Arts Council England is seeking £40,000 in legal costs from Mercury Prize winner Speech Debelle and her legal team after she lost an employment tribunal battle over claims she faced racial discrimination while working for the arts funding agency.

Debelle, whose real name is Corynne Elliot, worked at ACE as the relations manager for the organization’s music team for three years, but left in September 2021, eventually launching court proceedings against ACE in 2023.

DeBell claims she faced microaggressions, bullying and harassment while working at the organization, which led to work-related stress and her departure. ACE denies all of her claims.

During a five-day court hearing at the Central Employment Tribunal in London in October 2023, The judge ruled Elliott did not face direct or indirect racial discrimination, race-related harassment or constructive racial discrimination.

Following the ruling, Arts Council England decided to take legal action to recover the costs of defending the case in court, which it said could cost up to £40,000, with the rapper and her legal team potentially paying £20,000 each.

Debelle, who has set up a funding page to cover her legal costs, said she felt ACE was trying to set an example for her by seeking legal costs, something it had never done before. “They want to make sure they send the message that if you stand up to them, the power of the organization will be against you,” she said.

A spokesman for Arts Council England said: “The tribunal unanimously dismissed the claim against Arts Council England, finding that Arts Council staff acted professionally and appropriately.”

“While the proceedings are ongoing and we will not comment further, we can confirm that we take our responsibilities as custodians of taxpayers’ funds seriously and are therefore seeking to recover legal costs. Our approach is based on the judge’s comments on the plaintiff’s case, which Every point of the comments is dismissed.”

Debelle grew up in Crystal Palace and was homeless before launching a successful music career. She rose to prominence in 2009 when she unexpectedly won the Mercury Prize for her album Speech Therapy, beating out the likes of Kasabian, the Horrors and Florence + the Machine.

Following her win and the eventual release of her critically acclaimed second album, Free Speech, there was intense media interest in her, but she was later dropped by her record label, Big Dada.

She went on to appear on Celebrity MasterChef before opening a food truck in Brick Lane, east London. Before joining ACE in 2017, she also helped curate the Strength and Vulnerability Bunker arm of the Koestler Trust Prisoner Arts Project at the Southbank Centre.

While at ACE, DeBell set up Black Influencer Masterclasses and programs targeting Black and ethnic minority artists who wanted to access arts funding.

ACE has had a rocky start to 2024 as it was forced to revise “reputational risk” guidance published in January that suggested “overtly political or activist” work could undermine funding deals.

Several artists, including Robert Macfarlane and Feargal Sharkey, condemned the initial advice, while performing arts and entertainment union Equity said the impact of the guidance would be censorship works and “suppresses artists…especially those working in activist or political fields.”

Revised guidance published last week said: “The Arts Council will not withdraw or deny funding to an organization or individual purely because their work is political.”

Arts Council England’s case against Speech Debelle will be heard on Wednesday 13 March.