I currently serve as Pro Chancellor of the University of Surrey, Chair of the City & Guilds of London Institute, Chair of the Lifelong Education Institute, and Chair of The Manchester College, the UK's largest Further Education College, where I began my teaching career.  I am also Vice President of the FE sector’s social justice charity, the Helena Kennedy Foundation which I founded  in 1998. 

From 2015-2021, I served as the first female Chair of The Scouts UK. I now chair The Lloyds Bank Foundation, the charity arm in England & Wales of the Lloyds Banking Group, and am Deputy Chair of The King’s Foundation, the heritage-led regeneration and sustainability charity founded by HM The King. 

In the 2011 Birthday Honours, I was awarded the OBE for services to education, in 2015 ‘upgraded’ to CBE for public service, and in Jubilee Honours 2022 ‘elevated’ to the rank of Dame Commander of the British Empire, DBE for services to young people, philanthropy and charity. In 2019, I was named #1 LGBTQ+ public sector role model in the OUTstanding List and one of the 50 most influential women born in the North of England in the Northern Power Women Power List.