Preston Pedals
- March 2025
We Invest in People
We Invest in People
In early 2025 Cheshire West and Chester Council achieved Gold Standard accreditation against the Investors in People standard.
- Lead Member Cheshire West and Chester Council
- Categories Education & Training
- Assets Download Case Study
Principles met
-
Co-production
-
Walking the talk
The strongest asset any area has is its residents. The strongest asset of any council is its workforce. In early 2025 Cheshire West and Chester Council achieved Gold Standard accreditation against the Investors in People standard. Investors in People (IIP) is the international industry standard for people management, testing organisations against a rigorous framework for best practice in the workplace. Only eight UK councils have achieved Gold standard.
The IIP assessor spoke to over 150 people who work for the Council and evaluated an online survey of over 1200 colleagues. These highlighted a range of consistently positive comments, including an understanding of the organisation’s values and priorities; a broad culture of transparency, co-production and support and leaders who empower their people to make a difference.
“Your people agree you are a great employer!” IIP report
During 2023 the Council launched the ‘join the conversation’ to engage on refreshing the strategic plan for the borough. Alongside responses from over 1500 local people and groups there was a range of work to ensure that council colleagues had a voice and a sense of ownership of the final plan.
Over 400 colleagues were involved through workshops and discussion groups, the council’s online ‘participate now’ engagement platform and through comment postcards from colleagues that are not computer based. Colleagues shared their views about what priorities we need to focus on to further improve our organisation, communities and the local services we provide.
