This in from Southern Water, in their own words, Ed
Southern Water increased its score in Business In The Community’s (BITC) 2014 Corporate Responsibility Index to 90 per cent, beating the national and utility sector average of 85 per cent.
The index is a well-established, independent measure of corporate responsibility used by many leading companies.
The assessment looks at how responsibly the company carries out its business, including:
- Its work in managing its impact on the environment
- Its dealings with its customers, including those who are vulnerable, and with its suppliers
- How it manages its workforce
- How it gives something back to the communities it serves
Three/five stars
Southern Water’s score gave it a ranking of three stars out of five, in an overall result where no company scored five stars.
Stephen Howard, BITC Chief Executive, said:
“The 2014 CR Index shows us that companies are making real progress to integrate responsibility throughout their operations. I congratulate Southern Water for achieving a three star rating because it demonstrates a clear commitment to an integrated approach to being a responsible business.”
Geoff Loader, Southern Water’s Director of Communications, said:
“BITC has acknowledged it has made the assessment tougher this year, with average scores across all companies falling by five per cent. So to increase our score is an excellent achievement.”
The Carbon Trust Standard
This year Southern Water once again achieved the Carbon Trust Standard in recognition of its continued efforts to measure, manage and improve its carbon efficiency, gaining its highest-ever score in the assessment.
It also carried out its largest-ever engagement programme with 27,000 customers and stakeholders to get their views on where the company should focus its work on improving services and looking after the environment.
Help paying bills
It has also continued to help customers who might be struggling to pay their bills. Its work in this area reached an important landmark recently when its partnership with financial support service IncomeMAX to secure unclaimed benefits, tax credits and water bill support passed the £2 million mark.
Since 2010, the project linked to its metering programme has helped 1,690 customers to secure, on average, £1,183 each in benefits and tax credits they did not know they were entitled to.
Geoff added:
“The BITC measure looks at our corporate responsibility performance across all aspects of our business. We always strive to act responsibly, whether we are dealing with individual customers, working in our communities, managing our workforce or caring for the environment. This is a great endorsement of our efforts.”
Image: artbystevejohnson under CC BY 2.0
