, was released through a Freedom of Information request and reported by several national outlets this week.
“This is old internal guidance from 2022, not a policy, and it explicitly states that sharing pronouns is optional,” a council spokesperson said. “It was never mandated, never enforced, and nothing has changed.”
The memo had suggested that adding pronouns to email signatures and Microsoft 365 profiles was “a simple step cisgender people can take to enable those from the non-binary and transgender communities to feel more seen and recognised.”
It referenced pronouns including they/them and ze/zir/zem, though the latter are rarely encountered in everyday workplace settings.
2022 context
The guidance emerged during a period when many organisations, both public and private, were developing similar internal documents. This followed heightened attention to diversity and inclusion practices in workplaces across the country.
Since then, approaches have evolved. Many organisations have moved away from suggesting all staff announce pronouns, with the practice now typically limited to email signatures or video call display names for those who choose to use them.
The document was not a formal council policy and did not form part of any mandatory training or HR requirement.
National coverage
The memo attracted coverage from The Telegraph and other national outlets this week, with headlines stating the council “tells staff to announce pronouns before meetings.”
The council’s confirmation that the guidance was optional, from 2022, and never enforced appeared at the end of The Telegraph‘s report. The Freedom of Information request that surfaced the document was made recently, though the identity of the requester is not known.
Several national advocacy groups were quoted criticising the guidance. Wandsworth Council declined to comment beyond its factual statement.
Putney.news was contacted by readers asking about the story after national coverage appeared.
