🏆 Michael Needham Wins National Award for Civil Contingencies and Resilience
We’re proud to share that Michael Needham, our Managing Director, has been named Winner of the Civil Contingencies and Resilience Award at the Inspire Justice Awards 2025, held this week in London.
The award recognises individuals who have made a significant impact in strengthening public safety, emergency preparedness, and operational resilience across the wider justice sector.
Michael’s nomination focused on his leadership in introducing government-funded training pathways into the events and spectator safety sector – most notably through the development of Skills Bootcamps in Close Protection and Event Safety Management, which had seldom been supported by public funding.
In addition, Michael spearheaded the introduction of our free-to-access CPD modules for the wider sector. These include training in hostile vehicle mitigation, invacuation and evacuation planning, and safe capacity calculations – all of which are now being used by senior leaders and the wider sector across stadiums, arenas, and public spaces to improve crowd safety and incident readiness.
“This award reflects the work of the whole team at NGTC and the employers we collaborate with every day. Our focus remains on equipping people with the skills they need to lead in high-pressure environments – whether that’s stewarding at a local football ground or managing major incidents in large venues,” said Michael.
Under Michael’s leadership, NGTC has supported the workforce development plans for major infrastructure projects with OFSTED recently rating NGTC’s personal development offer as Outstanding, with inspectors describing the curriculum as “mouthwatering”.
The Civil Contingencies and Resilience Award is supported by the HM Courts & Tribunals Service, HM Prison & Probation Service, and Police Oracle, and is delivered by SFJ Awards as part of their annual celebration of the wider justice workforce.