Key Points
- The Greater Manchester Mayor Bev Craig has confirmed that all the beneficiaries of the £2 billion Good Growth Fund must sign the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter.
- The mandate is part of a broader Good Growth Contract designed to ensure that public investment is used to provide local residents and communities with benefits.
- The funded entities will have to demonstrate commitment towards fair employment practices, skills, apprenticeships, procurement, sustainability and social value.
- The Good Employment Charter was created in 2019 and is now backed by over 2,500 employers.
- Over three million people in the UK work for companies that adhere to the principles of the Good Employment Charter, according to Public Sector Executive.
- The Good Growth Fund was unveiled in November 2025 and has awarded more than £1 billion worth of contracts in support of housing, transport and innovations initiatives.
- As recently as September 2026, Greater Manchester Combined Authority committed £163 million during the latest round of funding.
- The Good Growth Fund announcement took place as part of the Good Employment Week 2026, which runs between 5 and 9 October.
- Mayor Craig believes that public funds should be used to help responsible employers offer quality job opportunities to their workers.
Manchester (Manchester Mirror) October 07, 2026 — Organisations receiving money from Greater Manchester’s £2 billion Good Growth Fund will now be required to sign up to the city region’s Good Employment Charter, under a new policy announced by Greater Manchester Mayor Bev Craig.
The move connects public investment directly to employment standards. It means that organisations seeking support through the Good Growth Fund will need to demonstrate not only plans for economic growth, but also commitments to fair employment practices, skills development, apprenticeships, local supply chains, environmental responsibility and wider social value.
As reported by Dan Benn of Public Sector Executive, Mayor Craig unveiled the requirement at the launch of Good Employment Week 2026 as part of a broader Good Growth Contract. The contract is designed to ensure that public investment produces tangible benefits for local people, businesses and communities.
What does the new requirement mean?
The requirement applies to all organisations receiving funding from the £2 billion Good Growth Fund. Under the new framework, they must join the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter and align their projects with the city region’s ambitions for inclusive growth.
The Charter was established in 2019 to raise employment standards across Greater Manchester. It promotes fair pay, secure and flexible work, career progression opportunities and positive workplace cultures.
Public Sector Executive reported that the Charter has since expanded significantly and is now backed by more than 2,500 employers. It also stated that more than three million people across the UK work for organisations that have signed up, showing the Charter’s influence beyond Greater Manchester.
The new requirement strengthens the relationship between public funding and employment standards. It is intended to ensure that recipients of GMCA investment support the region’s wider goal of delivering growth that benefits residents as well as businesses.
How much funding is involved?
The Good Growth Fund was launched in November 2025. According to Public Sector Executive, it has already allocated more than £1 billion towards projects across housing, transport and innovation.
GMCA’s own website describes the fund as a rolling programme aligned to the Integrated Pipeline, with funding rounds generally held every six months and allocated in March and September.
In the most recent funding round, announced in September, £163 million was awarded to developments intended to support economic growth, infrastructure improvements and innovation across Greater Manchester.
As reported by Place North West, the £163 million allocation included £53 million in grant funding for transport projects, £25 million for innovation initiatives, and £70 million in grants and loans to help deliver 789 homes in Manchester.
Under the new framework, funded projects will also be expected to contribute to local employment opportunities, training initiatives and community benefits alongside their core delivery objectives.
What did Bev Craig say?
Mayor Bev Craig said the Good Growth Fund represented a new economic model for Greater Manchester. She said its purpose was to ensure that the benefits of growth are felt by people in their pockets, on their high streets and when they go out to work.
“When I became Mayor, I said that I would measure success by if people felt better off and more optimistic about their lives,” Mayor Craig said, as quoted by Public Sector Executive. “For too long people have felt that they aren’t feeling the benefits of a growing Greater Manchester economy in their pockets, but we’re changing that.”
