LGBTQ+ equality at the Fund

At The King’s Fund, we are committed to equity for all, including the LGBTQ+ community. As an employer, and in our work, we want LGBTQ+ voices to be heard, valued and supported.

A great example of this is our LGBTQ+ staff network.

LGBTQ+ colleagues from across the organisation continue to find affinity in our thriving LGBTQ+ staff network, membership of which continues to increase. The network sits on our Staff Representative Forum, which directly impacts decisions made across the organisation, and works closely with the Head of EDI on organisational priorities that may impact the community. The network also hosts events for our staff.

Awareness-raising events for staff

These events aim to inform staff and create a more inclusive workplace. We have welcomed LGBTQ+ speakers such as Nneka Smith, Layla McCay, Cynthia Fortlage, Lior Locher and recently Helen Davies and Z Monteiro who spoke about their LGBTQ+ and neurodiverse identities. We also mark, celebrate and share information on days of observance and celebration in the LGBTQ+ calendar. Our Internation Women’s Day panel event in 2025 focused on gender equity through an intersectional lens.

The network has strong links with the other employee groups at the Fund and the LGBTQ+ groups at our sister think-tanks, the Nuffield Trust and The Health Foundation, with invitations to our events extended to community members and allies across both organisations.

Our external work

As an organisation we are committed to highlighting and addressing health inequalities, including issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community. In 2024, we held an event for LGBTQ+ leaders in health and care with guest speakers from NHS Confed and The Clare Project, as well as NHS health care professionals. Recent publications include blogs on learning from the past 75 years of LGBTQ+ health care, supporting LGBTQ+ NHS staff and trans health inequalities.

Diversity and inclusion

The King’s Fund is committed to supporting greater diversity and inclusion, both in our own work and across health and care systems. Find out more about our work to support these ambitions.

Benchmarking

Our journey started in 2020, when we first submitted to Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index, ranking 482 out of 500 organisations. Skip ahead to 2024 (with a lot of work having gone on behind the scenes) and we were delighted to receive a Gold Award in Stonewall UK's workplace equality index, ranking 79th in their their Top 100 employers. These achievements recognise the progress we have made on our journey to becoming a more inclusive organisation.

Benchmarking programmes, such as the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index, enei and more, have been key to accelerating our inclusion journey at the Fund. Find out more about how we have used benchmarking to drive cultural change in the organisation.