Responsible Business
We are more than just a business. What we do makes a difference to individuals, to families, and to society.
We take pride in helping people realise their dreams.
We are committed to our employees’ wellbeing, creating an environment where they can bring their whole selves to work.
We commit to act responsibly in all of our business practices, ensuring we are fair and transparent throughout the value chain.
We seek to make a positive impact in our communities, in society and on the environment.
To bring about change, we need to concentrate our efforts in areas where we can make the biggest difference. That may often mean joining forces with others.
We’re committing to making a difference and joining forces with others across five important themes:
Being a responsible business -The Good Business Charter
Being a sustainable business
Being a diverse and inclusive business
Promoting wellbeing
Building better communities
We will take action in these key areas in everything we do for our clients, employees, the businesses we work with, the communities in which we work, and the environment.
What action are we taking?
The Good Business Charter
In August 2021, we signed The Good Business Charter (GBC) and received accreditation. The Charter measures behaviour over 10 components: real living wage, fairer hours and contracts, employee well-being, employee representation, diversity and inclusion, environmental responsibility, paying fair tax, commitment to customers, ethical sourcing, and prompt payment.
An organisation must meet all 10 commitments to receive accreditation and is focused on encouraging responsible business behaviour and publicly acknowledging those organisations who exhibit such behaviour.
Sustainable business and climate change
In 2015, the United Nations Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted by 196 Parties at 21st UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris.
More recently, in 2019, the UK set a target to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
Now, all eyes will be on COP 26 in Glasgow on 31 October – 12 November 2021.
Climate change is one of, if not the most, important issue of our time. We are determined to play our part to tackle global warming and the impact it is having on our planet and its inhabitants.
We're currently working on an exciting agenda that ensures that we can take action on climate change and other environmental issues on behalf of all of our stakeholders.
Watch this space!
Employee wellbeing and mental health
We're an organisation willing to take the lead in social change through speaking openly about mental health.
Our colleagues wellbeing is so important to us, and even more pertinent this year, given the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.
We prioritise wellbeing to create a culture where everyone thrives and feels happy at work. This includes partnering with 'Time to Talk' to end the stigma around mental health in the workplace and signing the InsideOut Charter, which is committed to driving the agenda at the Leadership level.
We provide colleagues access to resources such as the Headspace app. We've also partnered with TLC lions, who use the power of storytelling to start a conversation about issues that impact our wellbeing and mental health.
Financial wellbeing and education
We also want to create a better, happier society and we can do that by sharing our financial knowledge to help people aim to make their money work for them, so they can reach their life goals. That's why we champion financial wellbeing and education.
Our annual Money and Mind Report, allows people to understand how their day-to-day finances could impact on their wellbeing and stress levels.
We've also partnered with Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh to produce our 'On the Money' podcast which aims to help students get to grips with their finances from an early age.
Diversity and inclusion
We want to build an inclusive and diverse workforce, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work.
Here are just a few of the great diversity and inclusion initiatives we have got involved in so far:
We've signed up to the 'We are Change' initiative, helping to bring more diversity in through newly trained advisers.
We are a part of the #10000BlackInterns programme.
We're training the next generation of advisers, ensuring 50% of our Adviser Academy intake are women.
We have set up a number of engaging D&I employee networks who all seek to drive change for the causes that they are passionate about.
We've partnered with 'Women in Finance' for their Accelerating Change Together programme. A piece of research that helps us to bring about better gender equality in the financial services industry.
Community and charity
We want to make a difference in the communities we work in and that's why we champion volunteering and charitable initiatives that are close to our hearts.
This year, our colleagues charity of choice has been Alzheimer's Research UK and we've raised over £50,000 for them.
We also run a number of volunteering and matching schemes and sponsor local community teams and initiatives.
To centralise all of the great work we already do in this space, next year we will be launching the SPW Charitable Foundation.
Our partners
Good Business Charter
The Good Business Charter is an initiative of the Good Business Foundation, a charity registered in England and Wales.
We are Change - The Verve Foundation
The Verve Group want to keep pushing financial services forward, helping develop it into a profession, understood and acknowledged by other professional services.
10000BlackInterns
10,000 Black Interns seeks to offer 2,000 internships each year for five consecutive years across 24 sectors and more than 700 companies.
Living Wage Foundation
The Living Wage Foundation celebrate and recognise the leadership of responsible employers who choose to go further and pay a real Living Wage based on the cost of living, not just the government minimum.
Prompt Payment Code
The Prompt Payment Code is a voluntary code of practice for businesses, administered by the Office of the Small Business Commissioner on behalf of BEIS.