The EFQM Recognised for Excellence Levels 4 & 5 can be attained by organisations that wish to build on their achievement of the Business Excellence Award. These organisations must demonstrate that improvements were consistently achieved and sustained over a number of years through a process of target setting, benchmarking and performance monitoring.

They develop effective partnerships with other organisations and stakeholders based on mutual trust, respect and openness. This enables them to achieve common goals by sharing their combined knowledge and expertise.

Organisations operating at this level of excellence adopt a highly ethical and responsible approach to running their business and they achieve an acceptable balance between the commercial, social and legal demands of the business.