A Jobcentre Plus official who helped a homeless person with a complex genetic disorder was one of the winners at last week’s annual Civil Service Diversity & Equality Awards, co-organised by the Cabinet Office and Civil Service World’s publisher Dods.

Antonina Robinson, a homelessness liaison officer in Birmingham, lifted the Inspiration award at a ceremony at London’s City Hall. Other winners came from the Department for Transport (DfT), the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, the British High Commission in Islamabad, the Identity and Passport Service and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

The DWP ‘Move on’ team in Glasgow won the Improvement award for work with refugee customers of Jobcentre Plus, while the Innovation title went to a team at the British High Commission in Islamabad working to reduce the number of British citizens forced into marriage.

A DfT team which developed a low-cost disabled access ramp at a Cumbrian train station – the ‘Harrington Hump’ – won the Delivery of Customer Service award; there are plans to trial the facility at other stations in the north of England.

The ceremony was attended by equalities minister Harriet Harman, who said the civil service is setting an example in promoting diversity and equality. Harman said equality and diversity are both “basic human rights” and important for the health of the economy. She commended the 500 award nominations from across government, saying they were “giving the civil service a good name”.

The minister picked out several winners for special mention, saying the Harrington Hump project is “a simple but innovative idea… I hope it will be pursued to make miles of our railways accessible to people.”

Also at the event, cabinet secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell said he’s “incredibly proud” of all the nominees: “You can’t believe how proud how I feel that every day civil servants are making a difference in their diverse ways, in diverse communities.”

He added that the crisis in the financial sector has proved the benefits of a diverse workforce. “A little bit less testosterone would have gone a long way,” he told the audience, to laughter.

Speaking afterwards to Civil Service World, Sir Gus explained the decision to merge the cabinet secretary’s award – previously part of the awards – into a separate diversity award at this month’s main Civil Service Awards. “It’s about mainstreaming it, saying that diversity and equality are a key part of the civil service,” he said. The two awards schemes would remain separate, he added – but the best diversity and equality winners would be lauded again at the broader awards ceremony.

Civil service diversity champion Sir Bill Jeffrey said the issue has been gaining traction in recent years, and that progress was reflected in the nominations: “There are very large numbers of really impressive things that could have won in their own right; that’s the main comfort I take from this,” he said.

To see the full list of winners, visit www.diversityandequalityawards.co.uk