No,

You do not need to be a member of Pride in Health + Wellbeing to participate in the index, all organisations are encouraged to submit.

It is Free. 

There is no cost to participate. This National benchmarking and feedback service is provided free of charge to Australian health, human, and wellbeing service providers with the sole purpose being to measure, benchmark, and influence practice in LGBTQ-inclusive service provision.

The Pride in Health + Wellbeing Index (HWEI) follows a 3-yearly cycle of local index review and international benchmarking. Upon review, new criteria are set with the intention of advancing LGBTQ+ inclusion practice within Australian health and wellbeing service providers. Within each new iteration, there is an expectation that entry points into the respective tiers will change, and overall scores decrease.  This is a pattern we see with the release of every new iteration.  It is important that the expectations of submitting organisations take this into account when aiming for a particular tier within a new iteration.  It is important to note that the journey to maintain leading practice is not a 6-month journey; it’s a 3-year journey.  

It is also important to note that for the third iteration, the methodology of determining recognition for Bronze, Silver and Gold tier entry levels has changed. Entry points to each of these tiers in previous iterations have been determined by ranking the scores of all participating organisations and calculating the top consecutive percentages. This meant that, as practices improved or shifted, the entry points would change from year to year.

Starting with the 3^rd iteration of the HWEI, we will be introducing fixed entry points for each of the tiers making it easier to estimate, realistically, where your tier recognition may fall.

To achieve Bronze Tier Status within the HWEI Foundation Submission, all participating health and wellbeing service providers must obtain 70% of allocated points (35 out of 50 points).

To achieve Silver Tier Status within the HWEI Advanced Submission, all participating health and wellbeing service providers must obtain 40% of allocated points (40 out of 100 points).

To achieve Gold Tier Status within the HWEI Advanced Submission, all participating health and wellbeing service providers must obtain 60% of allocated points (60 out of 100 points).

Pride in Health + Wellbeing member organisations can now:

• submit their HWEI Foundation Submission in effort to obtain Bronze Tier Status at any time between 1 June – 1 December.
• submit their HWEI Advanced Submission during the annual submission period, January – February, annually.

Non-member organisations may submit within any HWEI submission period (January – February, annually).  Should non-members require fast track marking of their Foundation Submission, this is available on a fee-for-service basis.

If you obtain Bronze Tier Recognition based on the results of your AWEI Foundational Submission, you may opt to either:

• Complete an HWEI Advanced Submission in effort to obtain Silver of Gold Tier Recognition
• Maintain your Bronze status throughout the remainder of this iteration (until 2026)

If you obtain Bronze Tier Status within the Foundation Submission, you may maintain this throughout this iteration 2024 – 2027.

If you opt to then complete an Advanced Submission to obtain Silver or Gold Tier Status, this will need to be submitted annually.

Scores from historical HWEI submissions will not carry over this year, as we enter a new iteration.

If you don’t achieve Bronze Tier Recognition based on the results of your AWEI Foundation Submission, the following options are available:

• If you fast-track and submit between June – December: resubmit at any time following receiving your results
• If you submit in in January – February: you will receive your results along with all other participants at the annual Awards, and can resubmit within the following submission cycle.

Participating service providers will receive a report indicating full, partial or zero points for each question.

You will also be benchmarked against other participating organisations (all scores confidential) to enable you to see how you compare to other service providers. This will be provided to you as a PowerPoint presentation. You will receive a certificate of participation, a “tier” status in terms of overall score alongside an opportunity to be recognised within our Annual Australian Pride in Health + Wellbeing Awards. Information received can be fed directly into your inclusion action plans and your results data can be used to track progress year-on-year.

You will also receive a copy of any benchmarking publication/data produced.

Each year. 

Ideally annually; although there is no obligation for you to participate each year. If you do you will be able to measure your organisation’s inclusion journey year after year.

It will identify areas of strength (and weakness) that can help you plan your coming year’s activities.

Yes, you can.

You will still receive your scoresheet and benchmarking data. On the submission page, you can choose to be identified (organisation name only, not score) dependent upon the tier you reach (ranging from Participating Tier to Gold) or not at all (completely anonymous).

For those who wish to be identified, only your organisation name will be identified, not your score.

Even if you are starting your journey you will benefit from going through the HWEI.

You do not have to submit evidence for every section.

We will mark all the areas you complete. It is not an accreditation but a benchmark.

The Index allows you to demonstrate your year-on-year growth, and to focus on the areas most important to your organisation in that year.

The HWEI index acts as a health check on your Rainbow Tick readiness.

The HWEI covers many of the same areas of competence as the Rainbow Tick, so completing the HWEI is good preparation for a Rainbow Tick accreditation process, if this is your end goal.

The HWEI will also identify any areas of improvement for your organisation, allowing you to be thoroughly prepared before the audit. The HWEI also is a good way to gather your evidence in preparation for Rainbow Tick accreditation

Organisational results are released after the award announcements at the Australian Pride in Health + Wellbeing Awards event. At the awards event, the Service Provider of the Year is announced as well as the participation tiers achieved. Following the Awards, organisations are emailed their results pack as well as comparisons with other sector organisations. The benchmarking results are released just after the awards announcements.

Please contact your Relationship Manager if you are a Pride in Health + Wellbeing Member