Expert oversight for the Diversity Development Standard

Our DDS Awarding Panel is a subgroup of our Advisory Board, a group of industry leaders who bring a wealth of experience and gravitas to EW Group’s content and service development.

Every organisation undertaking the Diversity Development Standard will have a review meeting with the Awarding Panel to consider their evidence, the assessing consultant’s report, and the extent to which they meet the criteria for Gold, Silver or Bronze accreditation.

Sharla Smith - DDS Advisory Panel member

Role of the Panel

The Awarding Panel’s role is to verify the recommendation for accreditation put forward by our consultant in a transparent and equitable way. This process enables us to check and challenge any bias during the DDS assessment process.

During the one-hour meeting, the client and consultant will review and discuss the following with our Awarding Panel:

  • Any borderline criteria scores
  • The highest and lowest scoring DDS Elements
  • A small sample of the data assessed
  • The achievability and success potential of the recommended DDS action plan
What our clients say

The team at EW Group are experts in their field so you know you are in safe hands. The Diversity Development Standard (formally known as DiBA), is a fundamental business tool providing recognition of achievements and recommendations for improvements, while providing a mechanism for employees to have a say in a confidential setting.

Tali Shlomo
HR Director at
Chartered Insurance Institute

Working with EW Group helped us recognise how far our staff go every day to make a positive difference to people's lives. The assessor's coaching and support enabled us to objectively assess our strengths and weaknesses, and learn from others. This invaluable experience means we designed an improvement plan tailored to our business, our staff and our customers.

Fiona Deal
Executive Director (Corporate Services) at
Amicus Horizon

Learn how our diversity accreditation could benefit your organisation

get in touch