Assessment Criteria

Assessment Criteria Overview

Bronze: Legal Compliance and Foundations

Bronze confirms that an organisation meets its core legal duties as an employer and has the essential HR policies and records in place.

What we assess

  • Employment contracts and legal compliance: compliant employment contracts, right-to-work checks, working time and pay compliance, and correct employment status for all workers
  • HR policies and administration: core policies documented, approved and reviewed at least annually, with employee records held securely and in line with data protection requirements
  • Risk threshold: no major legal non-compliance and no unresolved employment disputes that point to serious HR failings
  • Core policy set: including ACAS-compliant disciplinary and grievance procedures, equal opportunities under the Equality Act 2010, anti-harassment, family leave, redundancy, pension auto-enrolment, anti-bribery, and mental health and wellbeing
  • Health and safety basics: a written policy, risk assessments, incident logging (including RIDDOR where required), and induction and refresher training
  • Fair pay: all workers paid at or above the National Minimum or Living Wage, verified by payroll audit, with documented, non-discriminatory pay decisions
  • Development: training spend recorded annually and a training plan linked to business needs

Silver: Consistent, Embedded HR Practice

Silver includes everything in Bronze and shows that good practice is applied consistently across the whole employee lifecycle.

What’s added

  • Recruitment and onboarding: documented recruitment, job descriptions for key roles, interview notes retained, pre-employment screening, and structured inductions
  • Performance and development: regular appraisals, agreed objectives, training records, tracked mandatory training, development plans, and trained managers
  • Engagement and communication: regular briefings, routes for feedback that is acted on, and annual handbook reviews
  • Equality, diversity and inclusion: communicated EDI policies, diversity data collected where lawful, bias training for managers, and monitoring of recruitment and promotion for fairness
  • Wellbeing and absence: absence monitored for trends, return-to-work discussions, wellbeing support, and managers trained to spot concerns
  • A wider policy set: including code of conduct, flexible and hybrid working, capability, investigations, learning and development, stress management and DSE
  • HR capability: HR led by someone with CIPD Level 3 or equivalent, or a specialist consultant
  • Health and safety: a designated, competent person responsible for compliance
  • Pay transparency: gender pay gap figures calculated and published where legally required
  • Apprenticeships: Apprenticeship Levy funds used where the organisation is liable, with starts, completions and outcomes tracked

Gold: Strategic and Proactive People Management

Gold includes everything in Silver and shows an organisation that plans ahead, listens to its workforce and measures the results.

What’s added

  • Workforce strategy: workforce planning, monitored workforce risks, succession planning for key roles, and documented retention strategies
  • Leadership and culture: leadership development, defined and communicated values, people management training, and culture monitored
  • Employee engagement: regular surveys, results acted on, recognition initiatives, and engagement and retention data reviewed
  • Wellbeing and mental health: formal wellbeing initiatives, mental health support, flexible working, and active promotion of work-life balance
  • Diversity and ethics: diversity reporting, documented EDI action plans, modern slavery risk assessments, and monitored ethical supply chain practices
  • More mature policies: including conflict of interest, whistleblowing aligned to the Public Interest Disclosure Act, pay structure and grading, mediation, and a modern slavery statement where thresholds are met
  • HR capability: CIPD Level 5 or equivalent, or a specialist consultant
  • Whistleblowing: a full policy with a standard whistleblowing system
  • Health and safety: performance (incidents, near-misses, lost time) reported to senior leadership
  • Fair pay: pay benchmarked against market or sector data and an equal pay audit in the last three years
  • Progression: documented career pathways and internal progression routes

Platinum: Leadership, Data and Supply Chain Assurance

Platinum includes everything in Gold and is for organisations where people strategy is led from the top, measured rigorously, and extended to their suppliers.

What’s added

  • Strategic leadership: a board-level people strategy, HR metrics reported to senior leadership, workforce planning aligned to business strategy, and leaders accountable for people outcomes
  • Workforce analytics: HR data used in decision-making, engagement, turnover, diversity, absence and retention tracked, benchmarking against industry standards, and reporting used to improve performance
  • ESG and social value: social value commitments embedded in workforce practice, diversity outcomes measured and reported, community and employment initiatives evidenced, and workforce measures included in ESG reporting
  • Innovation and employer brand: innovative wellbeing, learning or flexible working programmes, a strong employee value proposition, external recognition, and best practice shared across the supply chain
  • Supply chain assurance: workforce risks assessed across suppliers, ethical labour standards monitored, supplier wellbeing and people management considered, and modern slavery risks proactively managed
  • HR capability: CIPD Level 7 or equivalent, or a specialist consultant
  • Whistleblowing: a full policy with a comprehensive whistleblowing system
  • Additional policies: hybrid-first and global working, global mobility, and human rights
  • Health and safety: proactive practice evidenced through external accreditation (for example ISO 45001) or independent audit
  • Fair pay and development: Real Living Wage accreditation held or being worked towards, Levy transfers used to fund apprenticeships in the supply chain or community where applicable, and training investment benchmarked against sector norms