About the Award

Award Criteria

There are 6 levels to the Award – Foundation, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Continuing Excellence and Maintaining Excellence, with appropriate criteria at each stage to build into an Award Portfolio. Organisations are given up to a year per level, but there is flexibility for those who need it.

Evidence indicates that it takes a period of time to effectively establish the infrastructure that will engage employees in adopting behaviours / lifestyle changes.

This is why ALL employers are required to begin at Bronze and progress systematically upwards through the levels (It is not mandatory to complete the Foundation level before signing up to complete Bronze level - see below). Every employer/ organisation who signs-up to participate in the Award scheme is supported by a dedicated Health Improvement Specialist.

Foundation - a discrete “pre-Bronze” level for any organisations who are new to workplace health and wellbeing or have limited capacity and feel they would benefit from a lighter-touch introduction. It is not mandatory to undertake this before signing up to Bronze.

Bronze - The Bronze level lays a firm foundation to build a healthier workplace.

Silver - The Silver level of the Award builds upon the basics of the Bronze level and rewards organisations that take a more holistic view of the workplace.

Gold - This level builds upon the Silver level and requires companies to look outside their own organisation and promote health within the wider community.

Continuing Excellence - This recognises the importance of organisations sustaining the progress they have made during their participation in the Award and encourages them to use their experience to support others.

Maintaining Excellence - Achieved by employers who have been engaged with the Award for long enough to have achieved a pass at all levels via the completion of a criteria document, portfolio and full workplace assessment.

Ambassador Status - Organisations are eligible for Ambassador Status on achievement of Maintaining Excellence and with the recommendation of their designated Workplace Health Improvement Specialist. This is then passed through to the BHAWA Verification Panel for endorsement.

The award is beneficial to the organisation as it prompts us to think outside the box, extend our health and wellbeing support into new and important areas that we might not necessarily touch upon usually; and it also holds us to account for conducting high quality, meaningful campaigns.

We joined the Award to ensure that our health and wellbeing work goes above and beyond the requirements outlined by the NHS health and wellbeing framework, helping to ensure that we support our colleagues across a variety of areas and that we can demonstrate excellence in doing so.

- Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, Bronze 2021

We wanted to engage with our employees and provide a platform for everyone to improve their health and wellbeing at work but also support their families at home.

It has provided a focus for our Health & Wellbeing activities in the workplace and the support / information we receive from our workplace health leads has been invaluable in helping shape different campaigns rolled out across the business.

- Gardner Aerospace, Consett

The BHAW network provides an excellent forum to engage with other local businesses and organisations sharing best practices, knowledge and resources to improve colleague wellbeing.

Access to knowledgeable workplace support advisors and supportive community of members is hugely beneficial, assessment framework helps us measure our progress, and enjoy learning from other businesses and services as we support each other.

- Durham Constabulary, Durham

We participated to provide a further structure, focus and sustainable framework to our wellbeing programme.

The Award offers full support in terms of co-ordinator and resource information including best practice ideas and structured targets to aim for – it feels like we’re working together rather than in a silo!

- Northern Housing Consortium Limited, Sunderland

Firstly, and most importantly, we recognise the benefits of supporting the wellbeing of our staff and secondly, as a charity it’s great to get some recognition for what we do.

The process is strong as it leads the organisation through a series of logical steps to the award. Staff have really engaged in the process and it’s a great motivator for staff.

- Willow Burn Hospice, Durham

We joined the scheme to help us improve the health & wellbeing of our workforce not only at work but also at home. The campaigns and areas that we cover are varied and we try to include the workforces family and friends wherever possible.

The award is very well structured there is lots of information on the BHAWA website and we have lots of help at support. It has ensured that our organisations' Health & Wellbeing agenda is structured and well thought out.

- North East & North Cumbria ICB , North Tyneside