Royal British Veterans Enterprise (RBVE) has been shortlisted as a Finalist in the Purpose Over Profit category at the Lloyds British Business Excellence Awards 2026, one of the UK’s most competitive business awards programmes.

The recognition reflects a model built on the idea that paid work should come first when it comes to supporting people into independence. RBVE’s Reducing Veteran Homelessness study found that 72% of veterans who move successfully into independent living do so because they secured paid work before anything else. So rather than treating employment as one strand of support among many, RBVE creates jobs first, then surrounds them with homes and community support that help independence last.

That model runs through Britain’s Bravest Manufacturing Company in Kent and Surrey, and Scotland’s Bravest Manufacturing Company in Renfrewshire, where more than 70% of the paid workforce are veterans, people with disabilities, or both. Together, the factories produce more than 250,000 road, rail and commercial signs a year, alongside print, embroidery and fulfilment work, for infrastructure clients including Network Rail, whose partnership with RBVE reached 60 years in 2025, and National Highways, whose Social Value Challenge with RBVE has grown to £1.6 million.

This year also saw RBVE named a Top 50 Veteran Employer in the UK, alongside major employers including Serco, BT, Tesco, Microsoft and Airbus, evidence that a organisation focused on social impact can meet the same standards as the country’s largest employers. Across RBVE as a whole, 17.9% of colleagues are veterans and a further 19.1% are family members of veterans.

The Finalist recognition also reflects RBVE’s continued growth, including a new £15 million factory in Kent, built to BREEAM Excellent standards with a dedicated Training Academy designed to support hundreds of people a year into skills and employment.

The scale of the need behind this work continues to grow. The disability employment gap remains close to thirty percentage points, and RBVE’s own social value measurement, using the nationally recognised TOMS framework, recorded £2.4 million generated through disability employment in its factories in 2025 alone. An independent evaluation of RBVE’s Lifeworks employability programme found that society benefits by at least £39,000 for every veteran who moves into paid work; this year, Lifeworks reached more than 1,000 veterans and spouses, with 80% moving into paid work, training or volunteering within twelve months.

Lisa Farmer OBE, RBVE Chief Executive, said:

“Being named a Finalist for Purpose Over Profit is a brilliant recognition of what our teams achieve every day. It proves that a charity can compete commercially at the highest level while never losing sight of why we exist: to get people who are furthest from the labour market into paid, skilled work. Every contract we win funds someone’s route to independence, and that’s a model we’re incredibly proud to see recognised on this stage.”

The winners announced at an awards ceremony in November.