What Better Hiring Institute (BHI) does

Better Hiring Institute (BHI) is a UK non-profit Community Interest Company operating under the Modern Work Foundation CIC, founded in 2021 with headquarters in London. It functions as a cross-sector policy and standards body for UK hiring, convening employers, RecTech providers, government departments, and parliamentarians around a single set of hiring principles, frameworks, and toolkits. Its core deliverables include the Better Hiring Charter (10 principles), the National Hiring Framework and Standards, more than 100 guides and whitepapers, the Better Hirer employer assessment pathway, the Approved RecTech Provider (ARTP) programme for vendors, and — since November 2025 — the UK's first National Hiring Strategy containing 29 policy recommendations. BHI is supported by cross-party parliamentary backing (18+ MPs and Peers) and works alongside departments including DBS, DBT, DSIT, the Home Office, the NCA, GLAA, the ICO, and Disclosure Scotland.

BHI's commercial engine runs on a freemium-plus-paid membership model. Free participation is open to the 15,000+ employers in its network, while paid tiers include Better Hirer assessments priced at £99-£499, ARTP provider membership at £625-£3,750, and corporate sponsorship at £5,000-£12,000+ per partner, with naming rights attached to flagship programmes. Engagement is driven through 30+ events and roundtables annually, nine sector subcommittees, and parliamentary convenings such as the House of Commons-hosted Hiring Taskforce. Notable Charter signatories include BBC, Sky, Ericsson, Paragon Banking, Reed Screening, and United Utilities, signalling credibility across media, telecoms, banking, screening, and utilities.

With 27 employees and no disclosed revenue or funding figures, BHI is a small, policy-led organisation whose strategic value derives from its convening power and regulatory positioning rather than from technology, data assets, or proprietary IP. Its growth trajectory is tied to the adoption of the National Hiring Strategy and the monetisation of new paid pathways introduced in 2025.

Name

Better Hiring Institute (BHI)

Legal name

Better Hiring Institute

Website

https://betterhiringinstitute.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Better Hiring Institute (BHI) is a UK non-profit Community Interest Company that convenes employers, RecTech providers, and government around UK hiring standards. It operates the Better Hiring Charter, the Better Hirer employer pathway, the ARTP RecTech programme, and the National Hiring Strategy.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Hiring Standards and Policy

NAICS

Employment Placement Agencies (561311), Employment Placement Agencies and Executive Search Services (56131), Employment Services (5613)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Sourcing / Talent Research & Pipeline RPO (Sourcer-as-a-Service) (BPACABAM)

Keywords

• Hiring standards
• Hiring framework
• Recruitment policy
• Employer membership
• Hiring reform

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Fees: Free basic membership with optional paid pathways including Better Hirer employer assessment programme and ARTP provider membership tiered by organization size.
2. Sponsorship: Corporate sponsorship packages including event sponsorship from £5,000 per event, programme partnership from £12,000 per programme, and custom national leader packages spanning 12 months of engagement.
3. Better Hirer Assessments: Paid employer assessment programme with tiered pricing by organization size, from free for UK charities (up to £100k turnover) to £499 for 251+ employees.
4. ARTP Membership Fees: Annual membership fees for recruitment technology providers tiered by employee count, from free for UK charities to £3,750 for 101+ employees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

BHI is a UK membership institute that develops and disseminates hiring standards, frameworks and metrics, and runs paid employer and provider membership programmes (Better Hirer and ARTP) to help organisations improve hiring speed, fairness and safety. It convenes employers, government and technology providers through parliamentary roundtables, sector sub-committees and a national strategy programme (the National Hiring Strategy) launched in 2025.

