We participate in the [ABI]’s Customer Impact programme and strongly support the [FSA]’s Treating Customers Fairly initiative – engendering a positive customer experience is one of our five strategic imperatives. This is at the heart of the work done by our Business Ethics Working Group. As our business becomes more international, we have adopted new standards more appropriate to a global market, notably signing up to the UN Declarations on Human Rights and against Corruption & Bribery.
Our suppliers are an important part of the Legal & General value chain. We continue to engage with them so as to better understand our collective impact on the environment, to help them make improvements and to challenge them to deliver ever higher standards. Carbon master classes held in November provided expertise and set expectations for their disclosure of carbon footprints in 2009. We see this as an important area: we have asked our suppliers to make or do something on our behalf and we are keen to understand and mitigate the impact their work has upon the environment.
We have reported on the success of our partnership with Unite, our trade union, in prior years. This relationship continues to play a significant role in the way we run our business and we continue to involve them through membership of our CSR Committee.
Supporting Employee Initiatives
Legal & General supports employees’ community and charitable initiatives. We facilitate and encourage tax-efficient payroll giving through the Give As You Earn (GAYE) scheme and this year increased matching levels from £20 to £25 per month. Fundraising and sponsorship efforts are also supported up to £750 per employee each year. Each of our major locations is able to allocate a part of the CSR budget to local initiatives which reflect employee preferences, while the Company’s Charity Committee supports a limited number of selected causes at a national level.