Large organisations: 2024 Accreditation Centre updates

Once a year we assess our questions and check they are fit for purpose – we have also taken the opportunity to improve the way the questions are built onto our system in a way which we hope will be more robust and resolve any errors members may have experienced over the past year. Thank you for your patience with us on this – our Accreditation Centre was built at speed when we first launched and it has been an important area of focus for us this year to improve its functionality, which is very much an ongoing job.
 
We have always said that if we want to propose any major changes, we will take a vote from our membership on this as it is not fair to make changes that might jeopardise your ability to remain accredited, without consultation.
 
The updates this year are not of that nature – the main focus has been to strengthen some of the language and to achieve better consistency between the streamlined accreditation questions and the questions for organisations with over 50 employees.
 
The key changes therefore are:
  • Updating the new rates for the Real Living Wage announced this week as £12.60 outside of London and £13.85 in London (organisations have until 1st May 2025 to implement these new rates). We are asking that you pay everyone on your payroll these rates and have a plan in place, with achievable actions, to bring your regularly contracted workers to this level if not there already.
  • Within the fairer hours component, we have strengthened the language to make it as clear as possible that anyone on zero, minimal or casual hours are in scope as you answer those questions. We have been concerned that it has been too easy to simply say they are exempt because it is mutually agreed – we want to make sure everyone on your payroll is protected and cared for as part of your commitment to your employees.
  • A few of our questions ask you to commit to do something, but on renewal we have found too many organisations still saying they will commit to it, and not yet doing it, so we have strengthened the language on some of these questions – eg. ‘do you publish’ rather than ‘do you commit to publish’.
  • After feedback with relation to the ETI Base Code and concern where not compliant with the finer detail, particularly of overtime practice for companies in your supply chain, we have improved the wording for that question, focusing on having a responsible procurement policy, and a continuous improvement approach against the ETI Base Code, which, in discussion with the ETI, is the approach they adopt.
  • Rather than requiring you to sign the Prompt Payment Code, we have placed focus on the actual prompt payment of invoices – so 95% paid on time with best endeavours to pay all within 30 days unless otherwise mutually agreed. The Prompt Payment Code is in the process of being updated with a Fair Payment Code with different levels of signatory so we felt best to focus on the prompt payment angle and wait to see the confirmed new Code and how we relate to that.
  • There are two additional free-form questions – one only relevant to those using zero/minimal hours contracts; the other is about how you have communicated your accreditation to your stakeholders. All GBC accredited organisations should be held to account by their stakeholders, which is why we require our logo to be on your website. We want to ensure this is also promoted to your workforce, customers and suppliers who can all hold you to account. If all GBC accredited organisations are doing this, we will together uphold the rigour of the accreditation, increasing the likelihood of people reporting to us anyone who is not complying with the 10 components so that we can take swift action.
 
It is not our intention to make this accreditation slowly more complicated over time – when you come to renew it should not look much different except for those 2 additional free-form questions. We want the accreditation to remain accessible and not onerous but we also need to achieve the right balance in the accreditation and renewal process to give us the confidence that each organisation understands the components and the responsibility involved in receiving and upholding this accreditation.
 
Thank you for being part of this journey to recognise, champion and encourage responsible business. There is a growing understanding nationally of what we stand for and why it matters. Over the next few months, we have a wide range of opportunities to get the GBC better known and we thank you for your support in this as we head to our 5th anniversary in February.
Any questions, do please get in touch at: accreditation@goodbusinesscharter.com