Leading Lives Awards
This year, we returned to holding our AGM in person and teamed it back up with our Making the Leading Lives Difference Awards.
Our 2024 event was held on Friday 27th of September and was attended by over 130 of our employees. We shared our successes and talked about how we are changing to meet future needs.
We were thrilled to have over 140 nominations, which shows how dedicated our teams are and how much they appreciate each other. The evening was a wonderful opportunity for us all to come together from across Suffolk, and celebrate everything and everyone that makes the Leading Lives difference!
The 2024 Making The Leading Lives Difference Award Winners are:
Outstanding Support Worker Short Breaks – Matt Phillips
Outstanding Support Worker Supported Independence – Leila Whatleu
Outstanding Support Worker Support to Live at Home – Richard Moyse
Outstanding Support Worker Daytime Opportunities – Chloe Butcher and Grace Miller
Outstanding Practitioner – Beata Makowicz
Leading Lives Legend – Kim Hubbard and Nikki Hudson
Inspirational Leader – Bronwen James
Team Award – Saxon Road, Support to Live at Home
Making the Leading Lives Difference Award – M’s Team, Sudbury
Congratulations everyone!
Thank you to the Awards team for organising this successful event, Boo, Rachel, Ellen, Sue, Gemma, and Harvey. Thanks also to the customers of our services in Ipswich who made the wonderful table decorations!
We are also pleased to have won many local and National awards over the years, a selection of which are shown below.
Suffolk Care Awards 2024
We were delighted to be finalists in Developing Young People category at the Suffolk Care Awards 2024. 
Our younger employees bring a fresh perspective to their roles and to how we do business.
They are the future and we believe in supporting them in their aspirations every step of the way.
Pictured to the right, you can see Millie Wright, our Business Support Apprentice in our HR & L&D department, and Harry McDonald, Service Manager for our Support to Live at Home Service in Sudbury.
Harry has also just been voted on to our Board of Directors by his fellow employees and we are looking forward to hearing his perspective on future strategies and decisions.
Suffolk Care Awards 2023
One again, we were thrilled to be finalists in four categories at the Suffolk Care Awards 2023
While not winning on the night, we were proud to have reached the shortlist in the following four categories:
- Professional Development: Zoe McGranaghan
- Innovative Practice: Leading Lives Care Certificate project, Stuart Howell and Micah Green
- Ambassador of The Year: Stuart Howell
- Equality Diversity and Inclusion: The Leading Lives Leadership Team
Suffolk Care Awards 2022
We were thrilled to have four fantastic finalists at the Suffolk Care Awards 2022.
Nicky Lawrence was a finalist for the Professional Development Award, Lauren Stutchbury for Apprentice of the Year, Helen Herbert for Inspirational Leader and C’s Team from Lowestoft Day Hub for Team of the Year.
We’re incredibly proud of all of our finalists but particularly Nicky for winning the Professional Development Award. Her dedication to our Leading Lives value of ‘ we grow ourselves to grow others’ is an inspiration.
Suffolk Care Awards 2021
Leading Lives had three finalists at the Suffolk Care Awards 2021. Two of our apprentices were finalists for the Apprentice of the Year category and we were thrilled that our Digital Lifeline Project Group won the Innovative Practice Category
During the pandemic, we realised many people did not have access to a tablet or smart phone or had to share a device with family/carers, and some were lacking the skills to use devices affectively. So we put together a project team to apply for funding to supply devices and ensure our customers could use them effectively, helping them stay connected during difficult times.
Employee Owned Association Awards 2019
A strong mission and employees driving innovation for community benefit saw Leading Lives take the title of Public Service Mutual of the Year 2019. Judges noted: “With Leading Lives, we have a mission driven organisation with great business acumen driving great employee empowerment, who in turn are driving more and better impacts that align with their values of support vulnerable people to live the life they choose.”
This national award celebrates a business that has spun out from the public sector to become employee-led and is driving great impacts within the business and the communities it serves.
Tony Carr, Managing Director, said: “This is a strong message of how well we have been doing as an organisation. It will take pride of place in our boardroom.”
Suffolk Care Awards 2019
We were proud to be the winners of 2 awards in the Suffolk Care Awards 2019:
• Excellent Service Delivery for The Lodge in Lowestoft
• Excellent Training Opportunities
Congratulations to all of the staff for their passion and hard work.
UK Social Enterprise Awards 2019
Leading Lives were proud to be shortlisted for two awards at the Social Enterprise UK 2019:
• Social Enterprise of the Year
• Health and Social Care Enterprise of the Year
Whilst we did not win on this occasion, the ethos and values of being a social enterprise is at the core of Leading Lives and spreads through our organisation positively complementing and impacting the valuable work that we do. We feel honoured to have been shortlisted alongside such fantastic enterprises. Congratulations to the winners and our fellow shortlisted social enterprises.
Social Enterprise UK Awards 2015
We were delighted to be named the Health and Social Care Social Enterprise of the Year in the Social Enterprise UK Awards 2015. This is a national award and a top honor in the social enterprise sector and recognises excellence and outstanding achievements by social enterprises – businesses that reinvest their profits for social good. Leading Lives beat off stiff competition from social businesses across the UK to receive the award from Lord Victor Adebowale.
UK Employee Ownership Awards.
The Chair of our employee board, Lucy Humphrey, received the Employee Owner of the Year award in the UK Employee Ownership Awards.
Suffolk GEM Awards
Closer to home, we were delighted to be awarded the My Life, My Choice award in the Suffolk GEM Awards for our support for a long-standing customer with a terminal health condition and end of life care.
Suffolk Care Awards
Leading Lives is a triple award winner in the Suffolk Care Awards, winning the Culture, Creativity and Activities Award for our Sudbury Green Group, our training team won the Health and Social Care Training Award and Sally Rodwell, Sudbury Locality Manager received the Special Recommendation Award for her outstanding contribution to social care.
