Irene Collins, managing director of EIQA, with Evelyn Lane, representing Mayo North East Local Employment Service, winner of the Best Quality Management System (QMS) at the National Q Mark Awards. Photo: Conor McCabe Photography

Local Employment Service wins gold at Q Mark Awards

IT'S official! Mayo Local Employment Service has won a National Q Mark Award for Best Quality Management System in Local Employment Services at the National Q Mark Awards.

Their nomination put them in the top 6.75% of all audits completed by the EIQA on the island of Ireland and this win means they are at the very top of the Q for highest standards of quality and excellence.

Orlagh Denney, Local Employment Services manager, said: “Winning the award is an outstanding achievement. It is public recognition of the high-quality standards in our person-centered approach to service delivery, whilst adhering to the highest standard of governance, transparency and accountability.”

Known as the Oscars of Business Excellence, the Q Mark Award is the highest accolade an Irish business can achieve, given both the intense competition and the exacting standards required.

Mayo Local Employment Service is contracted by the Department of Social Protection to deliver the Pathways to Work activation programme aimed at recipients of Job Seekers' Allowance (JSA) or Benefit and additionally to provide a walk-in service to individuals who present themselves to the LES for support by their own choice.

Mayo LES has adopted a local everywhere approach and have nine offices dotted around Co. Mayo, manned by sixteen permanent staff.

Over 500 people representing 135 companies attended the glitzy, black-tie ceremony at the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road, in Dublin 4, in competition for one of only 26 awards presented.