2025 Working Dads Employer Awards Nomination Form  

The Working Dads Employer Awards were co-founded in 2022 by the Equal Parenting Project and Music Football Fatherhood and are run this year by the Equal Parenting Project. The awards are designed to recognise and celebrate the great work many organisations are doing in supporting fathers in the workplace and encourage employers to think more about what they do in this space and how they can better support working dads to aid working families, attract and retain top talent, help close the gender pay gap and promote gender equality in the workplace. Partner organisations who have also been instrumental in bringing these awards to you include Business in the Community, CBI, Working Families, CIPD, Fatherhood Institute, Future Men, Parenting Out Loud and the Medical Women's Federation.    

The awards are split into four categories based on existing research and common activity. An applying organisation does not have to be excellent in all categories in order to be recognised through these awards, they can be recognised for excellence in one area such as flexible working or they can be recognised for outstanding work across all four categories. The key categories of focus are: Parenting Policies, Flexible Working, Support for Returning Fathers, and Leadership and Culture.  

Entry into the awards is free. All organisations that make a nomination will receive helpful feedback on ways they may further develop within the specific category for the future.  

Entry Criteria: Any employers with a presence and activity in the UK are eligible to submit an entry. Only one entry may be made per employer in each area. Entries from all sectors/ industries and organisational sizes (number of employees; i.e., large organisation to micro-business) are welcome. Please focus only on activity in the UK and use UK data in your entry. Should you have any questions, please contact Dr Sarah Forbes (sarah.forbes@york.ac.uk).   

Notice about confidentiality and anonymisation: All aspects of your application will be treated as highly confidential. We will share anonymised answers with the judging panel (assessors) for the awards. We may have opportunities to cite material contained in your application in a public way, for example, in media coverage or best practice case studies. We therefore ask that you indicate in the nomination form any information you do not wish to be shared in this way. Beyond this, we ask that you endeavor to anonymise your answers as much as possible. For example, applications must not explicitly mention the name of the organisation (unless told to) since your application will be assessed anonymously. Should your organisation win an award, the identity of your organisation will be made public knowledge and a case study may be produced to reflect the efforts made by your organisation in the selected category, thereby revealing the identity of the organisation. An organisation winning an award in any category would be expected to support the development of the case study should it be required.  

Notice about supporting evidence: No identifiable information should be included in answers unless this is explicitly stated. An opportunity is provided at the end of each category to supply weblinks etc but please note that these will not be shared with the judging panel. It is recognised that an applying organisation may not collect all the data required in a section. Where you do not have access to the requested data, please put not applicable. You can still be awarded with some missing data, the judging panel will look at all the evidence provided to form a judgement about your activity and direction of travel in the category.

Please note that there is no back button on the online form so once you proceed, there is no going back. You are able to prepare your submission in advance by downloading the word document version of the nomination form available on the Working Dads Employer Awards website. Those completing the nomination form must ensure they are adhering to the character counts (which include spaces) for the specific questions.  

Nominations must be completed and submitted no later than 11:59pm on Wednesday 2nd of April 2025.  

By nominating your organisation and supplying contact information, you also permit the Working Dads Employer Awards to disseminate information to you related to the awards.   

Based on the information above, please report whether or not you agree to the terms of nominating your organisation for the awards.