Remploy Leading the Way Awards reaches its 11th year!
Leading the Way award winners take centre stage at the grand final with Michael McGrath (centre, front) and Richard Farleigh (immediately behind Michael)
Monday October 15th saw the culmination of months of hot competition as the winners of the 11th Remploy Leading the Way Awards were announced at the prestigious London final.
Hundreds of businesses and individuals from across the nation entered this year's awards and they were eventually whittled down to just 29 finalists who competed in eight different categories.
Remploy, the country's leading provider of employment services for disabled people, hosted the final at the Victoria Plaza hotel in London where Richard Farleigh, entrepreneur and a former "dragon" on the BBC 2 show Dragon's Den, was on hand to present the awards.
The prestigious awards, held in association with The Times, recognise outstanding employers and individuals who have made significant efforts to actively encourage diversity within their organisations.
Awards were on offer to businesses in six categories - Small (fewer than 100 employees), Medium (101 - 1,000 employees) and Large organisations (1,000+ employees), Learning (the award sponsored this year by the Learning and Skills Council), Retention, Innovation
Two separate awards were also made to the Outstanding Business Individual and to the Outstanding Jobcentre Plus Individual of the year.
The employers and individuals who were judged to be leading the way this year were:
- Small Business - Andy's Kars, Cambridge
- Medium Sized Business - National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
- Large Business - Civil Service - Royal Navy, Fleet HQ, Portsmouth
- Outstanding Jobcentre Plus Individual - Julia Burden, disability employment Bristol Central Jobcentre
- Outstanding Business Individual - Hilary Gibson, administrative officer, Child Support Agency, Child Support Agency, Birkenhead
- Innovation - Holiday Inn, Edinburgh
- Retention - Aspire Housing, Newcastle, Staffordshire
- Learning - Morgan Stanley, Glasgow
Congratulations to all of this year's finalists and winners, who have raised the bar when it comes to best practice in the employment, progression and retention of disabled people.
