CUMBRIA County Council has been officially recognised for its continued commitment to workplace health and wellbeing.

The local authority achieved the maximum ‘Continuing Excellence’ accreditation by the Better Health at Work Award scheme.

Councillor Stewart Young, Leader of Cumbria County Council and chair of Cumbria Health and Wellbeing Board, said: “This is a proud moment for Cumbria County Council and demonstrates again our ongoing commitment to our employees’ health and wellbeing.

"Promoting health and wellbeing in the workplace has benefits for employees, employers and for communities across the county.

"With more Cumbrian employers taking part in the scheme than ever before, it can only help us to collectively improve the health of the working population, their families and communities."

The Better Health at Work Award recognises the efforts of employers in the North East and Cumbria in addressing health issues within the workplace.

There are 4 levels to the award - Bronze, Silver, Gold and Continuing Excellence. Each level has varying criteria, but the focus throughout is identifying what health issues staff would like to focus on, and then running subsequent health improvement campaigns to address the issues that employees have raised.

Campaigns and activities are organised and run by employees who volunteer as Workplace Wellbeing Champions, and the county council has built up a network of over 100 champions across the county.

The Champions are people within the workplace who play a vital role in supporting fellow colleagues to make healthy choices and improve their health. They receive on-going training and promote positive health and wellbeing behaviours - including health checks, eating well, quitting smoking, financial wellbeing, creating a positive work/life balance, being physically active, mental wellbeing and everything in-between.

Katherine Fairclough, Chief Executive of Cumbria County Council, said: “We are delighted to receive the Continuing Excellence Award.

"We began the Award in 2016 and have worked hard to make the health and wellbeing of our employees a top priority.

"We have a network of over 100 Workplace Wellbeing Champions who deserve a lot of credit for supporting ongoing engagement with staff and managers to raise awareness of this."