Four banks in top ten family-friendly UK employers

Banks feature heavily in a list of the top 10 employers for working families, with Barclays, Citi, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and UBS all taking top spots.

The Top Employers for Working Families Benchmark and Awards, founded by work-life organisation Working Families in partnership with the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), also listed professional services firms Deloitte and KPMG in the top 10, as well as telecoms firm BT and not-for-profit organisation Southdown Housing Association.

In addition, special awards were given to those offering the best support for particular groups of workers, such as mothers, fathers and carers.

Deloitte was named as the best employer for mothers, while Citi and the London School of Economics were joint winners of the best employer for fathers award.

Meanwhile, the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust grabbed the carers and eldercare award and Wales and West Housing was named as the best employer for career progression for flexible workers.

Sarah Jackson, chief executive of Working Families, said of the winners: "These employers have demonstrated how they are developing innovative policies and practices to create flexible, family-friendly cultures that support individual wellbeing and high performance."

Mary Mercer, principal consultant at the IES, added: "We would like to see flexible working becoming the normal way of doing things and available to all.

"These employers are leading the way and using flexible working to help staff to manage their lives and work, which, in turn, increases the productivity and performance of organisations."