Do you know someone who deserves to be in the next New Years Honours List?

We’re always delighted to see so many charities highlighted in the New Years Honours List. Congratulations to all the fantastic staff, volunteers, researchers and fundraisers who have been recognised in the recent list of awards.

It’s a good opportunity to remind you that the system works on the basis of nominations – and to encourage you all to nominate anyone who has made a significant contribution to your charity or cause. 

Anyone can be considered for an honour. Decisions are based on merit, with three things considered: a significant contribution, going above and beyond, and having a positive impact. There are two honours lists a year and over 1000 people awarded in each one, with only a very small proportion being celebrities or high-profile public figures.

Nominating someone is much easier than you might think. The nominations form can be found here, and the Cabinet Office provides plenty of advice and guidance. One of the key things is to include a clear and easily understandable citation. Set out the nominee’s contribution and impact, with as much evidence as possible to show what they’ve done and achieved. You’ll also need some letters of support. But it’s important not to let the person know that you are nominating them: the process is confidential and also competitive, with a limited number of awards available in each round so it’s not fair to raise expectations. (If successful, they will be given the choice whether to accept the award – again this is confidential).

After you submit a nomination, there’s a long process to make sure the right awards are given. Nominations are shepherded through the system by the most relevant government department. Once all the information is in place, recommendations are submitted to the relevant independent committee(s)​ – for example Health and Social Care, or Community and Voluntary Service. Each independent committee makes recommendations, which are considered together by the Main Independent Honours Committee. The Prime Minister and King then approve the final list.

We are both members of the Department of Health and Social Care’s Community and Voluntary Sub-Committee, and have been impressed by the support given to ensure that the best people are successfully taken through the process. The committees are also very keen to get a balance between sectors, and to ensure the awards reflect the diversity of the population, across gender, age, ethnicity and location. If you have any questions, we’d be happy to discuss further.

You can nominate someone at any time. There are a number of award levels, from Knights and Dames at the top through to the British Empire Medal. The relevant departmental honours team will make sure anyone you nominate is put forward for the most appropriate award and the Independent Committees will make the final decision, so don’t worry too much about the level.

The honours system celebrates “the people who go above and beyond to change the world around them for the better”. We know you all work with people like that every day, so please do think about nominating those in your organisation that have made a significant contribution and deserve to be celebrated. And hopefully we will all see their names recognised in future honours lists.

Biographies

Jacob Lant

Jacob joined in May 2023 as Chief Executive of National Voices. He is a committed advocate for working with people accessing health and care services and the wider public to help improve the accessibility and quality of the care they receive. He loves to combine deep qualitative insights with quantitative data to challenge traditional thinking on how to tackle policy challenges. Prior to working for National Voices, Jacob spent almost 10 years helping to build the Healthwatch network. In this time, he led successful nationwide policy influencing campaigns on a huge variety of topics, from maternal mental health services to access to NHS dentistry. He has also worked in local Government and for the British Library.

Nicola Perrin

Nicola has been Chief Executive of AMRC – the membership body for over 150 medical research charities – since 2021.  Her background is in policy, strategy and engagement. Nicola was at Wellcome for fifteen years, where she led the policy team. She has had a particular focus on ensuring responsible use of patient data, including setting up the Understanding Patient Data initiative.  Nicola is also on the Boards of Genomics England and UK Biobank, and was awarded an MBE in New Year’s Honours 2020 for services to science.