L.E.A.D. IT announced as headline sponsor of Derby Inclusion INSET Day
L.E.A.D. IT Services Shortlisted for Impact Business of the Year 2026
Derby Impact Awards 2026
We’re thrilled to be shortlisted for Impact Business of the Year! It’s a proud moment for our Derby team, who spend their days keeping local schools running and their evenings, weekends and holidays giving back to the city’s children.
L.E.A.D. IT Services has been shortlisted for Impact Business of the Year at the Derby Impact Awards 2026, which celebrate the city’s leading social ventures and mission-led businesses.
The shortlisting recognises a year in which the business grew strongly while putting its success straight back into Derby’s schools and communities. In the last 12 months, our team provided at least £32,000 of free classroom technology, helped give 283 children a free holiday at Derby Kids’ Camp, created six apprenticeships and kept technology running in 47 schools across Greater Derby.
Lee Jepson, Founder and Director of IT at L.E.A.D. IT Services, said:
More than one in three children in our city grows up in poverty, and that shouldn’t decide what they get to learn, experience or become.
Being shortlisted is a real credit to our team. They keep technology working for hundreds of schools, then give up their evenings, weekends and holidays to set up Derby Kids’ Camp, run free tech clubs and cycle 106 miles for local children’s charities.
We’ve proved that a growing, commercially successful business can also be a force for good. Our profits go back into education and local charities, so when a school works with us, that money comes back to children and our community. That’s the kind of business I wanted to build, and it’s why we’ll keep doing more.
A Year of Impact
Our social enterprise culture supports the return of profits to education and local charities. Highlights from the last 12 months include:
Free Classroom Technology
43 bookings of our free VR headset and 3D printer library since January, worth at least £32,000 to schools, plus free weekly tech clubs in two schools.
Derby Kids' Camp
34 of our staff volunteered to help give 283 children a free holiday. Our team set up and took down the camp, provided free AV and ran a full week for 58 children.
Fundraising
21 staff took on a 106-mile bike ride and a 20-mile walk for Derby Kids' Camp and the Derbyshire Children's Holiday Centre. We also funded and served community meals for nearly 250 people at YMCA Derbyshire.
Apprenticeships
We offered six apprenticeships, and two apprentices have already completed and joined our team.
M.E.E.T. 2026
Our free Midlands EdTech Conference at Pride Park welcomed 219 school and trust leaders, our biggest yet.
Growth With Purpose
Turnover rose by more than 23%, we created five new jobs, and 95% of our school clients stay with us for five years or more.
Our work with Embark Federation shows what this looks like in practice. In a single year we moved all 29 Embark schools onto one secure system, replaced every staff and classroom device and upgraded Wi-Fi, working evenings, weekends and holidays so no child lost a lesson. At Aldercar High School, deaf pupils now plan and revisit their work with their teacher on a new interactive board, which teacher Jess Harding says “has had a huge impact on the teaching, learning and wider curriculum for our deaf children.”
What’s next?
The winners will be announced at the Derby Impact Awards ceremony on Thursday 10 November at The Museum on the Wardwick. We’d like to thank Social Ventures Partnership, the judges and everyone at the schools, trusts and charities we work alongside.
Most of all, thank you to our amazing team, whose time and generosity made this year possible!
About the Derby Impact Awards
The Derby Impact Awards are run by Social Ventures Partnership through its Derby Social Ventures Programme. They celebrate the businesses, charities and entrepreneurs linking enterprise with social impact in Derby. The awards launched in 2025, when more than 170 guests attended the first ceremony at Derby Museum and Art Gallery.
