Stonewall Cymru | 
In 2003, Wales was described as an 'advice desert' in a report commissioned by the Equal Opportunities Commission, Commission For Racial Equality and Disability Rights Commission. There is no equalities commission raising awareness, undertaking research, working with employers or providing advice to employees who believe they have been discriminated against on grounds of sexual-orientation.
However, in 2005 Stonewall Cymru obtained funding for the DTI to set up an helpline to support LGB people with information and support about discrimination in the workplace and in their life and to assist in taking their cases to an Eployment Tribunal through a network of trained professionals. Furthermore, there is a range of advice providers who may be able to discuss your circumstances, suggest ways to negotiate with your employer or advise of your legal rights and the process to follow to obtain justice. Both the Community Legal Service and Citizens Advice recognise that formal legal equality is insufficient when people cannot get the advice they need to mediate with employers or make a complaint. The Wales Trade Union Congress also work to challenge inequality at work, and have a network of negotiators and equality officers who will try to help individual trade union members who have a complaint. ACAS has a series of useful booklets on your rights at work, and how to discuss issues with an employer.
You can access their services by clicking here:
Stonewall Cymru's Discrimination Advice Service
www.stonewallcymru.org.uk/advice
Citizens Advice Bureaux provide free, confidential and independent advice from locations across Wales including in bureaux, GP surgeries, hospitals, colleges, prisons and courts. Advice is available face-to-face and by telephone. Most bureaux offer home visits and some also provide email advice. The advice helps people resolve their debt, benefits, housing, legal, discrimination, employment, immigration, consumer and other problems and is available to everyone regardless of race, gender, sexuality, age, nationality, disability or religion.
Online CAB advice www.adviceguide.org.uk
for practical, reliable, up-to-date information in English, Welsh, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Urdu and Chinese on a wide range of topics. Information is continuously reviewed by their team of advisers and covers England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Community Legal Service
Community Legal Service Direct provides free information, help and advice to the public on a range of common legal issues. It is an easy to use service, available in English and Welsh, via a national helpline or a website. The Community Legal Service aims to ensure that people get information and advice about their legal rights and help with enforcing them by bringing together legal aid solicitors, Citizens Advice Bureaux, Law Centres, Local Authority Services and other organisations in local networks, all across Wales. The Community Legal Service is there to ensure that people get quality legal services that tackle their real needs.
Establishing, maintaining and developing the Community Legal Service is the responsibility of the Legal Services Commission, working together with a number of partner organisations and the Department for Constitutional Affairs.
The helpline telephone number is 0845 345 4 345, where you can:
Or you may wish to visit the website at www.clsdirect.org.uk , where you can:
All the advice and help given is confidential and independent. Calls to the helpline can be made for the price of a local phone call from anywhere in Wales. Mobile users should check the cost of calling with their network.
The Wales TUC campaigns for equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people at work and in society.
The Wales TUC and trade unions in Wales were at the forefront of the successful campaign that lead to the introduction of anti-discrimination laws in October 2003, which meant that for the first time British workers had legal protection against discrimination in employment or training on grounds of their sexuality. The Wales TUC also campaigned for the Gender Recognition Act that provides legal recognition for trans people in their new gender and protection from discrimination.
The TUC regularly publishes reports and information on LGBT employment issues. For information about LGBT rights at work visit www.tuc.org.uk or www.workSMART.org.uk.
The Wales TUC LGBT committee advises the Wales TUC on LGBT equality work and undertakes its own work to promote LGBT equality in the workplace. The committee is made up of representatives from different TUC affiliated unions. It meets quarterly. There are regional networks for LGBT trade unionists in every TUC region in England and Wales.
For further information contact the Wales TUC at:
Wales TUC
Transport House
1 Cathedral Road
Cardiff. CF11 9SD.
029 2034 7010
wtuc@tuc.org.uk
www.wtuc.org.uk
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