The BBC and BT top a league table of Britain's most "responsible" workplace pension schemes when it comes to keeping members informed about the companies and practices their money is financing, according to a report out on Monday. By contrast, the Rolls-Royce and GlaxoSmithKline occupational schemes were among those described as "laggards".

ShareAction, a charity, looked at how well, or badly, the biggest occupational pension schemes measure the environmental and social impact of the billions of pounds they invest in shares on behalf of their members. It also rated the schemes on how they deal with member concerns about the behaviour of the businesses they invest in, as well as how actively they use their shareholder voting rights and talk to companies about issues such as the environment.

ShareAction was formerly known as FairPensions and its member organisations include the unions Unite and Unison, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Oxfam. Its survey named the BBC and BT pension schemes as the two top performers on responsible investment, with each achieving a score of 35 out of 40.

Close behind was the Universities Superannuation Scheme, which looks after the savings of thousands of academics; it scored 33.5.

The BBC scheme – which provides benefits for more than 60,000 people – was praised for, among other things, publishing on its website its top 100 equity investments, which range from Apple and Facebook to retailer Whole Foods Market and doorstep lender Provident Financial. The BT scheme – with nearly 320,000 members – was among several praised for having a detailed policy on environmental, social and governance issues.

By contrast, nine of the 24 schemes looked at did not disclose their equity holdings, which meant workers would have no way of knowing where their money was being invested. Others just gave the top five or 10 largest holdings.

The Rolls-Royce and GlaxoSmithKline schemes scored zero out of 40, while the Barclays, Tata Steel and BAE Systems schemes scored one, two and three out of 40 respectively. ShareAction said these five – none of which actively participated in the survey – were among a number of schemes that appeared not to have a publicly available document outlining their policy on responsible investment. Meanwhile, 10 schemes failed to give any information about how they voted at company AGMs.

Other high-scoring schemes included the West Yorkshire Pension Fund, which caters for employees of the region's five councils, and the British Airways scheme.

Catherine Howarth, ShareAction's chief executive, said: "The pension schemes we have ranked are among the UK's most powerful investors, but our survey shows that only a few take that responsibility seriously."

She added: "It's encouraging to see some new pension providers using social media to connect with their members, not least to demystify pensions jargon but also to conduct regular member surveys."