Community investment
Our work puts us at the heart of local communities in the North West of England, where customers and employees live and work. Working in partnership with others means we can create better places, stronger communities, and accomplish more to address mutual issues together.
For example, we invest in community partnerships to tackle issues more effectively, to find new solutions to the challenges we face, and to access new funding streams, driving efficiency and a better overall outcome. We have signed two memoranda of understanding with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and The Rivers Trust – partners held in high esteem by local communities with a broad membership base, enhancing the credibility of what we do.
In 2023/24 we supported communities through direct community investment of £3.99 million (calculated using the B4SI method). This has been achieved through increased investment in environmental and community partnerships, delivery of education in schools, and the contribution of time volunteered by our colleagues across the business.
Our community investment breakdown:
How the investment was made
| Cash | Time | In kind | Management costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| £3,732,008 | £101,544 | £0 | £152,440 |
Type of support
| Charitable gifts | Community investment | Commercial initiatives |
|---|---|---|
| £338,281 | £2,918,067 | £577,204 |
Corporate Citizenship, a leading independent sustainability consultancy, has undertaken limited assurance of the 2023-2024 community investment data against the GRI Principles for Defining Report Quality. Our 2024 assurance statement is available here (165 KB PDF opens in new tab).