UK organisations which have demonstrated the highest standards when delivering information, advice and guidance have been recognised at the second prestigious Matrix Excellence Awards ceremony, held at The Institute of Directors in London.
At the ceremony, six organisations were presented with their Matrix Excellence Awards by Lord Coe, leader of the winning 2012 Olympic bid.
All six organisations were already accredited with the Matrix Standard – the national quality mark for all organisations delivering information, advice and guidance services in either an employer or client context – a standard which is currently held by 1481 UK organisations.
The organisations earned their Matrix Excellence Awards by convincing a judging panel made up of individuals from organisations such as the DfES, LSC and Investors in People UK, that they had gone on to use the Standard’s quality framework to help them achieve excellence in their services to clients or employees.
The winning organisations were incredibly diverse, and included representatives from both the public and private sectors – ranging from college careers services and training providers to community groups and charities.
The winners’ excellent achievements ranged from delivering essential new IAG services to hard to reach communities, to private organisations doubling their turnover through effective employee development, to organisations which are helping disadvantaged people back into work.
“These awards are quite personal to me, as the journey that the organisations have been on is similar to that encountered by my own Olympic bid team,” explained Lord Coe.
“The winners have an obsession with excellence and detail and they have pulled together, defined clear objectives and focused on a primary goal to use their Matrix Standard accreditation to offer excellence in their service provision for their own team and externally to their clients.”
The event was organised and hosted by national training standards organisation ENTO, on behalf of the DfES. Jenny Wallis of the DfES commented:
“One of the key functions of the Matrix Standard is to help people access and make use of information and take informed decisions about their learning, skills and work. Through the time and expert advice given to individuals, these award winners are at the heart of helping people to help themselves and to make things happen – these awards recognise this expertise and commitment, we commend them all.”
The organisations presented with Matrix Excellence Awards were: London based training organisation, Professional Solutions; the Humberside division of national charity Rainer, Rainer Humberside; Brunel University Careers Service, Dagenham’s African Youth League; Nottingham based training organisation, Care Training East Midlands and Carshalton College Employability Centre.