LHi Group wins two APSCo Awards for Excellence 2026

We’re incredibly proud to share that LHi Group has won two APSCo Awards for Excellence 2026, taking home Recruitment Company of the Year £50–250m Turnover and International Recruitment Company of the Year.

To be recognised by APSCo in two separate categories is a huge achievement for us, so to come away with both awards is something we’re incredibly proud of.

Mike Bott, Sue White, Steve Earl, Ed Parkes and Reesha Patel attended the awards and collected the trophies on behalf of everyone at LHi.

What made the evening even more special was hearing what the judges recognised behind each win, from the way our business continues to evolve to how we have approached international growth while keeping our people and culture at the heart of it.

Ben Richardson, Co-CEO of LHi Group, said:

“Botty and I have spent a lot of time over the last year thinking about what the next chapter of LHi looks like, and these awards are a really encouraging sign that we’re heading in the right direction.

We’ve put a lot of focus on our customers, building genuine expertise in our markets and, most importantly, developing the people who are going to take the business forward. I’m particularly proud that our international growth has been built around our own people.

Seeing someone start their LHi career in one office and then have the opportunity to move across the world and build something of their own is exactly the kind of business we want to be. After all, Botty and I are walking examples of doing just that!

I’m super proud of everyone who has contributed to making LHi what it is today. There’s lots more to come!”

 

Recruitment Company of the Year £50–250m Turnover

For this award, the judges highlighted the continued evolution of our business and our move into embedded and RPO solutions.

They said:

“We were really impressed with their diversification in to embedded and RPO solutions with a proven first year success. A clear winner, they created such a buzz and energy in the room when they talked us through their strategy for the future, and the fact that this is their best year yet in a really, really tough market. And their goal from being a traditional recruiter to a talent solutions provider. Their passion for building communities with end clients, contractors, and internal staff really really shone through.
They've multiple different engagement strategies and that was great to see.”

As our business and our clients’ needs continue to evolve, we have looked at how we can offer more than traditional recruitment alone. Building our embedded and RPO solutions has been an important part of that development, allowing us to broaden the ways we work with our customers while continuing to build on the specialist expertise that sits at the heart of our brands.

Having the progress we have already made recognised by APSCo means a great deal and is an exciting marker of how the business continues to develop.

 

International Recruitment Company of the Year

Our second award recognised something that has been a huge part of the LHi story for many years: international growth.

The judges said:

“This company really impressed us with its strategic plan for growth overseas and how every time it opened up a new office it took one of its existing employees and moved them over to the new office so there was a continuation of culture. We were also just really impressed with how they were running the business very clinically, but at the same time, being fair to all the employees."

APSCo’s judges also praised the support given to our people throughout that expansion. That feedback feels particularly special to us because our international growth has always been about much more than opening offices.

As we have expanded into new locations, existing LHi’ers have been given the opportunity to take the next step in their own careers with us, moving internationally, establishing teams and helping carry the culture of the business into every new office.

It is an approach that has allowed LHi to grow globally without losing the things that make us who we are.

Mike Bott, Co-CEO of LHi Group, said:

“Winning these two awards is a brilliant reflection of where LHi is today! But for me, it’s also a reflection of how we’ve grown. We’ve never wanted international expansion just for the sake of having more dots on a map. We wanted to build great businesses in new markets without losing what makes LHi special.

Taking our own people with us, giving them the opportunity to build something from the ground up and keeping our culture, the LHi ‘stardust’, at the heart of that growth has been so important and, clearly, a key to our success!

There’s a lot more we want to achieve and it’s great to see all the hard work of our people being recognised by APSCo.”

 

These awards belong to all of us

While the awards recognise two different areas of the business, there is one thing that sits behind both: our people.

Our growth has only been possible because of the people developing new solutions, building relationships with our customers, growing specialist markets, opening offices, developing the next generation of LHi leaders and supporting the business behind the scenes.

Anne-Marie Butts, Chief People Officer at LHi Group, said:

“What makes these awards particularly meaningful is that they recognise something we’ve always believed at LHi: growth and culture have to go hand in hand.

You can have the best strategy in the world, but it’s your people who actually bring it to life. A huge amount of work goes on behind the scenes to give our people the training, support, leadership and opportunities they need to succeed, whether they’re starting their career with us or leading one of our international businesses.

These awards are recognition of that collective effort, and I’m incredibly proud of everyone across LHi who has played a part. Congratulations, team!”

A huge thank you to APSCo and the judges for the recognition, and congratulations to all of the other nominees and winners at this year’s awards.

Most importantly, congratulations to every LHi’er.

These awards belong to all of us, and we’re incredibly proud of what we’ve built together.