More than 70 employers are included in the 2018 listing, which is now in its second year. The review seeks to recognise ‘good practice on workplace race equality and inclusion’ and aims to both raise awareness of and celebrate the public and private sector organisations making a difference in this area.

Business in the Community’s Best Employers for Race listing was inaugurated in 2017 following the government-backed McGregor-Smith Review of race in the workplace. The listing aims to ‘identify the best employers in terms of diversity’ and showcase organisations that are leading on workplace race equality. The Best Employers for Race listing also acts as the entry process for the Business in the Community Race Equality Awards, which are now in their 12th year.

To be considered for the listing, employers must demonstrate that they ‘are putting leadership on race in place within their organisation’, as well as developing and promoting workplace cultures that are inclusive and demonstrably taking action on such issues as leadership, career progression and recruitment. They must also be able to show how their policies are producing positive results for their Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) employees.

The Big Four were all included in the top 70, as were a number of other companies, including the Bank of England and the Royal Bank of Scotland Group.

Laura Hinton, chief people officer at PwC UK, said: ‘It is great to be acknowledged as an employer taking action to build an inclusive workplace. We have taken a number of steps to drive equality and inclusion for our ethnic minority people, and we believe that transparency and clear targets shine a spotlight on existing pain-points and help accelerate action.

‘Progress is being made, and the recent government consultation on mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting shows employers need to take this seriously, but much more needs to be done.

'We know that we do not have enough ethnic minority people represented in our senior leadership positions and, in order to drive real change, action plans need to directly address the underlying reasons for this.’

Emma Codd, managing partner for talent at Deloitte, was separately listed as a top eight champion by the Investing in Ethnicity awards, and said: 'I am so proud that our firm has been recognised by these two important organisations for our focus on ethnic diversity - it is fantastic to receive recognition of what we have achieved so far.'

'While we have made progress, we are mindful that there is still a lot to be done. We have set targets in line with the Parker Review and have also committed to publishing our ethnicity pay gap on an annual basis, which we will report on for the second time later this year.

'Alongside this we have continued to focus on always providing an inclusive culture, underpinned by respect, and delivering on specific actions aimed at increasing ethnic diversity at all levels of our firm.'