Women snub £36,963 ‘gender neutral’ Home Office toilets ‘after men kept leaving loo doors open’

FEMALE Home Office staff are reportedly avoiding its £37,000 "gender neutral" loos — because men keep leaving the doors open.

A sign was allegedly put up asking male colleagues to use the unisex toilets "with the door shut" amid claims some were leaving their cubicles open while they were inside.

The sign, which the claims was put up by fed-up female staff, adds: "Women are finding use of the toilets quite distressing and are not using these toilets as a result".

Ten gender neutral facilities were converted from of pre-existing male and female toilets at the Home Office's Westminster headquarters.

Freedom of Information requests show that £28,892,50 was spent remodelling the loos.

And the signs bearing the words "Gender Neutral Toilets" cost the taxpayer a staggering £8,070.70 alone, the paper reports — bringing the total to £36,963.20.

But the Home Office insists it is committed to providing a "comfortable" environment for all members of staff.

And it is among a growing number of employers and Government departments introducing unisex loos.

The Army HQ in Andover, Hamps removed two "Ladies" and "Gents" signs this summer — changing them  to gender neutral facilities.

The BBC has gender-neutral facilities in all its buildings to cater for its 417 transgender staff members, while Channel 4 committed to installing unisex loos last year.

Google also announced last year that it would be building gender neutral loos at its London office.

Campaign group the Taxpayers' Alliance slammed the Home Office expenditure as it said public money had been "effectively flushed away".

James Price, a spokesman for the Alliance, said: "Public spending should be predicated on how people behave in real life, not on how some mandarin thinks they ought to behave on paper.

"If these facilities are not being used properly, then lessons should be learnt to ensure money isn’t wasted on similar projects."

A Home Office spokesman said: "We are committed to being an inclusive employer and creating an environment where all staff feel comfortable at work.

"The works contracted came out of a budget reserved for building maintenance and modification."