Natalie Duo
On the 4th November 2025, I was thrilled to co-present at our second ever annual employer awards.
The awards were again sponsored and hosted by Greene King at their amazing pub, The George near London Bridge, which is very fancy! Greene King were super generous and put out lots of great food for all the guests as well which we enjoyed before the ceremony.
The event was held at The George which is a beautiful, historic pub in central London. Guests enjoyed a generous buffet, drinks and networking before the ceremony commenced. They were also able to buy tickets for our raffle from members of our fantastic fundraising team.
It was also great to see some current and past learners from our supported internship programmes at the event.
Arjhay who completed our programme last year did a fantastic job working on the sign-in desk, welcoming attendees and giving them their name badges.
One of our current learners, Lucas who is doing
work experience
Work experience is when you try out a job to help you learn new skills.
with Greene King at The George was busy serving drinks at the bar.
Next up were some great speeches. First, we heard from Mencap's Chief Executive, Jon Sparkes who thanked all our employer partners and talked about some lovely examples of people they have supported into work over the past year.
Graham Briggs from Greene King then talked about our partnership and all the incredible work they do as an inclusive employer.
Former and current learners did an amazing job serving attendees at the sign-in desk and at the bar before the speeches. It was great meeting them and so many employers, some of whom I'd met online before but not in-person.
Next up it was my turn to help present the awards (gulp!)
It was a big crowd and I was a littler nervous at first, but once I got going I soon found my presenting mojo!
It was a big help presenting alongside my colleague and Mencap Head of Development, Mark Capper as we have presented lots of learning disability A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things. awareness sessions to employers over the years and we make a great team!
You can hear from some of the attendees and winners from the awards in our video.
Here is list of winners and nominees in full:
Best Individual Contribution
Winner: Jordan Crawford, Cineworld
In nominating Jordan for the award, our team said:
"Jordan has consistently gone over and above to ensure learners have a truly meaningful and inclusive
experience
Experience is when you have learned or tried something before.
. He gave thoughtful consideration to who each learner was buddied with and trained by. He made proactive adjustments to meet individual needs like providing additional breaks and seating. He invested time and energy into making the internship a stepping stone into
employment
Employment means having a job.
, organising mock interviews and offering honest, constructive feedback to help learners build confidence and grow."
Nominees:
- Chris Pinder, HDAnywhere
- Michelle Edwards, Wincanton
SME Partner of the Year
Winner: HDAnywhere
In nominating HDAnywhere for this award, our team who worked with them in Worcestershire said:
"From our initial engagement with them in January, HDAnywhere have been positive, flexible, understanding and open-minded to the potential of the supported internship and our learner, Jamie. They quickly saw Jamie's potential, harnessed that and helped him grow and develop, moving him into paid employment within just three months of starting his work experience placement. They had a mantra throughout that hard work should ultimately lead to paid work - something they made sure Jamie realised."
Nominees:
- Number 50 Coffee Lounge, Northampton
- Outrider Games, Staffordshire
Above and Beyond Award
Winner: Yusen Logistics
In nominating Yusen Logistics for this award, our team said:
"Yusen have partnered with the Mencap Training Academy in Northamptonshire for a number of years now, consistently providing meaningful work experience and job outcomes. They always go above and beyond to make learners feel welcome and to support them in the workplace. This year they also supported Mencap's work influencing government by facilitating a visit from Social Security and Disability Minister, Stephen Timms.
Nominees:
- Compass Group
- Everyone Active, Bromsgrove
Leisure
Leisure is when you have time to do things you enjoy like playing sports or going to the pub.
Centre
Local Employer Partner of the Year
This award recognises employers who have developed especially successful partnerships with the Mencap Training Academy in specific areas where we deliver our supported internship and pre-internship programmes.
Winner: Hilton Olympia and Hilton London Kensington
In nominating Hilton for this award, our team said:
"Hilton have shown a deep understanding of the importance of inclusive employment through tangible action. Two of our learners have been successfully employed at Hilton as Lobby Ambassadors and their journeys are a testament to the way Hilton follow their values Values are the things that are important to you. Mencap's values are being passionate, inclusive, brave, positive, and kind. ."
We made a video highlighting the fantastic work Hilton did with one of our learners in 2025, Xavie:
Nominees:
- LW Theatres, His Majesty's Theatre
- The Midlands Arts Centre
National Employer Partner of the Year
This award recognises employers who have partnered with the Mencap Training Academy in a number of different areas where we deliver our programmes.
Winner: Wincanton, part of GXO
In nominating Wincanton for the award, our team said:
"Wincanton have worked with us in Staffordshire, Northamptonshire and London over the past year. During this time they have made seven paid job offers to our learners for roles with an average 21 contracted hours a week.
In Staffordshire, the team went the extra mile this year by also teaming up with members of our team to complete a 10k charity run, raising almost £9,000 for Mencap!"
A member of the Wincanton team also made a fantastic video about our partnership this year:
Nominees:
- Greene King
- Sanctuary Care
We made sure to get pictures of all the winners present at this year's awards. Everyone was delighted to receive their certificate and trophy. We also managed to get some great action shots of me and Mark presenting!
It was really lovely to see how pleased employers were to receive their awards and to hear about all the amazing ways they have supported our learners.
For example, Hannah Tuck,
Diversity
Diversity means people from all different cultures and backgrounds.
and Inclusion Advisor at Wincanton said:
"Being recognised in this way is a joyous feeling. We are so grateful for Mencap's support and guidance, enabling us to smash barriers to employment for people with learning disabilities."
We then finished the event by announcing the winners of our raffle:
This year's raffle
I think it's so important to hold events like the awards to get together and celebrate everyone's hard work and achievements.
A massive thank you again to all our amazing employer partners and congratulations to all of this year's nominees and winners!
About Natalie
When not co-presenting awards, Natalie Duo is a co-trainer at Mencap, delivering learning disability awareness training to employers. She is a graduate of one of our supported internship programmes, during which time she completed work experience with The
Financial
Financial means anything that is to do with money. It is used to describe how people, businesses, or governments get money and how they use it
Times. Natalie loves writing and regularly contributes articles featuring interviews with our employer partners and learners which you can read on the Mencap Training Academy
website
A website is a page you can go to on the internet like Google or YouTube.
.