Greatwell Homes takes top carer-friendly employer award

Northamptonshire housing association Greatwell Homes has won the gold trophy for carer-friendly employer of the year at the Harry's Pledge Awards 2026. The award recognises a five-year effort, dating back to 2020, to embed support for working carers into the organisation's culture and formal policies.

For HR leaders, the win highlights a concrete playbook rather than a slogan. Greatwell Homes didn't create a standalone wellbeing programme — it threaded caring responsibilities through existing people processes, from flexible working arrangements to carer's leave and time off for dependants. Its one-to-one process now includes a dedicated section on caring responsibilities, so managers can spot carers in their teams and offer the right support.

Who runs the awards, and why they exist

The Harry's Pledge Awards are run by Harry's Pals, a charity providing emotional and mental health support to parents who have received a life-changing, severe or terminal diagnosis for their child. The charity also launched Harry's Pledge, the employer commitment that Greatwell Homes signed up to in 2020.

The housing association didn't leave it there. Chief executive Jo Savage said the goal was to go beyond a signature: "I am so proud of everyone within Greatwell Homes who is living and breathing the commitments and promises we made when we signed up to the pledge. We wanted to go one step further and to embed it into our culture and make an invaluable difference to carers throughout Greatwell Homes."

What changed in practice?

The award citation points to specific mechanics other employers can copy:

• Flexible working arrangements built into policy rather than granted case by case
• Carer's leave and time off for dependants as formal entitlements
• A caring responsibilities section embedded in every one-to-one, giving managers a structured prompt
• A network of carer champions who offer colleagues additional support and promote a carer-friendly community
• Employee-run events, including neurodiversity drop-ins, described by the organisation as a safe space to share experiences and advice

Frania Hayes, HR and payroll manager at Greatwell Homes, said listening to employees shaped the approach. "Since signing up to Harry's Pledge in 2020, we have embedded support for carers into the heart of our culture and have listened to employees' lived experiences to help us do this," she said. "Our carer champions offer colleagues additional support and promote a carer-friendly community within Greatwell Homes."

Hayes added that the champions run events across the organisation, "such as neurodiversity drop-ins, which have created a safe space for people to share experiences, offer advice and be able to listen to others."

A second award and a wider inclusion push

The gold trophy wasn't Greatwell Homes' only recognition. The organisation also received the silver award for excellence in professional care, with judges citing the way it listens to its carers and makes meaningful improvements as a result.

The awards follow a broader internal campaign. During National Inclusion Week in September, Greatwell Homes launched its Inclusion in Action campaign, which covers its commitment to carers and people with additional responsibilities. Savage framed the campaign's purpose plainly: "Our Inclusion in Action campaign is about recognising and celebrating difference, listening to diverse voices and creating an environment where everyone feels they belong."

For employers weighing their own approach to working carers, the pattern is consistent: policy entitlements, manager-level prompts in routine conversations, and a peer champion network — each traceable to employee feedback gathered since the 2020 pledge. With carer-friendly credentials now carrying external validation through schemes like the Harry's Pledge Awards, HR teams that treat carer support as an embedded people-process question rather than an ad hoc accommodation may find themselves benchmarked against exactly this kind of model.