Trade unions called for an independent system to address bullying and harassment of staff by Senedd members, warning a “staggeringly low” number of complaints are upheld.

Osian Evans, vice-chair of the Plaid Cymru Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union branch, expressed concerns about a lack of confidence, anonymity and independence.

He urged the Senedd’s standards committee to follow Westminster’s lead by introducing an independent-adjudicated process specifically looking at workplace bullying and harassment.

PCS warned complainants have not had their anonymity respected, leading to them being targeted and creating a significant barrier to making complaints.

In written evidence, PCS pointed to one example of a former member of Senedd support staff being targeted with abuse to the point that the police had to be contacted.

The trade union said: “The need for a name to be stated and for that name to be disclosed to the member who is the subject of the complaint was a strong theme here.

“Frankly, this is not a conducive environment to encourage people to call out bad behaviour.”

The union also warned people lack confidence in the process to yield a just outcome and criticised an “unrealistic” six-month window for complaints to be made.

Mr Evans told the committee: “The amount of upheld complaints is actually staggeringly low.”

He warned the current system, which covers everything from using the wrong envelopes to sexually harassing a member of staff, is too complex for complainants.

Laura Murton similarly called for an overhaul, with 36 more members set to join the Senedd following the next elections in May next year.

Giving evidence on 15 July, the Unite union representative said: “Staff still aren’t clear about the process of how they would make a complaint and don’t feel comfortable doing so.”

She warned of a conflict of interest in the informal grievance process through the Senedd’s internal “members’ business support” team.

“It’s not ‘members of support staff business support’,” she pointed out.

“So, you’ve already got that in-baked… maybe prejudice.”

Ms Murton added that political parties’ complaints processes are potentially even less transparent than the current Senedd process.

Complaints can be escalated to the Senedd’s standards commissioner, Douglas Bain, who investigates complaints for the standards committee which is made up of politicians.

Ms Murton said: “Once you get to that point, if you are a member of support staff and you’re making a complaint against a Senedd member... it’s kind of like endgame essentially, you’re going to end up losing your job – one way or another.”

In written evidence, Unite described the current process as not fit for purpose due to a lack of transparency and trust.

Both unions warned complaints can “drag on” for years.

Unite raised concerns about the current system "exacerbating" a power imbalance in the workplace – “one which is magnified in such a political environment”.

“Significant concern has also been flagged regarding the role Senedd members have in the complaints/standards process,” the union warned. “This does not give people in more vulnerable positions confidence in coming forward.”