The SRAG Charter is a framework for creating social value where it counts: good jobs and skills.
It assesses employers on engagement, recruitment, retention, development and community connection, recognising those who recruit inclusively, evidence what that delivers, build pipelines that open up employment and training opportunity through community partners, and bring their supply chains with them.
The Charter Mark recognises organisations doing serious work on social value, and marks out the depth and reach of what they deliver.
Holding the mark shows customers, suppliers and commissioners that an organisation works to a recognised standard across inclusive recruitment, skills progression, community engagement and procurement.
There are five levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Ambassador and Patron.
Levels are awarded after a structured assessment carried out with the SRAG Secretariat and the PeoplePlus Partner Services team. The process is built so members can see exactly what is needed to move up.
Ambassador level is for organisations that have embedded social value in core business decisions, from governance through to supply chain. Ambassadors encourage their own suppliers and partners to adopt inclusive recruitment practice, share what has worked with other members, and make the case for social value in their external communication over a sustained period.
Patron, introduced in 2026, is for organisations ready to help shape where SRAG goes next. Patron members bring their most senior leaders to SRAG summits, leadership round tables and ministerial meetings, and use that platform to open doors for the wider network. They introduce new members, champion social recruitment in their own sectors, and mentor other organisations, contributing insight, new thinking and, where relevant, investment of both time and money. Patron is open to organisations that have held Ambassador status for at least 12 months.
The Charter Mark works across every sector, opening routes into employment for people who face disadvantage in the labour market, and gives members and partners a clear, recognisable mark of their commitment to inclusive recruitment, community engagement and measurable impact.
Bronze is the entry level of the Charter, held by members that have signed the Covenant and committed to open, inclusive and diverse recruitment that improves representation of people who face disadvantage in the labour market. It marks a clear starting point rather than a finished journey: the commitment is in place, and assessment against the Charter measures then shows how far practice has developed.
Silver level builds on Bronze commitments and starts measuring what social recruitment delivers, reporting against measures members have set for their own social value objectives.
Gold Charter Mark holders have met the Bronze and Silver criteria and moved social value into how the organisation makes decisions. Inclusive recruitment targets are set and owned at senior leadership level, guaranteed interviews run across most of the organisation, partnerships with outreach organisations are consistent and named, and routes into work are widened through work trials, internships and adjusted onboarding. Progress is measured against the targets and published.
Ambassador members meet all the Gold criteria and take social recruitment beyond their own organisation. They encourage their supply chain to adopt inclusive recruitment, put formal policy behind their outreach partnerships, and make the case for social value in their external communication and engagement. Within SRAG they share their practice openly and mentor new members through their first steps, from inclusive job descriptions and fair chance recruitment guidance to piloting social recruitment safely in a single role or location.
Beyond Ambassador, Patron members bring their most senior leaders directly into SRAG's work and use that platform to open doors for the wider network, convening peer learning and round tables, championing social recruitment in their own sector and beyond it, and bringing the organisations they mentor through to Ambassador level.