Product overview

Better Hiring Institute (BHI) is a membership-based organization offering a portfolio of products and programs centered on improving UK hiring practices. The core offering is the National Hiring Strategy, which encompasses the National Hiring Framework (self-assessment tools), National Hiring Metrics (performance benchmarks), and Better Hiring Standards (certification pathways). BHI provides two primary membership programs: the Better Hirer Scheme for employers seeking to assess and improve their hiring practice through self-assessment and tailored reports, and the Association of RecTech Providers (ARTP) for technology providers shaping responsible hiring technology standards. The organization also publishes the Better Hiring Charter (10 guiding principles) and maintains sector-specific Better Hiring Toolkits. All offerings are designed to make UK hiring faster, fairer and safer.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Better Hirer: An employer membership pathway that helps organizations assess, strengthen, and evidence faster, fairer, and safer hiring practice through self-assessment and tailored reports.
• Association of RecTech Providers (ARTP)
• National Hiring Strategy

Products and services

• National Hiring Strategy A national programme that gives employers, providers and policymakers a shared direction for improving how people are hired across the UK, combining practical guidance, evidence and standards so hiring can become faster, fairer and safer at scale.
• National Hiring Framework Resources and tools that help organisations assess and improve hiring practice against a practical framework covering speed, fairness, safety and candidate confidence.
• National Hiring Metrics Shared measures for performance, fairness, candidate experience and hiring outcomes that employers can use to benchmark hiring practice across the UK.
• Better Hiring Standards Pathways for organisations committed to faster, fairer and safer hiring across the UK labour market, supporting assessment and accreditation of hiring practice against the National Hiring Framework.
• Better Hirer Scheme Employer membership pathway that helps organisations assess, strengthen and evidence faster, fairer and safer hiring practice through a self-assessment and tailored improvement report, with annual pricing tiered by employee count from free for UK charities to £499 for 251+ employees.
• Association of RecTech Providers (ARTP) Membership programme for organisations providing hiring technology, connecting RecTech providers with policymakers, employers and industry leaders, with annual pricing tiered from free for UK charities up to £3,750 for providers with 101+ employees.
• Better Hiring Charter Ten principles for faster, fairer and safer hiring that organisations can publicly pledge to support, forming the foundation of BHI's approach to hiring reform and on which the Better Hirer assessment is built.
• Better Hiring Toolkits Sector-specific best-practice guidance covering care, construction, education supply chains, financial services, health, hospitality, local authority, recruitment and retail, owned and maintained by BHI sub-committees.

Quantifiable outcome

• Broken hiring costs the UK £75bn annually according to the National Hiring Strategy
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers24 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

