Our Awards
Our charity’s dedicated team of qualified instructors – some of whom have disabilities including hearing impaired and mobility issues – have won a number of regional and national awards.
Here’s a selection recognising our empowering achievements to date:
Award Winners
Global Health & Wellness Awards 2026
‘Health and Wellness Training & Coaching Excellence’
We were delighted that the Global Health & Wellness Awards 2026 recognised the mental health and wellbeing benefits of the training we offer in our empowering Personal Safety courses and the coaching skills involved in our therapeutic art classes. To win an award for training and coaching excellence is high praise indeed.
SME500 UK Awards 2024
‘SME Business Excellence in Professional Training & Coaching – United Kingdom’
After being nominated (including third party endorsements) for these awards for small-medium enterprises, a panel of judges looked at our;
• Strategic relevance;
• Operational complexity and scale;
• Budget and timeline adherence; and
• Innovative approaches.
This concluded with our charity winning their ‘SME Business Excellence in Professional Training & Coaching – United Kingdom‘ award.
We are delighted to see that the consistent high standards of our Personal Safety training is being recognised at a national level through these prestigous awards.
Health & Safety Awards 2024
‘Safety Training Provider of the Year’
The high standards and empowering effects of our Personal Safety training gained national recognition when we won the ‘Safety Training Provider of the Year‘ at Business Awards UK’s Health and Safety Awards 2024. Our work in developing an empowering Personal Safety for People with Autism and Learning Disabilities course, helped us win this category.
Scottish Ex-Forces in Business Awards 2024
‘Inspiration of the Year’
Our founder, Alan Bell MBE, won the ‘Inspiration of the Year‘ at the Scottish Ex-Forces in Business Awards 2024 in Glasgow for his work in developing our ‘Personal Safety for People with Learning Disabilities’ course.
UK Excellence Awards 2023
‘Patron’s Award’
Our charity won the ‘Patron’s Award‘ category (Excellent people doing excellent things and making a difference every day) at the British Quality Foundation’s UK Excellence Awards 2023 in London. HRH Princess Anne is their Patron.
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)
Executive Manager, Alan Bell was honoured with an MBE for his “services to vulnerable people“ in King Charles III’s first New Year’s Honours List in 2023.
Third Sector Awards 2022
‘Volunteer of the Year’
Our Level 2 Instructor Claire McLauglan beat thousands of nominations to win the ‘Volunteer of the Year’ category at the Third Sector Awards in London.
Arran CVS & The Ayrshire Community Trust’s Volunteer Awards 2022
‘Health & Wellbeing’ Award
Our charity won the ‘Health & Wellbeing’ award at TACT’s Volunteer Awards 2022 for our work with female survivors of violence, people who are sensory impaired, children, and people targeted by Hate Crime.
Platinum Champion Award 2022
3,300 people across the UK had been nominated to receive this award to celebrate Her Majesty, The Queen’s 70 years on the throne but only 490 people were successful. Executive Manager, Alan Bell was awarded this honour in June 2022 by Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.
The Herald & GenAnalytics Diversity Awards 2021
‘Diversity in the Third Sector’
This national award, Scotland’s largest awards for Diversity, “recognises the contribution The Scottish Centre for Personal Safety has made to the diversity and inclusion agenda, adopting diversity to further the aims and ambitions of their charity”.
Amazingly, this is the 2nd time we have won this award, having won the same category in 2018.
The Ayrshire Community Trust’s Volunteer Awards 2021
‘Social Isolation’ Award
Our deafblind instructor David Black won TACT’s ‘Social Isolation’ award at their Volunteer Awards 2021 for his inspirational Bitesize Fitness videos produced during Covid-19 lockdown.
Scotland Prestige Awards 2021/22
‘Safety Training Specialists of the Year’
Our charity won the ‘Safety Training Specialists of the Year’ award for our ‘ScotCPS Bites’ Personal Safety videos produced during lockdown plus our empowering Personal Safety training, in general.
British Citizen Award 2021
Executive Manager, Alan Bell was awarded a British Citizen Award medal of honour for his Services to Education. This honour recognises how, “for the last 24yrs, Alan has worked tirelessly, developing and teaching life-changing Personal Safety courses, workshops, classes and lessons which make a hugely positive impact on society and in particular, vulnerable people.”.
National Diversity Awards 2020
‘Community Organisation Award for Multi-Strand’
This prestigious national award, the UK’s largest awards for Diversity, recognises that “The Scottish Centre for Personal Safety has made an outstanding multi-strand (disability, gender, LGBT, race) contribution to their local community; championing equality, diversity and human rights as defining values of their charity and their empowering Personal Safety services”.
The Scottish Public Service Awards 2020
‘Voluntary Sector Partnership’
Our charity won this award for partnering with North Ayrshire’s Health & Social Care Partnership to provide our empowering Personal Safety training to their Sensory Impaired clients.
Black Belt Hall of Fame
‘Devoted’
Executive Manager Alan Bell was inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame under the category of ‘Devoted’ – “for those Black Belts who have gone over and above to help others in the name of Martial Arts”.
