Students' unions
Your members already expect this. Now there is a badge for it.
SU venues are where most students learn what a night out is. The Glitter Standard accredits the venue, trains the team, recruits your members as testers and gives your university dated, independent evidence for the duties it now carries.
The numbers behind campus first
1 in 10
16 to 24 year olds identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual: 10.4% in 2023 and 8.0% in 2024, against around 1% of over 65s.
42%
of LGBT students have hidden their identity at university for fear of discrimination.
34%
of trans people were discriminated against in a cafe, bar or nightclub in the last year, and almost half avoid public toilets.
1 in 4
students report sexual harassment since entering higher education. Most incidents happened off campus.
1 in 5
students declares a disability; autistic student declarations more than doubled in five years.
2.9m
students at UK providers. In most mid-sized cities the university is the night-time economy's biggest customer.
Sources: ONS Sexual orientation, UK 2023 and 2024; Stonewall/YouGov University Report 2018 and Trans Report 2018; Office for Students Sexual Misconduct Survey 2025; HESA 2023/24 and 2024/25; Advance HE student data 2025.
What an SU gets
An accredited venue
Every bar and event space on one site under one SU fee. Published criteria, one level, the badge on the door and a place on the public map.
A trained team
The 45-minute core module for every bar and events worker including student staff, a live session with lived-experience facilitators, and the managers' module for your venue manager.
Your members as testers
Testers are recruited from LGBTQIA+, disabled students' and neurodivergent societies, trained and paid. Your students test the town, not just the union.
Evidence for E6
Office for Students condition E6 requires providers to prevent and address harassment and sexual misconduct. An accredited SU venue with trained staff, incident logging and a displayed reporting route is auditable evidence for the return.
The belonging data
"I feel like I belong here", by group, for your venue and for the town. The first honest baseline of the welcome gap on your campus.
The night
Glitterbomb, the touring LGBTQIA+ club night, plays accredited spaces. The badge moment, the confetti and the content pack are yours.
How it runs on campus
- Chief executive and commercial lead
We sign with the people who will still be there in September.
- Liberation officers first
Your LGBT+ and disabled students' officers see the scope and the facilities position before anything else.
- Train in the quiet weeks
January to May, so the incoming team inherits a done deal.
- Verified before freshers
Onboarding session, evidence check, badge up for welcome week.
- Tested all year
Random testing nights across the town, with your members in the pool.
The night is the proof
Glitterbomb, our sister brand, is the LGBTQIA+ club night that tours student cities. It plays accredited spaces, and the night your venue is badged is the night the confetti goes up and your whole team is in the photo. Booking a night never earns a badge. Passing does.
A Glitterbomb night.
What it costs, and who can pay
One SU rate covers every bar on site. Training is per head. The price list is published before you commit and pilot SUs in 2026-27 train at cost with first-year accreditation free. Police and Crime Commissioner and Violence Reduction Unit budgets have funded exactly this kind of training elsewhere, and we will help you ask.
We never use the NUS name to promote the Standard and we never ask an SU to change its own policies. The Standard sits inside the Equality Act and the EHRC Code as in force, and our facilities wording is on The Standard page for your officers to read first.
If something happens to you tonight
Support, whoever and wherever you are. These appear on every Glittered poster.
- Galop LGBT+ anti-abuse charity. galop.org.uk
- Switchboard LGBTQIA+ listening service, 10am to 10pm every day. switchboard.lgbt
- Report It Report a hate crime online. 999 in an emergency. report-it.org.uk
- Stop Hate UK Third-party reporting and support. stophateuk.org
- National Autistic Society autism.org.uk
- Samaritans Call 116 123 free, any time.
Talk to us
Twenty minutes, no cost, no commitment. Tell us who you are and where you are and we will tell you what the route looks like.
hello@theglitterstandard.co.uk
Accreditation, partnerships and press: Matthew Jones-Roberts. Events and the Glitterbomb tour: Stephen Sullivan.