Lloyds Banking Group has achieved the highest possible grade in Business Disability Forum’s Disability Standard, the world’s only business-led management tool used to measure accessibility and inclusion in the workplace. The Standard assesses ten core criteria, including physical accessibility, workplace adjustments and products and services, enabling businesses to accurately plan for and measure their progress.

Lloyds Banking Group is one of only five organisations to attain the top status of Gold since the assessment was launched in 2004 – reflecting a score of 90 or more on the Standard’s 100-point scale.

This is the third time Lloyds Banking Group has achieved Gold status and they are now one of only two organisations to attain the top ranking more than once. Having previously received the accolade in 2012 and 2014, they are the first company to receive the status this year.

The Group was recognised for a clear senior- level commitment to disability which was evident across the company.  This level of commitment coupled with clear work stream activities delivered through 2017 was praised, and contributed significantly to the award.

Initiatives included:

• Involving disabled customers and colleagues in the development and trialing of their services through quarterly customer focus groups.
• Lloyds Banking Group’s Workplace Adjustments Process, which ensures the working environment meets the needs of all employees. 2367 colleagues completed this process in 2017 and it is now shared as a best practice case study by Business Disability Forum for other businesses to employ.
• A commitment to retaining, attracting and recruiting disabled employees through a consistent level of disability awareness throughout the recruitment process and a comprehensive wellbeing strategy with a strong focus on mental health awareness.
• An emphasis on ensuring products and services are accessible for customers by offering services such as Signly, an app which allows deaf or hard of hearing customers to scan materials and receive translations.
• High levels of disabled employee and customer engagement aimed at obtaining feedback and using this to inform both internal and external disability performance.

In particular, the Group was commended for their efforts within the areas of Commitment, Adjustments, Recruitment, Communication and Products and Services, in which they received perfect scores.

First launched by Business Disability Forum (BDF) in 2004, the Disability Standard provides the framework for a ‘whole organisation’ approach to drive sustainable improvements in disability performance.

The Group will continue to review their current practices and ensure the business truly reflects the diversity of the customers and communities they serve. With a public commitment to increasing the engagement of their disabled colleagues to 70% by 2020 as part of their Helping Britain Prosper Plan, they continue to work towards nurturing an increasingly disability-smart business.

The attainment of Lloyds Banking Group’s Gold status in the Disability Standard follows their success in Business Disability Forum’s Disability-smart Awards in November 2017. Winning the Nothing About Us Without Us award, they were commended for their work to bring groups of disabled customers and staff together to explore how the organisation’s services could be made as accessible as possible.

David Oldfield, Group Director Commercial Banking, and Group Executive Sponsor for Disability at Lloyds Banking Group said:

“We are proud of what we’ve achieved at Lloyds Banking Group since we were last awarded the Gold standard in 2014 and it’s terrific to be recognised by Business Disability Forum for our continued commitment to supporting disabled colleagues and customers. Whilst the Group has scored highly, we won’t stop there; there are still areas for improvement and we will continue to drive these forward.”

Diane Lightfoot, Chief Executive Officer at Business Disability Forum, said:

“Lloyds Banking Group has been a top performing disability-smart organisation for over 25 years and their stellar Gold score in the Disability Standard confirms their position as a leader in the field. They are only the second organisation ever to achieve Gold in the Disability Standard more than once, having previously achieved this level in 2012 and 2014. Over 300 organisations have completed the Disability Standard since it was introduced in 2004, so Lloyds Banking Group’s achievement is remarkable, as are their consistently excellent standards.

“The organisation’s latest certification comes on the heels of its award-winning mental health campaign with Channel 4, and also their winning a Business Disability Forum Disability-smart Award in November 2017 for including disabled customers in the process of designing services.

“We hope that through these examples of good practice and through sharing of knowledge, that Lloyds Banking Group can spur similar achievements in organisations large and small around the world.”