The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (2020)
We are very honoured to have been awarded The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service – the highest honour a voluntary group can receive in the UK – for “empowering vulnerable people and saving lives through bespoke Personal Safety training since 1997“.
TACT Organisation of the Month (September 2020)
This local award from The Ayrshire Community Trust (TACT) highlights all the great work that The Scottish Centre for Personal Safety does within the community.
The Scottish Diversity Awards 2019
‘Empowerment Champions Award’
Our charity won this national award for “the outstanding contribution The Scottish Centre for Personal Safety has made in empowering the lives of thousands of individuals from a variety of diverse backgrounds such as LGBTI, ethnic minority, people with disabilities, the elderly, children and vulnerable women”.
RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People)
‘See Differently’ Awards 2019
‘Team of the Year’
Our charity won this award for “demonstrating excellent teamwork, leadership and impact to make a significant contribution to improving the lives of people who are blind or partially sighted”.
The Charity Awards 2019
‘Disability’
The Charity Awards are the UK’s biggest and longest running awards for charities. Our charity received this for “developing a course for the blind and visually impaired after reading that these individuals are more than twice as likely as sighted people to be attacked, and often live in fear”.
Inclusive Companies Awards 2018
‘Lifetime Achiever’
This national award honours Alan Bell, Executive Manager of The Scottish Centre for Personal Safety, “for devoting a major portion of his professional life to enhancing the practice of equality and diversity, making significant, innovative, and cumulatively outstanding contributions to the cause“.
North Ayrshire Health & Social Care Partnership’s Staff Awards 2018
‘No.1 Volunteer’
This regional award recognises The Scottish Centre for Personal Safety’s registered blind Level 2 Instructor, Yvette Robertson for “her consistently outstanding volunteer contribution and provision of Personal Safety training to North Ayrshire’s blind community”.
UK Martial Arts Show Hall of Fame
In May 2018, three of our team; Executive Manager Alan Bell, Principal Instructor David Bell and Senior Instructor John Divers were inducted into the UK Martial Arts Hall of Fame in recognition of their martial art Instructor skills which help vulnerable people stay safe. As all three come from Clydebank, the awards were presented by Provost Hendrie in Clydebank Town Hall.
The Herald & GenAnalytics Diversity Awards 2018
‘Diversity in the Third Sector’
This national award recognises “the contribution The Scottish Centre for Personal Safety has made to the diversity and inclusion agenda, adopting diversity to further the aims and ambitions of their charity”.
The Scottish Charity Awards 2018
‘Pioneering Project of the Year’
This national award “recognises The Scottish Centre for Personal Safety for their innovative and pioneering ‘Personal Safety Course for People who are Blind or Visually Impaired‘. Creative project work is the life blood of Scotland’s third sector. This confidence building project made a significant, positive impact on visually impaired people in Ayrshire as well as the blind community as a whole”.
North Ayrshire Community Sports Awards 2018
‘Team of the Year’
This regional award “recognises the outstanding achievements of the team of volunteer personal safety/self-defence instructors at The Scottish Centre for Personal Safety in improving the lives of North Ayrshire residents”.
The Ayrshire Community Trust’s Volunteer Awards 2017
‘Tremendous Trustee Award’
This regional award recognises Alan Bell, volunteer Executive Manager, for his work as a Trustee of the charity, establishing it as a vital asset of the community.
Martial Arts Illustrated’s Hall of Fame Student Award 2017
Our registered blind Instructor Michael McAllister became the UK’s first qualified, blind self defence instructor and Martial Arts Illustrated (the UK’s top martial arts magazine) honoured him with this award, which was presented to Michael by the MP for Ayrshire & Arran, Patricia Gibson.
North Ayrshire’s Health & Social Care Partnership Staff Awards 2017
‘Trail Blazer’
Executive Manager Alan Bell won the ‘Trail Blazer’ award for his work in producing Personal Safety courses specifically for minority ethnic groups, people with visual impairment and people with dwarfism.
Award Finalists
• The Ayrshire Community Trust’s Volunteers’ Awards 2024: Our charity reached the final of these local awards in the ‘Health & Wellbeing’ category. And our volunteer instructors also reached the final – Barbara Pokryszka for the ‘Support to the Community‘ award, David Bell and Alan Bell, both for the ‘Long Standing Volunteer‘ award, and Claire McLaughlan for the ‘Health & Wellbeing‘ award.
• Autism Hero Awards 2023: Our charity reached the London final of the Autism Hero Awards 2023 in the category of ‘Outstanding Education Award‘ for the development of our ‘Personal Safety for People with Autism and Learning Disabilities‘ course.
• Great British Care Awards 2023: Alan Bell reached the North East / Scotland Regional Final of the Great British Care Awards 2023 in the category of ‘Outstanding Contribution to Social Care‘ for his work in developing our empowering Personal Safety courses for Sensory Impaired people, people with Dwarfism, Traumatised Victims of Abuse/Violence, and Children and, most recently, our course for people with Learning Disabilities and Autism.
