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Patchwork Hub take home two BASE UK Awards at Wembley
We’re proud to share some special news with our community: Patchwork Hub has received two national honours at the BASE UK Awards 2025, held at Wembley Stadium.
On what was an unforgettable evening, Patchwork Hub was named Best Small Employer, and our CEO and founder, Beth Kume-Holland, received the prestigious David Grainger Award - recognising a disabled person who has changed perceptions of what disabled people can achieve in employment.
These awards are not just milestones for our team - they are recognition of the power and potential of disabled leadership, inclusive workplaces, and what becomes possible when accessibility is embedded from the start.
Across both awards, we were honoured to be recognised alongside exceptional organisations and individuals working to advance disability inclusion and remove barriers across society. We’re proud to be part of that wider movement for change.
‘Best Small Employer’ – BASE UK Award
Patchwork Hub was founded on a simple but urgent belief: Disabled people deserve accessible, flexible, ambitious employment opportunities - and workplaces must evolve to make that happen.
As a disabled-led organisation, we are intentional about the culture we build. Accessibility is not an afterthought. Flexibility is not a favour. Inclusion is not a policy document - it is embedded in how we design roles, lead our team, and deliver our services. Everyone at Patchwork Hub brings lived experience of disability or neurodivergence alongside professional expertise, and this fundamentally shapes who we are as an organisation.
The award was presented by sponsor Coca-Cola Europacific Partners. Their representative, Maree Moore, shared: “We were so impressed with the scope and reach that Patchwork Hub have achieved across their partnerships and network - and not only the impressive outcomes and impact, they have truly embedded inclusion.”
Our CEO Beth, when accepting the award, explained the belief that underpins the work we do: “We’ve built a disabled-led business not just to talk about inclusion, but to model it - in the way we hire, the way we strive to work, and the way we do our very best to support others to do the same. Our team knows firsthand that accessibility isn’t a box to tick - it’s a culture, a commitment, and often, a quiet act of leadership in itself.”
Being recognised as Best Small Employer by BASE UK is especially meaningful to us because it reflects something we care about profoundly: creating, within our own organisation and through our work with employers, the kind of workplace disabled people are too often denied elsewhere - one where people can thrive, lead and shape the future of work.
The David Grainger Award - for an individual changing perceptions around employment of disabled people
Alongside Patchwork Hub’s organisational award, our CEO Beth was deeply honoured to receive the David Grainger Award.
The David Grainger Award is presented to a disabled person who inspires others to have high aspirations in employment, challenges perceptions about what disabled people can achieve, and demonstrates progression in their chosen career.
In presenting the award, sponsor Audrey Bodman FIEP of Outshine Telephone Training & Resources said: “We chose Beth because she’s driving change on so many levels. She’s using her lived experience, expertise and the business she founded to push disability inclusion forward in a very powerful way.”
She described Beth in three words: “courageous, visionary and unstoppable.”
We know that person should be able to have high aspirations in employment. And yet, we still have a very long way to go before that becomes a reality for all.
Beth shared what the award meant to her alongside recognising how far we still have to go in her acceptance speech: “Disabled people as leaders, innovators and change-makers should not be the exception. Across the UK and beyond, there are incredible disabled professionals building businesses, leading teams, driving innovation and creating change. However, we continue to be held back by inaccessible systems, structures and attitudes that consistently put unnecessary barriers in our way”.
The role of allies in creating change
The evening really reinforced for us that progress doesn’t happen in isolation.
We have had the privilege of working alongside many fantastic disabled organisations and changemakers. But also brilliant non-disabled allies who understand the social and economic cost of ignoring disability inclusion. More employers are recognising that accessibility is not a niche concern - it is central to building innovative, resilient organisations.
When workplaces remove barriers, productivity increases, innovation grows and business performance strengthens. Inclusion is not just morally right. It makes clear business sense.
Thank you
We are hugely grateful to BASE UK for this recognition and for all the work they do to champion inclusive employment across the UK.
Thank you also to Maree and Audrey for their incredibly kind words on the night, which so nearly brought Beth to tears on stage, and to everyone who continues to support Patchwork Hub’s work and mission.
There is still a long way to go, but we remain committed to building a future of work where disabled people can thrive, lead and succeed without barriers.
Here’s to continuing that work in 2026 and beyond.
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