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The 2026 Best Practice Awards are now open!

Now in their seventeenth year, the Best Practice Awards showcase and celebrate employers who are offering flexibility for all their people and going above and beyond in their support for parents and carers.

The awards are free to enter and you can enter as many categories as you like.

The deadline for entries is 5.30pm Friday 27 February 2026.

Register for the 2026 Awards

Categories for 2026

Best for Mothers

This award is about mothers at all stages of their children’s lives. We are interested in mother/parenthood from maternity and beyond until children leave home as young adults.

Best for Fathers

This award is about your support for fathers/partners at every stage of their children’s development. We are interested in your support for fathers/partners and how you support the parenting responsibilities of men throughout their careers.

Best for Carers & Eldercare

Many of your workforce will be caring for someone who is older, disabled or seriously ill. We are interested in hearing about innovative, practical and effective ways of identifying and supporting employees with caring responsibilities.

Best Family Network

More and more organisations are seeing the value employee networks provide. Networks have been shown to be an effective way to encourage peer-to-peer support, raise awareness of work-life issues and develop a flexible and inclusive workplace culture.

Best for All-Round Flexibility

Tell us about flexible (hybrid, agile, smart, dynamic) working in your organisation. By flexible working we mean working patterns that flex according to: location, time, hours. We are interested in embedded flexibility and if you have quantified the benefits.

Best Small Employer – sponsored by BreatheHR

You can enter this category if you employ 100 or fewer employees and have a turnover of less than £10,000,000. We want to hear about your approach to family/employee friendly working practices, policies and culture. What makes you unique?

Best for Supporting Wellbeing

We are interested in hearing about innovative, practical and effective ways of identifying and supporting employees with wellbeing issues and how you promote good wellbeing in your organisation.

Best for Supporting Different Pathways to Parenthood

How do you support all the different pathways into parenthood that your employees have within your organisation? Tell us about policies and practices you have including, but not restricted to, fertility, IVF, adoption, surrogacy, and pregnancy loss.

Family-Friendly Champion of the Year

Is there someone in your organisation who has gone above and beyond in the area of family-friendly/flexible working in the last 12 months?  Have they implemented a policy, set up a scheme, or raised awareness of an issue?

Want to explore more?

A Working Families membership for employers will give you the tools, guides and policies you need to implement agile, flexible and family-friendly business practices. 

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Business case for family friendly working