A FOCUS on businesses 'giving back' is at the heart of an upcoming awards ceremony which is celebrating a record-breaking year for entries.

Raising the Bar, organised by the West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, has 142 entries, more than double those of 2017.

The awards are part of a wider initiative to encourage and support local firms which want to do more support local communities, employees and the environment,

This now includes a new measurement tool to help businesses across West and North Yorkshire review their social impact.

Rebecca Farhall, business development manager from Bradford-based chartered accountants Naylor Wintersgill, which has previously won the Raising the Bar ‘Economy’ and ‘Community’ category awards, said the team has used the measurement tool for the first time in the entry process.

“We’re entering the awards for the fourth year because we’re incredibly proud of our charitable ethos and feel it’s important to reward our team’s efforts by getting recognition and support for all the great work they do,” she said.

“The new online measurement tool has made a real difference to the awards entry process – by entering the details of everything we’ve done – right down to the smaller day-to-day operational changes we’ve made – I was able to see, in one place, the effectiveness of our actions.

"It was brilliant for the award entry process but has also shown where we are making the biggest impact and where we can improve.

"Importantly, it’ll help Naylor Wintersgill in improving our overall social impact in 2019.”

Alongside the awards and the new benchmarking tool, the Raising the Bar programme offers online ‘how to’ guides, skills sharing top tips and inspiring case studies to advise and equip firms of all sizes to take the steps needed to get the best out of their social impact activity, throughout the year.

The awards evening will be hosted by BBC Radio Leeds presenter Andrew Edwards on Thursday, November 27, at Leeds Civic Hall.

On the evening, Councillor Judith Blake, Leader of Leeds City Council, will give a welcome speech and Richard Mason, Senior Manager for the responsibility programme at Burberry, will be the guest speaker.

Tickets cost £18 to West and North Yorkshire Chamber members, £30 to non-members and two free tickets are offered to shortlisted companies.

To book tickets call 01274 206660, 0113 247 0000 or 01904 210010 or email clare.jones@wnychamber.co.uk

For more information about the Raising the Bar initiative, and the benchmarking tool which goes alongside it, visit www.raising-the-bar.org.uk/