These Are The UK’s Most LGBTQ+-Inclusive Employers

Newcastle City Council has been named the UK's most LGBTQ+-inclusive employer of 2020 by Stonewall.

The charity praised the local authority for "embedding LGBT inclusion throughout the council, from employee policies, to recruitment practices, to internal communications".

Newcastle City Council is also hailed for running a "reverse mentoring scheme" which pairs senior leaders with LGBT employees so they can better understand their lived experiences as queer people.

Stonewall said the council "leads the way in its support for trans staff" by working closely with local trans groups and co-hosting a conference designed to improve trans awareness in the Newcastle area.

Councillor Joyce McCarty, deputy leader of Newcastle City Council, said of the recognition: “I’m incredibly proud that our commitment to inclusivity has been recognised with this accolade. This is really an award for everybody in our city who shows us every day that we are all equal and that our great city accepts everyone.” 

Stonewall has published a list of the UK's 100 most LGBTQ+-inclusive employers for the last 16 years. More than 500 organisations submitted an application to make this year's list, and Newcastle City Council climbed from fifth place in 2019 to top of the pile in 2020.

Improving LGBTQ+ inclusion in all workplaces is vital at a time when LGBTQ+ workers in the UK face a pay gap nearly twice as large as the country's gender pay gap.

Meanwhile, a 2017 study conducted by the Trades Union Congress found that only 51% of LGBTQ+ workers are "out" to everyone in their workplace.

Other employers to make this year's top ten, which appears below, include law firm Pinsent Masons, the Welsh Government and pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.

1. Newcastle City Council
2. Gentoo Group
3. Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service
4. Pinsent Masons
5. Ministry of Justice
6. GSK
7. Citi
8. National Assembly for Wales
9. Welsh Government
10. Cardiff University

You can check out the full Stonewall 100 of the UK's most LGBTQ+-inclusive employers here, and the charity's list of the most trans-inclusive employers here.