ILF Scotland proud to be named a Top Ten Employer for 2025 by Working Families

The UK’s national charity for working parents and carers, Working Families, has announced that the Independent Living Fund (ILF) Scotland has earned a place on the highly regarded list of top family-friendly and flexible employers.

Along with some big names spanning the public, private and third sectors we are delighted to be demonstrating what it means to lead from the front in supporting parents and carers in their workforce.

Since 2017, we have earned this award 7 times.  On the two occasions we did not make the Top 10 Employers, we remained among the Top 30 – showing our consistent commitment to excellence in supporting our staff. 

Employers were assessed using Working Families’ Benchmark and were scored on four key areas to build a comprehensive picture of their flexible and family-friendly policies and practices that specifically support parents and carers. These areas include:

• integration to organisational strategy and culture – which looks at culture, attitude and how far flexible and family-friendly working practices have become embedded
• policy – which looks at the creation, development and deployment of flexible and family-friendly working policies and their take-up
• consistent practice – which considers how well flexible and family-friendly working is supported
• evidence and statistics – which looks at the effects of flexible and family-friendly working on the organisation, and their ability to understand those effects

Harvey Tilley, Chief Operating Officer of ILF Scotland said:

“We are honoured to be named as a one of the top ten family friendly and flexible employers in the UK for 2025. ILF Scotland is proud to be a 7-time award winner since 2017! Even in the two years we did not make the Top 10, we ranked amongst the Top 30, showcasing our ongoing commitment to be one of the best places to work.  We ensure all our policies and practices are flexible and inclusive and encourage our staff to take advantage of all the initiatives we offer.

“Our business is to help disabled people to live independent lives with choice, dignity and control. We can only do this when our staff team are happy and able to work in a way that suits their lives. Yet we never rest on our laurels. We’ve been honoured for the last 8 years but we must keep speaking to our staff and ensuring ILF Scotland remains as flexible and family friendly as we can – for the benefit of everyone.”

The Benchmark—which captured the experience of over 296,000 UK employees across the organisations that took part— highlights trends in flexible and family-friendly policies and practices. This year the key findings include:

• 86% carry out a job analysis on some or all vacancies to determine the options for flexibility
• 94% actively encourage their managers to work in a flexible and family-friendly way
• 55% go beyond the statutory minimum by enhancing carers leave, for an average of 5.3 days
• 82% plan to include flexible working options in all job adverts within a year, as a means of addressing gender pay and progression, and 80% provide flexible working options on their website
• 98% offer support for wellbeing
• 78% see flexible working as a means of improving operational effectiveness

Jane van Zyl, CEO of Working Families, said:

“Our Top Employers are a powerful reminder that there are employers who are already forging a path for family-friendly and flexible working that others can follow, safe in the knowledge that not only will their business not suffer, but it will thrive. Supporting carers, finding flexibility in job roles, and encouraging change from the top, as our Benchmark employers do, all add up to create inclusive workforces where everyone is empowered to work at their best.”