For every award, we are asking for:
Contact details of person submitting the entry
Frontline Advisor of the Year – Working for Better Work
This award seeks to recognise an individual employee in a frontline role who has demonstrated exceptional commitment, either through directly helping jobseekers to overcome barriers to enter and maintain work or supporting employers to employ and support in employment jobseekers who have been long term unemployed.
Employment support providers are asked to nominate employees who:
- Have gone above and beyond the reasonable expectations of their employer (and of the wider industry), in their commitment to customer service.
- Have a sustained track record over a significant period of time of demonstrable high performances
- Have supported colleagues to embrace a customer-centred ethos, leading by example and helping co-workers to apply best practice in the support they provide jobseekers.
- Attract testimonials from current and previous customers (whether jobseekers or employers) who can vouch for the specific impact that their efforts have made to their personal lives or operations.
The award winner will be a truly inspiring industry exemplar of how effectively and compassionately to support the long term unemployed into successful and sustainable employment.
Frontline Manager of the Year – Working for Better Work
This award seeks to recognise an individual managing front-line staff, who has demonstrated exceptional commitment, enabling their team to help jobseekers to overcome barriers to enter and maintain work. This individual will be overachieving against expectations and offering their team a supportive and focussed culture in which to thrive.
Providers are asked to nominate managers who:
- Have gone above and beyond the reasonable expectations of their employer (and of the wider industry), in their commitment to customer service.
- Have a sustained track record over a significant period of demonstrable high performances
- Have developed a customer-centred ethos, leading by example and enabling their team to apply best-practice in the support they provide jobseekers.
- Attract testimonials from team members, colleagues and directors who can vouch for the specific impact that this person’s efforts have made to their team’s performance and standards.
The award winner will be a truly inspiring industry exemplar of how effectively and compassionately to support front-line staff who are working in a challenging environment, supporting long-term unemployed people into successful and sustainable employment.
Employer Partnership of the Year Award – Working for Better Work
This award seeks to recognise exceptional collaboration between an employment support provider and an employer. This award celebrates partnerships that have demonstrated a strong commitment to working together to improve employment opportunities for long-term unemployed individuals.
Employment support providers should nominate a specific employer who:
- Have shown outstanding collaboration, with both parties sharing resources, expertise, and best practices to overcome barriers to employment.
- Has made a measurable and positive impact on jobseekers’ lives, such as successful job placements into ‘good work’.
- Has developed long-term solutions that meet the needs of jobseekers, focusing on lasting success in the workplace.
- Attract testimonials from jobseekers, employees, and stakeholders highlighting its specific impact on individuals’ lives and operations.
The winner will be an employer who has created a successful partnership with an employment support organisation which has resulted in creating good, sustainable jobs for participants.
Achiever of the Year Award – Working for Better Work
Recognising a specific jobseeker who has demonstrated exceptional commitment to overcoming barriers to enter and maintain work.
This award seeks to recognise a successful former jobseeker who has demonstrated exceptional commitment to overcome significant personal and/or social barriers to enter and maintain employment. Employment related services providers are asked to nominate jobseekers who:
- Have surpassed expectations in overcoming barriers to work.
- Have demonstrated personal dedication above and beyond expectations to improve their employability.
- Have successfully moved into sustained employment and grown in their job to acquire new skills and responsibilities.
- Have acted as a positive role model in inspiring other jobseekers to follow their example.
- Attract testimonials from advisers and their employer, who can vouch for the journey that has been undertaken and the success achieved.
The award winner will be a truly inspiring individual who will have overcome adversity and demonstrated immeasurable dedication to overcome barriers to work and achieve sustained employment.
Employer Engagement Practitioner of the Year Award – Working Together
This award acknowledges an individual who has demonstrated exceptional skills and dedication in engaging employers to create employment opportunities for jobseekers. This award recognises the crucial role played by these practitioners in fostering strong relationships between employment support providers and employers, ultimately leading to successful employment outcomes.
Employment support providers should nominate an employer engagement practitioner who:
- Has shown exceptional abilities in engaging employers, going above and beyond to build productive relationships and secure employment opportunities for jobseekers.
- Has understood the needs of local employers and this has led to sustainable partnerships between employers and an employment support provider.
- Has demonstrated creativity and innovation in developing strategies and initiatives to effectively engage employers, adapting to changing market needs and demands.
- Attract testimonials from employers, jobseekers, and colleagues to highlight the practitioner’s specific impact on securing employment opportunities and improving jobseeker outcomes.
The winner will be an individual who excels in forging connections with employers, ensuring mutual benefits and long-term success.
Community Outreach of the Year Award – Working Together
This award is for a delivery team or an employment support organisation that can demonstrate success when reaching potential participants in local communities, bringing them on to provision and moving them in to good work.
