Charity Pride in Gloucestershire is launching an employers' LGBTQ+ inclusion network.

It will be the first time such a network has existed in the county.

The new network is known as the Gloucestershire LGBTQ+ Inclusion and Diversity for Employers (GLIDE) consortium.

The move has been driven by some of the county's largest employers reaching out to Pride to ask how to effectively support LGBTQ+ colleagues, share best practise and understand how they can better support the LGBTQ+ community.

Last September, during Pride Week, the charity ran a networking breakfast for employers. The companies which attended represented over 10,000 employees from across the county.

Richard Stevens, Pride chairman, said: "As a business leader myself, I fully understand the need to support and value all people who work for an organisation, but as an employer you often aren't exactly sure on how to support the various sub-groups within your workforce.

"It is therefore important that our charity plays our part in bringing together like-minded organisations to get conversations flowing and make Gloucestershire a better place for LGBTQ+ people to work."

There has already been great interest in the GLIDE consortium and the charity is looking to form the base membership ready to hold its first quarterly meeting in April.

Any organisation or business which employs staff based in the county is eligible to join.