Three Cardiff companies were among the top ten most inclusive employers in Britain by the LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall in its Top 100 Employers list for 2020.

The National Assembly for Wales, which took the top spot in 2018, secured 8th place, continuing its high ranking within the top 10 for six years running.

Following closely behind, in 9th place, were the Welsh Government and Cardiff University which became the highest ranking university in 10th place.

Co-chair of the Assembly’s LGBT Network, OUTNAW, Bleddyn Harris, said: “I think it’s an important thing to recognise with the assembly that we’ve been in the top ten for the last six years.

“What that means to me is – I feel welcomed, I feel seen and I feel represented here and I feel safe, which is really important.”

Three Welsh universities secured a spot in the top 100, The University of South Wales coming in at 24th, a significant improvement from 2019 where it placed 43rd.

University of South Wales lecturer, Thania Acaron, said: “There’s an LGBT+ staff network, it’s called spectrum and this is a group of people that want to, at the staff level, make changes and make more of a community and start creating different ways that we can connect with each other and get to know each other in kind of an open and safe way.”

According to the Stonewall website, two in five LGBT students (42 per cent) have hidden their identity at university for fear of discrimination, but two-thirds of LGBT students (69 per cent) say universities have equality policies that protect LGBT people on campus.