Business leaders will today make a call for more organisations to join and raise the bar on responsible business behaviour

York’s commitment to good growth will be celebrated in style on today's closing day of York Festival of Ideas 2022.

The event will feature a number of activities centred around building the city’s entrepreneurial culture as well as a panel discussion to look more widely at how partners are collaborating to respond positively to the levelling up agenda.

With a firm national focus on the cost-of-living crisis, the Good Business Charter framework is well established to bring about positive change with its focus on 'holistic responsible business behaviour.'

This includes a commitment to pay the real living wage (currently £9.90 an hour outside of London), provide secure work and care for employee wellbeing alongside commitments to the environment and ethical sourcing.

Organisations accredited by the Good Business Charter share their passion for what the Charter stands for and how they are improving practices to remain compliant, such as increasing salaries or ensuring suppliers are also reaching for these high standards.

Founder and local entrepreneur, Julian Richer, who will be speaking at the Festival of Ideas event, said: "It is exciting to see my home city embrace the Good Business Charter and champion it voraciously throughout the city whether that be Councillors, both Universities or partners such as Federation of Small Businesses.

"I am particularly pleased to see the Universities encourage entrepreneurs in their programmes to adopt the GBC right from the outset. This will put them in a strong position as they scale up, through treating their colleagues well, prioritising happy customers and ensuring resilience in their supply chain.”

Kiran Trehan, Pro Vice Chancellor for Partnerships at the University of York, who features in the anniversary video, said: "It has been a privilege to spearhead York as the first GBC city.

"I say to organisations of all sizes that it just makes good business sense to commit to the Good Business Charter and my hope is that in the future, the ones who have not joined are the ones that are left behind.

"We are excited to launch Enterprise Works and York Accelerator on this auspicious date of the anniversary of GBC York and hope to see further collaboration to bring good growth for the city.”

The Good Business Charter is as relevant for small organisations as big.

Chris Pegg, Commercial and Marketing Manager at City Cruises, which achieved GBC accreditation last year said: "Good things happen to good businesses. If businesses look after their staff right, look after their customers and look after their suppliers I think they’re really set up to have a phenomenal run in business and that’s why we encourage others to get involved in the GBC.”

Over 60 organisations in the city are currently accredited by the Good Business Charter, a national accreditation scheme that certified the Institute of Directors as its 1,000th organisation in March 2022, just two years after it launched.

The Good Business Charter requires organisations to commit to minimum standards in all ten components covering care for employees, suppliers, customers and the planet all whilst paying their fair share of tax.