Best Employers for Veterans: UK Gold Award Holders and US HIRE Vets Winners (2026)

The most reliable lists of veteran-friendly employers come from government schemes that test employers against published criteria. In the UK that is the Ministry of Defence's Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS), which gave its top Gold Award to 162 employers on 15 July 2026. In the US it is the Department of Labor's HIRE Vets Medallion Program, which recognised 888 employers in its 2025 round. This guide names employers from both lists, explains what each award actually measures, and shows you how to check any employer yourself.

How the two schemes compare

Both schemes are free to search and both rest on evidence an employer has to submit. They measure different things. The UK award focuses on policies: leave for Reservists, support for cadets and families, and promotion of the Armed Forces Covenant. The US award focuses on outcomes: the share of new hires who are veterans and how many of them stay.

UK: 2026 ERS Gold Award holders by sector

The Ministry of Defence announcement says the 2026 Gold holders span finance, healthcare, education and local government, and range from small firms to large public bodies. The complete list sits in the official ERS spreadsheets on gov.uk, last updated on 6 October 2026, which cover every Gold, Silver and Bronze holder from 2015 to 2026. The table below lists 2026 Gold holders named in regional announcements by the Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Associations and by NHS Employers, grouped by sector. It is a sample of the 162, so treat absence from this table as a reason to check the full list.

What a Gold Award requires

The ERS works as a ladder. According to the scheme guidance:

• Bronze: the organisation signs the Armed Forces Covenant, registers its interest and tells its workforce it supports defence.
• Silver: the organisation already holds Bronze, shows that service personnel face no unfair disadvantage in recruitment, gives Reservists at least 5 days of extra annual leave for training and lets Cadet Force Adult Volunteers flex their hours.
• Gold: the organisation has held Silver long enough to embed its policies, gives at least 10 days of extra paid leave to Reservists, provides structured support to cadets, engages with the Career Transition Partnership and Forces Families Jobs, and encourages its partners and suppliers to sign the Covenant.

Public bodies also run their own routes in. The government's VALOUR guide to public sector careers lists the Civil Service Great Place to Work for Veterans scheme, Going Forward into Employment, the Ministry of Justice's Advance into Justice scheme and council roles, and notes that every council has signed the Armed Forces Covenant.

US: 2025 HIRE Vets Medallion recipients

The Department of Labor published the 2025 recipients in a Federal Register notice on 10 March 2026. Of 891 applications, 888 received an award. Large employers (500 or more staff) took 15 Platinum and 80 Gold awards. The table lists a selection of large recipients by sector, with the location given in the notice.

Other Large Platinum recipients in the notice include CSA Global LLC (Virginia Beach, VA), Intuitive Research and Technology Corporation (Huntsville, AL), International Training Fund (Annapolis, MD), SEACORP, LLC (Middletown, RI) and System Studies & Simulations, Inc (Huntsville, AL). Medium and small employers make up most of the 888, so a local firm near you may hold an award even if it never appears in national rankings.

What the Medallion requires

The criteria published on hirevets.gov for large employers set two numeric tests. For Platinum, veterans must make up 10% of new hires and the employer must retain 85% of its veteran hires. For Gold, the thresholds are 7% and 75%. Platinum employers must also run a veteran organisation or resource group, a leadership programme, dedicated HR staff for veterans, a pay differential programme for Guard and Reserve service and a tuition assistance programme. Gold employers need the resource group and the leadership programme. The application fee for large employers is $640.

How to check any employer yourself

In the UK

1. Open the ERS publication page and download the Gold, Silver and Bronze spreadsheets. Search for the employer's name and note the level and year.
2. Check whether the employer has signed the Armed Forces Covenant. Signing is the entry point for Bronze, so an employer with no Covenant commitment holds no ERS award.
3. Ask the recruiter how many days of paid Reservist leave the company gives, whether it works with the Career Transition Partnership, and whether it runs an armed forces network.
4. For public sector roles, check whether the employer offers a guaranteed interview scheme for veterans.

In the US

1. Use the HIRE Vets awardees table to filter by employer name, award year (2018 to 2025), state, size and award type. You can download the results as a CSV file.
2. Note whether the award is Gold or Platinum. Platinum means the employer reported the higher hiring and retention rates and runs all five support programmes.
3. Ask whether the company has a veteran resource group, a pay differential for Guard and Reserve duty and a tuition assistance programme. These are the same items the Department of Labor checks.

Award lists help most when you combine them with sector data. Our guide to where veterans work in the UK and US shows which industries employ veterans at the highest rates, and our comparison of reservist protections explains the legal minimums every employer must meet, award or no award.