Every year are genuinely moved by what we read in the Princess Royal Training Award applications. This year was no exception. Today, we’re delighted to share that 56 training programmes have been recognised in the 2026 Princess Royal Training Awards, chosen from 132 applications submitted from right across the UK, Ireland and, for the first time, beyond.
Now in its eleventh year, the Awards celebrate organisations that go above and beyond for their people’s learning and development, and shine a light on just how far-reaching the impact of good training can be. This year’s recipients span an extraordinary range of sectors, from global security and further education to heritage crafts and prison rehabilitation – proof, if any more were needed, that great training can happen anywhere.
A first for the Awards
2026 is a milestone year: for the first time, organisations delivering training to staff both in the UK and Ireland and overseas were eligible to apply. Six of them have been recommended for an Award, including G4S for a leadership programme spanning the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America, and Mimecast for a women’s leadership programme running across the UK and South Africa. Associated British Foods Plc also makes the list for an Anti-Bribery & Corruption programme that reached more than 19,000 staff in 86 countries worldwide, a genuinely global effort to do the right thing.
Skills as a lever for change
Two of this year’s recipients feel especially close to home here at the City & Guilds Foundation. Goal 17 trains mentors for young people leaving care, while Offploy is a social enterprise working to reduce reoffending and build safer communities; both mirroring our own belief that skills can be a powerful lever for social change.
It’s a theme we’ve seen before. Last year’s recipient, Liberty Kitchen, runs a prisoner training programme at HMP Pentonville that has helped bring reoffending among its graduates down to just 9%, against a national average of 42%. Their story was featured on ITV’s This Morning after last year’s ceremony, and it’s exactly the kind of impact we hope to keep celebrating.
Keeping rare skills alive
Alongside the big, global programmes, we love that this year’s Awards also celebrate the small and the specialist. The York Glaziers Trust is recognised for training people in the ancient craft of stained-glass restoration, while 1882 Ltd, a ceramics maker that’s been going since, well, 1882, is honoured for training a new generation of ceramicists. Skills like these don’t survive by accident; someone has to teach them, and these organisations are doing exactly that.
Royal recognition
The Awards are supported by HRH The Princess Royal, President of City and Guilds of London Institute (now known as the City & Guilds Foundation), who has long championed skills development. Earlier this year, HRH The Princess Royal visited the National Theatre to celebrate its 2024 Award-recognised apprenticeship programme, which swaps unpaid internships for paid, structured routes into backstage, technical and craft roles, tackling two of the creative industries’ most stubborn problems: a lack of diversity and a shortage of critical skills.
Small teams, big impact
One of our favourite things about this year’s cohort is the sheer range of organisation sizes. Two “micro” employers, with fewer than 10 staff, have been recommended for an Award, proof that transformational training isn’t just for big business. At the other end of the scale, organisations like Northern Care Alliance and Teleperformance have each trained thousands of employees through their recognised programmes. Big or small, the commitment is the same.
Speaking about the Awards, Chief Assessor for the Awards, Fenella Tallon FCGI said:
“I’m always struck by the sheer quality of the applications we receive, and this year was no exception. Huge congratulations to all our 2026 award recipients, it’s brilliant to see them spanning such a range of sectors and organisation sizes, each bringing something different but equally impressive to the table. It’s a genuine privilege to watch these Awards go from strength to strength each year.”
And, in her first year as Chair of City and Guilds of London Institute, Jessica Leigh Jones MBE FCGI added:
“The City & Guilds Foundation’s purpose is deep rooted in championing skills — this year’s 56 recipients show what that looks like in practice. The breadth of organisations is truly inspiring, from a workshop keeping the ancient craft of stained glass alive, to a mentor standing alongside a young person leaving care, to an employer of fewer than ten investing in its people as seriously as one training thousands. In our eleventh year, and for the first time recognising programmes delivered beyond the UK and Ireland, we are proud to hold these organisations up as proof of what happens when skills are taken seriously. Congratulations to all this year’s recipients.”
Want to know more?
Head over to our 2026 recipients page for the full list of this year’s winners and their programmes or find out how to apply for the 2027 Awards click here.