22 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint work on the National Hiring Committee representing employers across England and Wales. Collaboration on criminal record checking modernisation and safer recruitment standards. DBS serves as a key government partner in BHI's work to develop hiring standards and frameworks.
• Department for Business and TradecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment partner supporting BHI's mission to modernise UK hiring. Collaborates on policy development and labour market reform initiatives.
• Disclosure ScotlandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment partner on criminal record checking modernisation and cross-agency learning for safer hiring practices across Scotland and the UK.
• Department for Science, Innovation and TechnologycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment partner on digital identity, trust framework and technology-enabled hiring policy. BHI represents hiring on DCMS digital identity projects.
• Home OfficecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment partner on right to work checks and safer hiring policy. Engagement on policy development for employment regulations and worker protection.
• JobsAwarecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorker voice platform providing free help and guidance for workers and work seekers. Both BHI and JobsAware are brands of the Modern Work Foundation CIC, working together on worker rights and safer hiring.
• Reed ScreeningcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey industry collaborator across multiple guidance documents and campaigns including AI in Hiring, Skills Revolution, Women in Workplace, Neurodiverse People, Fraud prevention, National Hiring Standard, and Employ with Conviction. Platinum-level engagement across BHI activities.
• Leon Mann MBEminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborator on Improving Fairness for People from Minority Backgrounds and Faiths guidance, providing expertise on race and hiring practices.
• Disability Rights UKminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborator on Ensuring Fairness in Work for People with Disabilities guidance, providing lived experience and policy expertise on disability in hiring.
• BASE (British Association of Supported Employers)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborator on disability hiring guidance, bringing expertise on supported employment and workplace inclusion.
• NacrominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborator on Employ with Conviction guidance for hiring people with criminal records, providing expertise on rehabilitation and employment.
• OffployminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborator on fair hiring guidance for people with convictions, supporting BHI's work on reducing employment barriers for ex-offenders.
• UnlockminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborator on guidance for employing people with convictions, providing expertise on criminal record disclosure and employment rights.
• CifasminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborator on Tackling Hiring Fraud guidance, providing fraud prevention expertise and intelligence on identity fraud trends.
• National Crime AgencycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborator on Tackling Hiring Fraud 2.0 guidance, providing intelligence on organised crime threats in hiring and exploitation prevention.
• Stop Think FraudminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborator on fraud prevention guidance, supporting the campaign to raise awareness of hiring fraud and fraud prevention best practices.
• Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborator on National Hiring Standard and worker exploitation prevention, providing enforcement expertise on labour abuse and exploitation.
• Information Commissioner's OfficeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerARoids workstream partner on responsible data use, trust and privacy in hiring technology, ensuring compliance with data protection regulations.
• Resourcing Leaders 100minorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner organization in BHI's network, supporting better hiring activity and employer engagement.
• In-house RecruitmentminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner organization in BHI's network, supporting better hiring activity and employer engagement.
• Talent LabsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner organization in BHI's network, supporting better hiring activity and employer engagement.
• Talent SpacesminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner organization in BHI's network, supporting better hiring activity and employer engagement. Also a sponsor of BHI activities.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Hays plc: Hays is one of the UK's largest recruitment firms and operates at the scale BHI's employer members depend on. It is comparable as a participant in UK hiring markets and standards-setting, though as a commercial recruiter rather than a standards body.
• Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM): SHRM is the largest US HR professional body and global reference point for HR standards, certification, and policy influence. It mirrors BHI's mission of setting HR/hiring standards at national scale but operates with vastly greater resources and international reach.
• British Chambers of Commerce: British Chambers of Commerce represents UK employers regionally and nationally, including on workforce and hiring issues. It is comparable to BHI as a UK employer membership body that bridges practice and policy, though with a regional-chamber structure BHI lacks.
• Confederation of British Industry (CBI): CBI is the UK's premier business confederation engaging with government on labour-market and hiring policy. BHI operates a narrower hiring-focused version of CBI's convening model between employers and policymakers.

Direct peers

• Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC): REC is the UK trade body for the recruitment industry, representing agencies and employers. Like BHI, it convenes members, influences hiring policy, and publishes standards, but with a recruitment-industry-specific lens compared to BHI's broader employer/policy focus.
• Institute of Recruiters (IOR): IOR is a UK membership body focused on professional standards within recruitment. Both BHI and IOR convene recruitment/hiring stakeholders, publish best-practice guidance, and engage with policymakers, though IOR is recruitment-specific rather than cross-sector.
• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD): CIPD is the UK's professional body for HR and people development, with a much larger membership base. Both organisations operate as UK-focused HR/hiring professional bodies that set standards, publish research, and influence employer practice — making CIPD BHI's closest structural analogue.

Others

• Open Data Institute (ODI): ODI is a UK-focused non-profit that convenes industry, government, and academia around data standards and policy, similar to BHI's convening of employers, providers, and policymakers around hiring standards. It is thematically comparable as a UK policy-convening non-profit rather than a direct competitor.
• JobsAware: JobsAware is a worker-voice platform and a sibling brand under Modern Work Foundation CIC alongside BHI. It is a direct organisational sibling and partner within the same parent social enterprise rather than a competitor, but serves a complementary hiring-policy audience.

Emerging players

• Greenhouse Software: Greenhouse is an applicant tracking and hiring platform and a Better Hiring Charter signatory. It represents the technology-provider constituency BHI's ARTP membership is designed to convene, rather than a direct competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/better-hiring-institute

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Better Hiring Institute (BHI)