She added that every penny of public money spent through the Good Growth Fund should go to responsible employers who share values of fairness, dignity and opportunity, and who support people into well-paid, secure jobs.
“By working in partnership with businesses and public sector employers through our Good Employment Charter, we can deliver a growing economy that works for everyone in Greater Manchester – through better pay, terms and conditions, security and the opportunity to thrive,” Mayor Craig said.
She concluded: “When we say we’re delivering good growth, this is what we mean.”
Why was the announcement made now?
The announcement was made during the launch of Good Employment Week 2026, which is running from 5 to 9 October. This year’s campaign focuses on workplace culture and its impact on employee wellbeing, organisational performance and workforce experience.
As reported by The Bolton News, the week is in its fourth year and brings together employers, employees and stakeholders from across Greater Manchester to discuss what good workplace culture means in practice.
The Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter’s official event page says the 2026 campaign asks people: “What does your Work Feel Like?” It invites residents to take part in an interactive word cloud by selecting words that describe their experience of work.
The initiative aims to create a live snapshot of how people across the city region describe their working lives. According to Public Sector Executive, it is intended to help employers better understand workforce sentiment and workplace culture trends.
How does the Good Growth Contract work?
The Good Growth Contract is designed to place conditions around public investment. It requires recipients to make commitments beyond the immediate delivery of a project.
GMCA previously set out that the contract would require recipients to create apprenticeships and T Level placements, become members of the Good Employment and Good Landlord Charters, include local suppliers in project delivery, and build developments to high low-carbon and environmental standards.
The latest announcement makes membership of the Good Employment Charter a requirement for all Good Growth Fund recipients. This extends the link between public funding and employment standards across the £2 billion programme.
The approach reflects Mayor Craig’s stated intention to use public investment to shape the kind of jobs and development supported in Greater Manchester. In a September address to the property industry reported by Place North West, she said the fund would ask organisations about the jobs they create, who those jobs are for, and whether they align with the city region’s values.
Background of the development
The Good Growth Fund was launched in November 2025 as Greater Manchester’s new approach to public investment. It is intended to use patient capital from devolved funds to leverage private capital for projects across housing, transport, regeneration, innovation and other sectors.
The fund forms part of a wider Good Growth Plan, which brings housing, transport, regeneration and employment investment together under a single place-based strategy.
In March 2026, Greater Manchester unveiled a further wave of Good Growth activity and said its plans were backed by the National Wealth Fund and Government. The authority said the Good Growth Contract would require recipients to commit to apprenticeships, T Level placements, Charter membership, local suppliers and high environmental standards.
The Good Employment Charter, launched in 2019, has become a central part of that approach. It now has more than 2,500 employer supporters, according to Public Sector Executive, and seeks to improve pay, security, flexibility, progression and workplace culture.
The latest announcement formalises the connection between the two initiatives: organisations that want access to the £2 billion Good Growth Fund must now commit to the employment standards promoted by the Charter.
Prediction: How will this affect Greater Manchester?
For employers and developers in Greater Manchester, the policy is likely to make Good Employment Charter membership a practical requirement for accessing major public-backed investment. Organisations bidding for Good Growth Fund support may need to prepare evidence of fair pay, secure contracts, training opportunities, apprenticeships, local supply-chain use and environmental commitments before funding is agreed.
For workers, the change could increase the importance placed on employment standards in publicly funded housing, transport and innovation projects. If recipients follow through on the Charter’s principles, the policy could support better pay, more secure work, career progression and improved workplace conditions across the city region.
For local businesses, the requirement may create opportunities for smaller suppliers to become part of publicly funded projects. At the same time, developers and contractors may face additional administrative and delivery requirements as they demonstrate compliance with the Good Growth Contract.
For Greater Manchester residents, the policy signals that the Combined Authority intends to measure the success of investment not only through construction, infrastructure or economic output, but also through the quality and accessibility of jobs created. The practical impact will depend on how consistently the requirements are applied, monitored and enforced across future funding rounds.
