Am I allowed to refuse male support staff as a vulnerable female?

blackcat_

I (F,28) live in supported accommodation in a dispersed property provided to me by a housing association. This housing organisation also provide care and support for people with an array of disabilities & other needs. They provide me with support staff as part of a social care commission in partnership with adult social services.

I am 2:1, as I am autistic, have quite significant mental health needs and physical health issues - but I do not require personal care, I am capable of doing that myself. The support staff come to my home to support with cleaning and maintaining my home, and support me in the local community after years of agoraphobia (the latter we haven't got to yet). I have always had female-only staff, and was promised this in my assessment before I'd even moved into the property.

They claim there is no official record of this, despite everyone knowing that when any men need to come to my property (i.e. maintenance, gas safety, etc) there must be female staff present as I cannot be alone with men. Without revealing too much information, I am afraid of men and do not feel safe around men as a result of significant trauma.

They are now trying to put male staff on my team due to staff shortages, but I have refused this because I am not in a place to be able to do that right now. I haven't even started trauma therapy yet at this point, which means I have no proper outlet for the discomfort and distress this causes me. I have refused to take any support this week where they'd placed men on my rota, which had been agreed before I had even been made aware of it.

As you can imagine, I'm extremely anxious and upset about this. They have spoke to me in the past about potentially introducing men into the picture as to provide me with healthy examples of men, which I acknowledge, but they didn't even ask me and they know that I have no outlet for working through that trauma, and I don't feel comfortable having male on my team because of that, but also because I would honestly rather not have men on my team altogether. It brings me significant distress, and my home is my only safe space that hasn't been infiltrated by abuse.

Can I legally refuse male support staff? I have done a bit of research online but can only find guidance pertaining to intimate and personal care, not in terms of support staff coming to my home and supporting me in the community. They're still adamant I must do this at some point, but the pushing is what is bothering me. If I had legal grounds, I'd flat out refuse. Any help or discussion is appreciated, thanks.

Mr_Shoes_Tied

I don't know what the law says, I bet it is deliberately nuanced and complicated, but I think you have grounds to argue it under reasonable adjustments.

They are probably worried about whether they can legally justify only sending female staff to you (as they have a legal duty not to discriminate against their staff based on gender) and most employers will lean towards protecting themselves, over their duty of care to you.

But they can be legally justified in accomodating your needs and you need to push that with them!

The fact that you cannot effectively access the service if male staff are assigned is important and I would use that to request a reasonable, trauma-informed adjustment.

I found this which may help:

"Separately, UK law does recognise that in some care/support settings, female-only staffing can be lawful under the “genuine occupational requirement” provisions in Schedule 9 of the Equality Act. This is often used in women’s refuges, domestic abuse services, trauma services, and supported living roles."

SheffieldMan1976

Unfortunately I am painfully aware that female staff aren't always available in the care and support sector, you do have the right to request exclusively female staff, but you might not always get it.

It depends who's available at the time.

WhatThe

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/146081/am-i-allowed-to-refuse-male-support-staff-as-a-vulnerable-female

Blackcat, welcome to Scope 🤗

The way I look at it, your HA has no legal right to push male staff your way without your consent!

You shouldn't need to justify why you refused their services this week because they know your circumstances. Are we to believe there's an influx of men choosing domestic work these days? 🙄 If they have no female staff for cover, they need to recruit more or use agency staff.

Coming into your home is NOT the same as collecting you for a community engagement (on a future date).

A formal complaint may be the only way forward. Best luck.

SheffieldMan1976

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1123884#Comment_1123884

Preferably not Agency staff, I've suffered from their rank incompetence before.

Simply because they don't get paid enough to do beyond the bare minimum.

Amazonianup

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1123921#Comment_1123921

Anyone that thinks you can do a full check on someone from corrupt countries is lying. They hire for profit and while not all are workers are bad obviously. Its a reasonable request if its for health reasons and why we have women only refuges. The reason men are coming here to work in care are doing it is not because its what they truly care to do, its so they can send money home. Nigeria money is so inflated and unstable. If you have a condition under the equality act 2010 tell them this and go to drs get a letter its reasonable adjustment.

Do not let an agency worker ever have a document signed for legal capacity to make decisions, this will make you feel trapped with someone who is not even a dr or nurse.