Tracey

About this volunteer

Role

Vice chair

Projects

Parents, carers & partner

I am Tracey, affectionately known as The Other Mrs Bradshaw.

I have been married to Lynda (Bradshaw) for 7 years, we have 3 grown-up children and 3 grand babies.

I started working for the DWP in 2016, firstly as a PIP Decision maker before moving to DLA Child a year later. I am currently part of the Service Assurance and Continuous Improvement Team.

During my time on the team, I have recommended changes to guidance and processes that benefit both colleagues and customers on the DLA child journey.

Following my request for advice from the DWP medical professional and the reply of ‘The guidance that gender dysphoria can be classified as a personality disorder is incorrect at best and discriminatory at worst’ ensured that this guidance was swiftly removed.

I produced a Glossary of Terminology section added as advice to colleagues. And most recently (after 2 years of battling) a new process has been added to ensure that transgender or non-binary children or parent/guardians can have requested pronouns, titles and names used on their files.

Being part of developing the Parents, Carers and Partners group has been an amazing experience. Our middle-child Alex is transgender. His journey has been a long one that we have managed to navigate together as a family. By being able to share progress, updates and frustrations with a group I feel safe in and hearing similar stories from other parents confirms that we are not alone on this journey.

If like me, the thought of joining a group is out of your comfort zone, please reach out. I look forward to welcoming new members and making new friends.