Insurance Times Awards 2026: DAC Beachcroft on ’courageous conversations’ and ‘visible leadership’

Why did you put yourselves forward for the category?

We believe inclusion is not achieved through good intentions alone. It requires courageous conversations, visible leadership and sustained action. We entered this category because we are proud of the transformation delivered through Access, shaped by colleagues’ lived experiences and translated into meaningful organisational change.

As co-chairs of Access, our employee network representing colleagues from minority ethnic and other under-represented communities, we have challenged barriers to progression, strengthened representation and created opportunities for others to succeed by listening, influencing and acting decisively, we have embedded diversity, equity and inclusion into leadership decision-making and culture, demonstrating what is possible when organisations commit to lasting change.

What do you think makes your entry stand out and why should you win the award?

What sets us apart is our measurable and sustainable impact. We turned colleague insight into firm-wide action by listening to lived experiences through externally facilitated safe-space conversations and translating them into meaningful change. This led to our Race Action Plan, board level accountability and a pioneering Reciprocal Mentoring Programme involving 60 senior leaders.

More than raising awareness, the programme turns understanding into accountability, ally-ship into action and employee voice into organisational change. We stand out because this is diversity as a strategy, not a statement – shaped by experience, championed by leadership and measured by the opportunities, representation and lasting change created.

What would winning this award mean to you and your firm?

Winning would mean our colleagues who found the courage to speak openly know that their voices were heard. It would celebrate every mentor, mentee, ally and leader who embraced difficult conversations and helped transform individual experiences into firm-wide action. It would affirm that inclusion is integral to how we lead, develop talent and serve our clients and communities, while giving Access a wider platform to influence progress across the industry.

Most importantly, it would belong to our colleagues whose experiences inspired change and whose honesty and participation helped create a more inclusive and representative workplace for current and future generations.