According to reports, stress, depression and anxiety caused 22.1 million lost days last year, with nearly 23 days off work on average. With workplace wellbeing challenges being at an all-time high, the Better Health at Work Award (BHAWA) initiative is more important now, than ever before.

This free initiative supports local employers to prioritise the health and wellbeing of their workforce. This programme is delivered by award-winning health and wellbeing charity, Pioneering Care Partnership (PCP) across County Durham, and aims to make the health of local people a top priority.

Karen Stubbings, Project Lead at PCP, said: “Over 33,000 County Durham employees have benefitted from the award this year. To celebrate this fantastic achievement, we hosted a celebration event at The Durham Centre to recognise the commitment and progress of participating businesses.

“We celebrated all of our award-winning businesses, including the likes of HMP Frankland, Northumbrian Water and The Banks Group. We would like to congratulate all 43 businesses who achieved this year – each and every organisation has made significant, meaningful changes to how they look after their staff, placing workplace health firmly at the top of their priorities.

“We would like to thank Husqvarna, Smart IT and EMG Solicitors for kindly sponsoring this event. Smart IT have now sponsored our celebration event for three consecutive years, and we are extremely grateful for the support they have shown.”

Alongside the award presentations, the event saw a number of guest speakers from a variety of local projects and services. With ‘Cancer Awareness’ as the theme, attendees heard from Joining the Dots, the Cancer Awareness Community Programme team, and the Solan Connor Fawcett Family Cancer Trust.

The BHAWA is free and available to all businesses in County Durham. Organisations are supported by a dedicated workplace health team who will guide them through the award, offering advice and guidance throughout their journey. The award is split into different levels: starting at Bronze, it moves up through Silver, Gold, and Continuing Excellence to Maintaining Excellence and ambassador status. Businesses work their way up through the levels each year. Each level introduces more advanced criteria than the last, ensuring that organisations deepen their commitment to workplace wellbeing as they progress.

The workplace health team also offer bespoke commercial training opportunities all year round helping local organisations to improve their knowledge on topics including food and nutrition, and emotional resilience. These training opportunities are open to all local businesses, not just those on the BHAWA initiative.

Find out more about the workplace health team, the award and their training offer here: www.workplacehealthuk.co.uk

Learn more about PCP, and our other projects and services here: www.pcp.uk.net

Congratulations to all 2026 achievers:

Bronze:

• Auxillis

• Bishop Auckland College

• Bridge Creative

• Broom Cottages Primary and Nursery School

• Furniture Clinic

• North East Chamber of Commerce

• Parker Hannifin

• Parkside Academy

• Taylormade Timber

• Westway Veterinary Group

  
  

Silver:

• Dellner Glass Solutions

• Elis

• Practice Plus Group Healthcare

• Second to None Care

• Senstronics

• Silverdale Family Practice

• The Cornforth Partnership

• Thornhill Primary School

  
  

Gold:

• HMP Frankland

• North House Surgery

  
  

Continuing Excellence:

• Authentix Security Print Solutions

• Kelly Park Ltd

• Umi Commercial Ltd

• Wear Referrals

  
  

Maintaining Excellence:

• Atom Bank

• Caterpillar

• County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust

• County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service

• Durham County Council

• EMG Solicitors

• GEM Partnership

• Groundwork

• Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust – County Durham 0-25 Children’s Service

• Hitachi Rail Ltd

• Hopewood Academy

• Husqvarna

• New College Durham

• North of England Commissioning Support (NECS)

• Northumbrian Water

• Optimum Skills

• Palram DPL

• Pioneering Care Partnership

• The Banks Group

• Thyssenkrupp Rothe Erde UK

• Waythrough