• The National Learning Disabilities & Autism Awards 2023: We reached the Birmingham final of these awards in the category of ‘Supporting People with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities‘ for our work in developing and producing our empowering Personal Safety for People with Autism and Learning Disabilities course. Again, although we did not win, to get to the UK final for a Personal Safety course we have only recently produced, is absolutely amazing. We are extremely proud.
• North Ayrshire Health & Social Care Partnership’s Awards 2023: We reached the finals in in two categories; ‘Volunteer Champions’ and ‘Innovative Team’ plus our volunteer Instructor, Barbara Pokryszka reached the final in the category of ‘Everyday Hero’. Unfortunately, we didn’t win any of these categories but we are still proud to have reached the final of regional awards focussing on health and social care – the heart of what we do as a charity.
• The Ayrshire Community Trust’s Volunteers’ Awards 2023: ‘Supporting the Community’.
• The British Diversity Awards 2022: ‘Community Project of the Year’.
• Ex-Forces in Business Awards 2022: Alan Bell reached the Glasgow final of these awards in the category of ‘Inspiration of the Year’.
• The Herald Digital Transformation Awards 2021: We reached the final of these awards in 2 categories – ‘Digital Diversity’ and ‘Best Use of Technology in the Third Sector’ for our empowering “ScotCPS Bites” self defence videos to help people flee a violent partner; and for “David’s Bitesize Fitness” videos for sensory impaired people to stay fit during social isolation.
• Third Sector Awards 2021: Our registered blind and deaf volunteer David Black reached the final of these awards in the category of ‘Volunteer of the Year’.
• The Charity Today Awards 2020: Executive Manager Alan Bell reached the London final of these awards in the category of ‘Volunteer of the Year’ and received a “Highly Commended” runner-up certificate.
• The Scottish Charity Awards 2020: ‘Charity of the Year’.
• The National Centre of Diversity’s Grand Awards 2020: Our charity reached the London final of these awards in 3 categories – ‘Most Innovative EDI (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion) Initiative of the Year’, ‘Most Improved Organisation of the Year’ and Alan Bell for ‘Most Inspiring Individual of the Year’.
• The Ayrshire Community Trust’s Volunteers’ Awards 2019: ‘Volunteer Team of the Year’.
• National Diversity Awards 2019: We beat 28,451 nominations from across the UK to reach the Liverpool final of these awards in the category of ‘Community Organisation Award’.
• Self Management Awards 2019: We reached the Scottish Parliament final of these awards under the category of ‘Project of the Year Award’ for the development and empowering results of our Personal Safety for People with Sensory Impairment course working in partnership with Deafblind Scotland.
• Herald & GenAnalytics Diversity Awards 2019: ‘Design for Diversity Award’ for the development of our new Personal Safety for Sensory Impaired People course.
• North Ayrshire Health & Social Care Partnership’s Staff Awards 2019: Amazingly, we were in the final for 6 Awards – ‘Innovative Team’, ‘Volunteer Champions’ and ‘Community Superheroes’. PLUS 3 of our volunteers were also finalists – Barbara Pokryszka and Laura Grant for the ‘No.1 Volunteer’ award and Yvette Robertson for the ‘Everyday Hero’ award. Although we didn’t win any of the awards outright, we did get a “Highly Commended” certificate in the ‘Community Superheroes’ category.
• No.1 Amazing Women Awards 2019: Our registered blind instructor, Yvette Robertson was runner-up in the category of ‘Amazing Charitable Contribution’.
• North Ayrshire Health & Social Care Partnership’s Staff Awards 2018: Our charity reached the final of these awards in the same two categories as we did in 2017 – ‘Innovative Team’ and ‘Partnership Champions’.
• West FM’s Cream of Ayrshire Award 2018: Volunteer instructor Norma Baillie was a runner-up in the ‘Unsung Hero’ category for her work teaching people with low or no vision, promoting our Personal Safety courses for people who are Blind or Visually Impaired, and for her work in the field of rehabilitation with her company, PrioritEyes.
• National Diversity Awards 2018: Alan Bell reached the Liverpool final in the category of ‘Lifetime Achievement‘ award for championing diversity for all and developing his diverse Personal Safety courses and charity.
• North Ayrshire Health & Social Care Partnership’s Staff Awards 2017: Our charity reached the final of these awards in 2 categories – ‘Innovative Team’ (a creative team that implements innovative ideas) and ‘Partnership Champions‘ (a great team with great results). Our charity received a “Highly Commended” certificate in the ‘Partnership Champions’ category.
• West FM’s Cream of Ayrshire Award 2017: Runner-Up, ‘Best Local Charity’ category.
• RNIB Vision Pioneer Awards 2017: Alan Bell was a Finalist in the ‘Teacher of the Year’ category.
• Provost’s Civic Pride Awards 2017: Our charity was a Finalist in the ‘North Ayrshire Community Group of the Year‘ category.
• The British Quality Foundation’s UK ‘Excellence Awards’ 2017: Our charity reached the London final of these awards in the category of ‘Equality and Diversity Excellence’.
Back to top