Barclays Awarded Gold Status for Support of Disabled Customers, Clients and Colleagues

Barclays has been praised by the Business Disability Forum (BDF) for its overall performance on disability, achieving the highest ever score awarded to any organisation since the introduction of the Disability Standard in 2004.

This is a significant step towards Barclays’ commitment to be the most accessible and inclusive company in the FTSE100, and in particular the most inclusive bank.

Barclays attained a score of 98% and a gold level of recognition in BDF’s Disability Standard evaluation. The BDF ranks employers and service providers in their commitment to meeting the needs of people with disabilities. It measures a company’s entire performance on disability and the ways it improves business for disabled customers, clients and colleagues.

The BDF also commented on the excellent visible leadership of Ashok Vaswani, CEO of Barclays UK, who champions improvements to disability performance across the bank.

On the achievement, Ashok said: “The news that Barclays has received such a high Disability Standard by the BDF reinforces our position as a leader in disability and accessibility, and shows we are well on our way to becoming the most accessible and inclusive FTSE100 company. This is a powerful endorsement of our commitment to provide the best possible results for all colleagues, customers and clients. While of course there is much more we want to do, I would like to take this opportunity to recognise all of our colleagues who are driving this agenda forward.”

BDF were impressed with the many examples Barclays provided in their submission, including improvements to products, services and processes, and our collaboration with experts, such as AbilityNet, SignVideo and Royal National Institute for the Blind.

Mark McLane, Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion, said: “I am delighted we have achieved gold status in BDF’s Disability Standard. This is excellent recognition of our innovative approach to drive sustainable improvements across the whole organisation relating to accessibility. As a leader in this field we are committed to sharing experience and best practice by working with other companies and organisations like BDF to improve access and inclusion for all colleagues and customers."

Learn more about our global diversity and inclusion strategy

Read the Pioneers blog from our Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion, Mark McLane