diff --git a/src/backends/backendsCommon/WorkloadData.cpp b/src/backends/backendsCommon/WorkloadData.cpp
index 098e857..a1d00c6 100644
--- a/src/backends/backendsCommon/WorkloadData.cpp
+++ b/src/backends/backendsCommon/WorkloadData.cpp
@@ -1489,7 +1489,8 @@
     {
             DataType::Float16,
             DataType::Float32,
-            DataType::QuantisedAsymm8
+            DataType::QuantisedAsymm8,
+            DataType::QuantisedSymm16
     };
 
     ValidateDataTypes(workloadInfo.m_InputTensorInfos[0],
diff --git a/src/backends/reference/RefLayerSupport.cpp b/src/backends/reference/RefLayerSupport.cpp
index d8c942c..03c8633 100644
--- a/src/backends/reference/RefLayerSupport.cpp
+++ b/src/backends/reference/RefLayerSupport.cpp
@@ -1136,10 +1136,11 @@
                                        Optional<std::string&> reasonIfUnsupported) const
 {
     bool supported = true;
-    std::array<DataType,2> supportedTypes =
+    std::array<DataType,3> supportedTypes =
     {
             DataType::Float32,
-            DataType::QuantisedAsymm8
+            DataType::QuantisedAsymm8,
+            DataType::QuantisedSymm16
     };
 
     supported &= CheckSupportRule(TypeAnyOf(input, supportedTypes), reasonIfUnsupported,
diff --git a/src/backends/reference/test/RefCreateWorkloadTests.cpp b/src/backends/reference/test/RefCreateWorkloadTests.cpp
index 8d15530..a0fc728 100644
--- a/src/backends/reference/test/RefCreateWorkloadTests.cpp
+++ b/src/backends/reference/test/RefCreateWorkloadTests.cpp
@@ -682,6 +682,11 @@
     RefCreateRsqrtTest<RefRsqrtWorkload, armnn::DataType::QuantisedAsymm8>();
 }
 
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(CreateRsqrtQsymm16)
+{
+    RefCreateRsqrtTest<RefRsqrtWorkload, armnn::DataType::QuantisedSymm16>();
+}
+
 template <typename L2NormalizationWorkloadType, armnn::DataType DataType>
 static void RefCreateL2NormalizationTest(DataLayout dataLayout)
 {
diff --git a/src/backends/reference/test/RefLayerTests.cpp b/src/backends/reference/test/RefLayerTests.cpp
index 5bab6bb..7ff6d1b 100644
--- a/src/backends/reference/test/RefLayerTests.cpp
+++ b/src/backends/reference/test/RefLayerTests.cpp
@@ -574,6 +574,8 @@
 ARMNN_AUTO_TEST_CASE(RsqrtNegative, RsqrtNegativeTest<armnn::DataType::Float32>)
 ARMNN_AUTO_TEST_CASE(Rsqrt2dQuantisedAsymm8, Rsqrt2dTest<armnn::DataType::QuantisedAsymm8>)
 ARMNN_AUTO_TEST_CASE(Rsqrt3dQuantisedAsymm8, Rsqrt3dTest<armnn::DataType::QuantisedAsymm8>)
+ARMNN_AUTO_TEST_CASE(Rsqrt2dQuantisedSymm16, Rsqrt2dTest<armnn::DataType::QuantisedSymm16>)
+ARMNN_AUTO_TEST_CASE(Rsqrt3dQuantisedSymm16, Rsqrt3dTest<armnn::DataType::QuantisedSymm16>)
 
 // Permute
 ARMNN_AUTO_TEST_CASE(SimplePermuteFloat32, SimplePermuteFloat32Test)