Ison Harrison Nominated For Top Employee Ownership Award

For the second successive year Ison Harrison has been shortlisted in the ‘Employee-Owned Business of the Year’ category at the prestigious 2025 Employee Ownership Awards, highlighting the great strides the business has made since the transformative change of becoming 100% employee owned. We now await the awards ceremony next week to see if we can take home the top prize.

The Employee Ownership Awards, sponsored by Baxendale Employee Ownership, will be held at the Telford International Centre on 25^th November 2025 as part of the annual Employee Ownership Association (EOA) conference. The awards aim to recognise both businesses and individuals who are champions of the employee ownership model and who drive effective employee ownership practices and empower employee owners to maximise their potential. More specifically, the Employee Ownership Business of the Year award, which Ison Harrison has been shortlisted for, aims to recognise “a well-established employee-owned business, that can evidence how it’s employee ownership approach, roles and actions are driving impact, innovation, performance, and sustainability for its stakeholders.”

Rapid success as an employee-owned business for Ison Harrison

Ison Harrison became 100% employee owned in 2022, the first law firm in the UK to do so, and within two years was able to distribute £4000 in profit shares to each of its qualifying members. This demonstrates how the transition to becoming an employee ownership trust (EOT) has been not only relatively seamless, but has also emboldened our team to strive for higher standards. In the last 12 months we have also set up the Employee Ownership Advisor microsite, through which we share our knowledge and experience and guide other businesses through the process of becoming an EOT. These achievements have contributed to a second consecutive nomination for the top award.

This year the five nominees are Ison Harrison Solicitors, Curtins (a leading consultancy specialising in the built environment), Loadhog (global supplier of transit packaging), 20/20 Project Management Training (global provider of professional training) and Provide Community Interest CIC (a high-quality health and social care provider, driven by collective spirit and dedication).

People powered growth in the UK

In announcing the nominees for the awards in recent days, EOA chief executive James de le Vingne commented: “Congratulations to Ison Harrison on being shortlisted for the Employee Ownership Business of the Year award. It’s a remarkable accomplishment that speaks volumes to the power of employee ownership and the high calibre of entries we’ve received this year.

“These proudly employee-owned businesses are leading the way in developing great EO practices, delivering increased employee wellbeing and business performance, and contributing to people powered growth  in the UK.”

This time last year we stated that we were simply proud to be shortlisted alongside such esteemed company and some excellent employee-owned businesses, regardless of the eventual outcome, and that remains the case in 2025. The concept of employee ownership is that everyone shares equally and it is a team effort, and as such we have huge respect for and share solidarity with the other nominees and indeed any business that takes the momentous step of transitioning to employee ownership. That said, we look forward to the awards evening and sharing the eventual outcome.

Managing Director Jonathan Wearing said:

“At Ison Harrison we truly feel we can demonstrate great innovation in employee-owned practices and can point to hugely positive financial impacts for our EOT members. Furthermore, we have built on the community feeling we already had within our Ison Harrison workforce and now have a team ethic and a sense of shared responsibility that is inspiring to employees of varying service and experience. Hopefully this will put us in a strong position to win the top award, but nevertheless, nomination in itself is worthy recognition that transitioning to employee ownership was one of the best things the business has ever done.”

Look out for updates on the awards on our social media coverage later this month.