The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has cooked up a real corker with its “Leaders Like You” internal training and promotion programme. Here’s the DWP’s own description from their intranet, which I’ve seen courtesy of an insider: “Leaders Like You is an internal talent program for permanent and substantive Higher Executive Officers (HEOs) and Senior Executive Officers (SEOs) with the aspiration and potential to progress to a more senior grade, who have one or more of the following diverse characteristics: Ethnic Minority, Disabled, LGBT+, Lower Socio-Economic Background.”

Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? A nice, warm hug for the downtrodden. Except it’s not. It’s a steaming pile of anti-meritocratic nonsense that’s not only unfair to the people it claims to help but also shafts the taxpayers who rely on the DWP to, you know, actually do its job. This is peak Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) stuff, straight out of the woke playbook.

The idea is simple: instead of promoting people based on their ability to get results, we’ll hoist them up the ladder because of who they are, not what they can do. Ethnic minority? Tick. Disabled? Tick. LGBT+? Tick. Grew up skint? Tick.

It’s a checklist that seems to assume victimhood, when what we need is a checklist for competence. Natural justice, by which people are judged on their merits, not their identity, gets chucked out the window. Instead, we’re handed a system that’s about as fair as a fairground shooting gallery.

Merit should be the only game in town when it comes to employment, especially in a place like the DWP, which impacts upon citizens’ lives and livelihoods. If you’re good at your job, crunching numbers, sorting claims, keeping the system ticking, you should rise.

If you’re rubbish, you shouldn’t. Simple. But “Leaders Like You” flips that on its head. It’s a fast-track for people who fall into certain categories, no matter their ability, all because they fit the right “diversity” profile.

What happens when it comes to someone who fits one of these descriptions but wouldn’t cut it for a promotion otherwise?

This isn’t just unfair to the poor sods who’ve grafted their way up on ability alone, it’s a disaster for the ones being promoted too. Stick someone in a senior role they’re not ready for, and they’re set up to fail.

They will also fail those who rely upon them, be they colleagues or the taxpayer who relies on their services. Confidence collapses, resentment festers, and the whole outfit suffers. Nice one, DWP.

You and I are coughing up millions to fund a department that’s more interested in polishing its woke credentials than delivering world-class services. The DWP’s meant to be a lifeline, helping the unemployed, the sick, the struggling.

But when promotions are handed out like diversity bingo prizes, you can bet your last quid the focus shifts from getting claims processed to navel-gazing about internal structures and virtue wrangling. Every pound spent on this guff is a pound not spent on the people who need it. Worse outcomes, longer delays, more cock-ups. Cheers, DEI.

Here’s the kicker: this kind of stunt is torching trust in public services. When folk see jobs dished out based on identity rather than skill, they stop believing the system works for them. Why bother playing by the rules if the game’s rigged for characteristics beyond your grasp?

The DWP’s already got a shaky rep — late payments, botched assessments, you name it. This DEI-driven promotion lark is like pouring petrol on a bin fire. People don’t want a bureaucracy obsessed with its own diversity stats, they want one that ruddy well works.

DEI isn’t cheap. Training sessions, diversity officers, glossy reports, across the civil service. DEI battalions in Whitehall are costing taxpayers a fortune. Millions flushed away on programs like “Leaders Like You” while the DWP

Imagine if that cash went to hiring more staff, fixing IT systems, or speeding up claims instead of funding a feel-good identity parade. But no, we’re too busy chasing the holy grail of “inclusion” to care about results.

By ranking people on a hierarchy of societal victim status, where the more “oppressed” boxes you tick, the better your shot at the top, you’re begging for division. Colleagues turn into competitors in a grim game of intersectionality one-upmanship. “Oh, you’re just ethnic minority? Well, I’m ethnic minority and LGBT+!” It’s a race to the bottom, not the top.

Forget teamwork or quality, everyone’s too busy jostling for the highest internal status points. Meanwhile, the actual work, which should be helping Britons, gets sidelined.

Here’s the plain truth: merit and ability should be the only yardstick. Full stop. Judge people by what they bring to the table, results, skills, grit, not by their skin colour, their wheelchair, or their sexuality.

Anything else is a betrayal of fairness and a recipe for chaos. The DWP isn’t a social experiment lab; it’s a public service. When you ditch merit for DEI dogma, you don’t just fail the staff, you fail everyone who depends on them. Time to scrap this “Leaders Like You” claptrap and get back to basics: hire the best, promote the best, serve the best. Anything less is a disgrace.

Gawain Towler is the former head of press at Reform UK and Ukip