Demographics Report iMatter Survey 2025
Independent report by Webropol providing detailed information and analysis of staff experience in health and social care across Scotland, broken down by protected characteristics (as stated in Equality Act 2010). This report compiles data from the 2025 iMatter survey.
Sexual Orientation and Trans
Those who identify as transgender and those whose sexual orientation is other than straight/heterosexual are minority groups within the Health and Social Care workforce.
|
Which of the following best describes your sexual orientation? |
2025 |
|---|---|
|
Straight/Heterosexual |
84% |
|
Gay or Lesbian |
2% |
|
Bisexual |
2% |
|
Prefer to self-describe |
1% |
|
Non-response |
11% |
|
Do you consider yourself to be trans, or have a trans history? |
2025 |
|---|---|
|
Yes, I identify as transgender |
<1% |
|
No, I do not identify as transgender |
90% |
|
Non-response |
10% |
Among those who are gay/lesbian 48% are female and 52% male, contrasting to the 81% to 19% split among those who are straight/heterosexual. 83% of those who are bisexual and 71% of those who self-describe are female.
Disability incidence is higher among those who are not straight/heterosexual:
- Gay/lesbian 16%
- Bisexual 25%
- Self-describe 21%
- Straight/heterosexual 7%
Those who are not straight/heterosexual are less likely to belong to a religious group, with 74% of those who are gay/lesbian the highest incidence.
Incidence of mental health conditions is particularly high among those who are bisexual (32%). It is also high among those who are gay/lesbian (18%) and those who self-describe (23%).
24% of those who identify as transgender consider themselves to be disabled, compared to 8% of those who are not transgender. Those who identify as transgender have a much higher incidence of mental health conditions at 26%, compared to 9% among those who are not transgender.
Consistently through the data, those who identify as transgender score lower than those who do not. The overall experience score of 7.1 for those who identify as transgender, is 0.5 lower than among those who do not identify as transgender.
The largest differences in iMatter metrics are:
- I feel involved in decisions relating to my job 5 pts lower.
- I feel involved in decisions relating to my team 5 pts lower.
- I have confidence and trust in Board members who are responsible for my organisation 6 pts lower.
Staff who self-describe their sexual orientation are the least confident that they can safely raise concerns or that their concerns will be followed up and responded to. Confidence that concerns will be followed up on is lower among those who are gay/lesbian or bisexual than among those who are straight/heterosexual.
Those who identify as transgender are also less confident in raising concerns and that concerns will be followed up and responded to.
|
Sexual Orientation |
I am confident that I can safely raise concerns about issues in my workplace |
I am confident that my concerns will be followed up and responded to |
|---|---|---|
|
Straight/Heterosexual |
80 |
75 |
|
Gay/Lesbian |
79 |
72 |
|
Bisexual |
79 |
71 |
|
Self-describe |
73 |
66 |
|
Trans/Trans History |
||
|
Trans No |
80 |
74 |
|
Trans Yes |
76 |
69 |
Contact
Email: nationalimatterteam@gov.scot