Lambeth attacked over 'racist culture'

Lambeth council has been accused of racism after an eight-month inquiry into the running of a key department.

Senior staff showed racial favouritism to junior employees and had an abrasive and authoritarian management style, according to a report.

It concluded that there was a culture of bullying, victimisation and sexual harassment in the Lambeth community alarms service, which provided 24-hour monitoring of the borough's elderly and vulnerable.

Trouble in the department became so serious that it was closed in 2001.

Half of Lambeth council employees are from ethnic minorities. The report suggestsall managers should be retrained with particular reference to the Race Relations Act.

The investigation was told by one worker that the department had a hierarchy based on colour, saying: "The lighter you are, the better they treat you."

Six employees took Lambeth council to an employment tribunal, sparking three separate management investigations.

At the time Lambeth council, now controlled by a Lib-Dem and Tory coalition, was Labour-led. A spokesman said it had already taken many of the 27 steps recommended by the report.