Five North East employers make it onto most LGBT-friendly list

Several North East employers have made it onto a list of the 100 most inclusive in the country.
Banking giant Lloyds has been named the most inclusive employer in the country by the equality charity Stonewall. Pic: PA.Banking giant Lloyds has been named the most inclusive employer in the country by the equality charity Stonewall. Pic: PA.
Banking giant Lloyds has been named the most inclusive employer in the country by the equality charity Stonewall. Pic: PA.

Your Homes Newcastle, Newcastle City Council, Teesside University, North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust all feature in the list, compiled by Stonewall.

Banking giant Lloyds was named the most inclusive employer in the country, after launching a new volunteering programme, forming official partnerships with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender charities.

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The group also supported awareness days and social media campaigns and flew bisexual and transgender flags at 35 sites.

Law firm Pinsent Masons came second, followed by US bankers JP Morgan, while intelligence agency MI5, which was top last year, was joint-fifth with the Welsh Assembly.

Stonewall said its workplace equality index attracted a record 439 submissions, with 92,000 staff taking part in a survey about workplace culture.

Ruth Hunt, chief executive of Stonewall, said: "Lloyds Banking Group is a trailblazer for lesbian, gay, bi and trans equality, and an example of a business that consistently ensures that all staff feel empowered and supported, no matter who they are.

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"We've learned over the last year that nothing is certain - and this extends to human rights. Corporate organisations have the power to influence this and protect LGBT people, and so it is reassuring to see so many private firms represented in our top 10 and top 100."

Legal firms made up half of the top 10 and featured widely in the top 100 along with those in education, banking and finance and the government, but there were no media companies.

Others named include several police forces, universities, the National Crime Agency and the Army.

The Top 100:

1 Lloyds Banking Group

2 Pinsent Masons

3 J.P. Morgan

4 Clifford Chance

5 MI5

5 National Assembly for Wales

7 Baker McKenzie

8 Berwin Leighton Paisner

8 Cheshire Fire & Rescue Service

10 Norton Rose Fulbright

10 KPMG

12 Tower Hamlets Homes

13 Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service

13 RBS

15 Leicestershire Police

16 Cheshire Police

17 Dentons

17 Hogan Lovells

19 PwC

20 MI6

20 Police Scotland

20 Victim Support

23 Cardiff University

24 Herbert Smith Freehills

25 Asda

25 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

25 Welsh Government

28 House of Commons

28 Touchstone

28 Your Homes Newcastle

31 Citi

31 CMS Cameron McKenna

31 The Co-operative Group

31 Swansea University

35 Nottinghamshire Police

36 DWF

36 Leicestershire County Council

38 Newcastle City Council

39 Aviva

39 De Montfort University

41 Manchester Metropolitan University

41 University of Manchester

43 K&L Gates

43 London Borough of Tower Hamlets

43 St Andrew's Healthcare

43 St Mungo's

47 Environment Agency

48 Fujitsu

49 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

50 Scottish Government

51 BP

51 Bury Council

51 Macquarie

51 Nottinghamshire County Council

51 Office for National Statistics

51 Teesside University

57 Essex Community Rehabilitation Company

58 Financial Conduct Authority

58 Travers Smith

60 North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust

60 The Riverside Group

60 Vision West Nottinghamshire College

63 Golden Jubilee Foundation

63 Wolverhampton Homes

65 Hampshire Constabulary

65 Sheffield City Council

67 Thomson Reuters

68 Barnardo's

69 Eversheds

70 Land Registry

70 Slaughter and May

72 BNP Paribas UK

72 Newham College of Further Education

74 EDF Energy

75 Cheshire West and Chester Council

75 GCHQ

75 Reed Smith

75 University of Birmingham

79 Sussex Police

80 L&Q

80 Metropolitan

82 Birmingham City Council

82 Cardiff & Vale University Health Board

82 Royal Navy

82 University of Greenwich

86 National Crime Agency

87 HSBC Bank

88 University of Sheffield

89 Credit Suisse

89 Nottingham City Homes

89 Tate

89 York St John University

93 Circle Housing Group

93 The Open University

95 Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board

95 Leeds Beckett University

95 Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

98 BNP Paribas Personal Finance (LaSer UK)

99 The Army

99 Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service