It’s Coming Home: A History of the UK EO Awards

From founding the UK EO Awards to returning as sponsor for 2025, Baxendale Employee Ownership remains a key pillar of the employee owned sector. We take a dive into this fascinating history of the awards to learn more.

Image: Image: (L-R) Ewan Hall, Alex Mudie, Hannah Welch, Emily Alston, Lindsay Hegarty, Simon Everingham

If you get a group of employee owners in a room, there’s a very good chance some of them belong to a business that was transitioned by Baxendale Employee Ownership (EO).

Having completed almost 300 transitions to date – or around 12% of the UK’s total 2,470 employee owned businesses (EOBs) – Baxendale EO have become almost synonymous with employee ownership.

But behind the impressive position it occupies in our sector is a fascinating story of the business’ own EO journey. 

And any history of Baxendale EO would be incomplete without the UK Employee Ownership Awards. 

With the awards coming home thanks to Baxendale EO’s sponsorship, we look back at this history and how much the sector has grown since then.

The Power of a Pioneer

It’s practically impossible to explore how the UK EO Awards came to be without discussing Philip Baxendale.

That means going all the way back to 1866 when Philip’s great grandfather started a foundry manufacturing railway carriages and gas lit lampposts. This paved the way to becoming the UK’s leading maker of domestic boilers with the iconic Baxi Boiler.

But how did a Victorian manufacturer become the one-stop employee ownership consultancy service we know and love today? 

In 1983, Philip Baxendale (pictured below) turned down multi-million pound offers to transition the business into an employee owned trust, joining a tiny cohort of similar EO pioneers at the time.

Then, in 2000, having sold all of its manufacturing activities, the business developed into a capital fund and consultancy service called Baxi Partnership, specialising in supporting mutual and employee ownership.

Baxendale Employee Ownership was founded by – and later spun out of – Baxi Partnership as a separate entity. And Philip’s vision of EO has guided it ever since.

Celebrating EO Successes

Founded in 2007, the Philip Baxendale Awards recognised and celebrated the successes of businesses that Baxi Partnership had supported in transitioning to EO.

Over time, that scope opened to all EO businesses in Britain. By the 2010s, there were multiple categories celebrating successes across the EO sector – from rising stars to brilliant businesses leading by example.

It was during this time that a new tradition begun with the awards presented as part of the eoa Annual Conference.

In 2015, the Philip Baxendale Awards were formally transferred to the eoa and become the UK Employee Ownership Awards.

But in the decade since then, we’ve continued to honour and recognise Philip’s legacy through the dedicated ‘Philip Baxendale Fellowship Award’. Since Philip’s sad passing in 2019, this award has become even more important.

Growing the EO Sector

Baxendale EO has been fundamental not only to creation and ongoing success of the UK EO Awards, but also the eoa Annual Conference itself. From 2022 to 2024, it served as Headline Sponsor, helping the eoa’s mission of growing the sector and pushing EO into the mainstream.

During this time, the sector has rapidly evolved. When the awards first started back in 2007, the UK had only approximately sixty EOBs.

Since the EOT grained royal assent in 2014, that figure has surged by 1,640%. It now boasts around 2,470 businesses, employing approximately 358,000 people. 

That’s a lot of incredible EO stories to champion and celebrate. It’s no wonder we had a record number of award submissions in 2024.

Join us to celebrate incredible EO stories at the eoa Annual Conference. Tickets are telling fast, so if you haven’t already secured your spot, head over the booking page.