Entrants should show:
- Examples of reaching into communities and engaging people who have not been referred by Jobcentre Plus. This demonstrates their commitment to extending support beyond traditional channels and targeting individuals who may face additional barriers to employment.
- A track record of successfully engaging and connecting with individuals from diverse backgrounds, including marginalised or ‘hardest-to-help’ groups. This could include outreach strategies, partnerships with community organisations, or innovative approaches that have proven effective in reaching and resonating with individuals.
- Evidence of the positive outcomes achieved through their community outreach efforts. This may include the number of individuals who have been successfully brought into provision, their subsequent progression into sustainable employment, and any relevant success stories that highlight the impact of their engagement initiatives.
Tailored Employment Support of the Year Award – Working Together
This award is for frontline teams who work together to support caseloads of those further from the labour markets, enabling people to achieve economic independence.
Applications for this award should showcase the following:
- A strong spirit of collaboration and effective teamwork in delivering tailored employment support. This includes effective communication, shared goals, and a coordinated approach that maximises the team’s collective expertise and resources.
- A proven track record of successfully supporting and managing caseloads of individuals who face greater challenges in accessing employment opportunities. This includes individuals who may have long-term unemployment, face barriers due to disabilities, lack essential skills, or belong to disadvantaged or marginalised groups.
- A commitment to providing inclusive, innovative and inspiring employment support to those furthest from the labour market, which allows participants to achieve economic independence through sustainable employment.
The Behind the Scenes Award – Working Together
This award is for teams that support front line services such as IT, service design and research. Those that are delivering cost effective solutions to improve performance.
In your entry, please include:
- How integral this team is for the success of an overall programme, using real-life examples and case studies to support.
- How the team has consistently delivered cost-effective solutions that optimise resources and enhance performance.
- Specific initiatives, projects, or strategies that have resulted in improved efficiency, streamlined processes, and financial savings, all while maintaining or enhancing service quality for participants.
Partnership of the Year Award – Working Together
The award seeks to recognise an exemplar group of organisations delivering employment support directly to jobseekers on behalf of, or with, another provider (or providers) as part of a subcontracted or partnership agreement. Judges will be looking for evidence of how the partnership, however formal is having a demonstrable impact on the prospects of jobseekers entering and/or sustaining employment, whether through the provision of ‘end to end’, specialist or other services.
Entrants should address the following criteria:
- Be clear about the geography of delivery and profile of jobseeker with which you are working, and how you have tailored your services to meet the needs of this cohort.
- Provide quantitative evidence that performance is good (and preferably improving).
- Provide qualitative evidence of the positive impact of services delivered. This may take the form of customer or partner feedback.
- Explain how you support service provision outside your direct delivery, through best practice sharing with partners.
- It is desirable that the entrant’s application is endorsed by an employer, Jobcentre Plus or local authority to verify their claim of being an exemplar partner in the community.
The Sharing Best Practice Award – Working for Everyone
This award is for individuals who contribute to ERSA forums, conferences and networks. It will celebrate those who set the agenda and lead the debate.
Entrants should show:
- Clear examples of participation in ERSA’s nationwide communities of good practice. This could include regular engagement in forums, contributing to discussions, and actively sharing their knowledge and expertise with others.
- Their commitment to collaboration and engagement with other professionals and stakeholders within the ERSA community. This could include fostering connections, building relationships, and actively participating in knowledge-sharing activities that enhance the collective understanding and impact of the employment support sector.
Social Value Award – Working for Everyone
This prestigious award celebrates initiatives that have delivered over and above requirements and have provided exceptional value for money, both in terms of the public purse and value in communities.
Entrants to be able to:
- Demonstrate clear examples of providing additional benefits to local communities, economies and people.
- Provide clear evidence of the measurable social impact they have achieved. This could include improved reduced social inequalities, enhanced community well-being, savings to the taxpayer, or other positive changes that directly benefit society.
The winner will be an organisation who exemplify a dedication to creating positive social change while efficiently utilising resources and maximising the value delivered to taxpayers.
Digital Solution of The Year Award
Recognising an organisation who has pioneered innovative digital approaches and solutions within the employment support market.
Entrants should be able to:
- Describe clearly what their approach or tool is, and why it has been developed
- Demonstrate the originality of the innovation to show that it might not otherwise be considered as standard sector practice.
- Show how the innovation has had a specific and measurable beneficial impact to the sector. This impact might manifest itself through benefits to jobseekers, employers or other parties.
- Ideally demonstrate that their innovation is transferable within different types of employment services provision and in different localities.
- Represents a cost-effective investment of funding.