Social Recruitment Advocacy Group

A movement to change how the UK hires

The Social Recruitment Advocacy Group brings together 150+ organisations, collectively employing more than 500,000 people, around a single goal: that recruiting people who face barriers to work stops being a corporate social responsibility activity and becomes how good recruitment is done. The group is chaired by the Rt. Hon. Anne Milton, former Minister of State for Skills and Apprenticeships, and was founded by PeoplePlus because systemic change needs a coalition, not a single provider.

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Why the group exists

Employers report persistent vacancies, yet the people already furthest from the labour market keep falling further back in the queue. Many are counted as economically inactive, a label that hides very real barriers: health conditions, caring responsibilities, criminal records, rising costs, and often several at once. None of this is inevitable. Members of the group have changed how they attract, assess and support candidates, and they hire people the market was overlooking. Since forming, organisations across the SRAG network have supported 37,000+ people into work through social recruitment.

Anne Milton, SRAG Chair, on the urgency of the SRAG movement.

A movement, not a membership scheme

Two things mark SRAG out from a standard membership body.

Its chair. Rt Hon Anne Milton. A former minister chairing a social recruitment coalition signals that this is a serious attempt to influence national practice and policy, and the group has an explicit remit to press government to promote social recruitment across the public and private sectors.

Its members. SRAG includes organisations that compete with PeoplePlus for contracts. That is deliberate. We founded the group to grow social recruitment across the whole market, and a coalition that only served its founder’s commercial interest would not deserve the name.

‘The Social Recruitment Advocacy Group wants to break down the barriers for those who are disadvantaged in the labour market by dispelling myths about recruiting from those groups. We bring together a strong network of employers, not for profit organisations and the public sector. We want this approach to recruitment to become the norm not the exception.

Social value recruitment not only makes a tangible difference to people’s lives but also supports a more equitable society and tackles employment disadvantage and improves aspirations for future generations’
Rt Hon Anne Milton

What the group does

Convenes the network.

Quarterly summits hosted by members (recent venues include St James’ Park, Oxford Brookes University, BT Openreach and Timpson), monthly Lunch & Learns, and a members’ LinkedIn community.

Campaigns for social recruitment.

Making the case publicly, from individual business benefits through to the wider economic evidence.

Presses for policy change.

Encouraging government to treat social recruitment as mainstream practice, not a CSR add-on.

What members get

Membership is practical as well as principled: the SRAG Portal of toolkits and case studies, a Discovery Day consultancy workshop, the Social Value Calculator, Charter Mark assessment, guidance on accessing the £2.7 billion of government skills funding, and marketing and PR support for your social recruitment story.

Progress is recognised through the SRAG Charter Marks: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Ambassador, and, new for 2026, Patron. Ambassador members include Sodexo, Mitie, M Group Highways and Birmingham Metropolitan College.

The SRAG Charter and Charter Marks →

SRAG and the Social Recruitment Covenant

The two are related but do different jobs. The Covenant is the public pledge: a signed commitment to inclusive recruitment, open to any UK employer. SRAG is the advocacy coalition behind the movement: the network that meets, campaigns, shares practice and holds the agenda. Many organisations do both, and PeoplePlus founded each of them.

Social Recruitment Covenant →