JUST GROUP PLC Annual Report and Accounts 2021
NON-FINANCIAL INFORMATION STATEMENT CONTINUED
MATERIAL AREA OF IMPACT POLICIES
POLICY DESCRIPTIONS
• Volunteering • Charity partners • Local community engagement
• Group charity and community policy
• Group charity and community policy: defines the minimum standards for managing opportunities and risks relating to the conduct of charitable and community activities as part of the Group’s overall approach to sustainability to support the achievement of our purpose. • Group procurement and outsourcing policy: see “environmental” above. • Modern Slavery Statement: sets out our policies and processes to combat modern slavery in all its forms. • Group data protection policy: sets out a framework of high level controls and processes to enable the Group to safeguard personal data and manage the risks of processing personal data to comply with regulatory requirements. • Group vulnerable customer policy: defines our approach to ensuring vulnerable customers receive consistently fair treatment across our Group and experience outcomes as good as those of other customers. • Group financial crime policy: sets high level standards for the Group and colleagues to meet to manage the risks from financial crime. All colleagues are trained to understand what constitutes financial crime, the regulatory requirements and their obligations. • Group compliance policy: sets out the Group’s approach to ensuring that it operates in compliance with the relevant laws and regulations. • Gifts and hospitality procedure: sets out rules and guidance for all to follow to ensure that no undue influence has been applied to an external organisation or anyone else dealing with the Company, and that the Company has not applied any undue influence or is perceived to have unduly influenced a business decision. • Group whistleblowing policy: see “colleagues” above.
3. SOCIAL
• Data protection • Modern slavery • Impact of our products and services on vulnerable customers
• Group procurement and outsourcing policy • Modern Slavery Statement • Group data protection policy • Group vulnerable customer policy
4. HUMAN RIGHTS
• Preventing corruption or bribery from happening to, by or on behalf of Just
• Group financial crime policy • Group compliance policy • Gifts and hospitality procedure • Group whistleblowing policy
5. ANTI-CORRUPTION AND ANTI-BRIBERY
THE OUTCOME OF OUR POLICIES ON OUR MATERIAL AREAS OF IMPACT
1. ENVIRONMENT • The direct impact of our operations on the environment is relatively low due to the hybrid ways of working from the office and at home. The Group is UK based with a small operation in South Africa. During the year we set clear and measurable sustainability targets for the Group’s operations to be net zero by 2025 and its investments and supply chain to be net zero by 2050, with a reduction of 50% by 2030 in line with the ABI’s climate change roadmap. During the year, the Group reduced our office footprint in support of the goal. We also introduced to colleagues Pawprint, our new sustainability partner and eco companion. Pawprint is an app which will help us make more climate-friendly choices, and assist in allowing us to measure, better understand and reduce our carbon footprint at work. • During the year, the Group progressed its modern ways of working programme with all colleagues able to work from home for part of the week. We will continue to develop our ways of working. • We are committed to promoting good corporate environmental practice and have ISO 14001:2015 certification. • The Group continued to invest the proceeds of the Green bond in eligible green projects. Further information can be found on pages 20 to 21. The Group also issued new RT1 capital which was designated sustainable and it has committed to invest the proceeds in sustainable investments. Information about the Green and sustainable bonds, and the investments that the proceeds can be invested in can be found on our website. • Information about our Investment team and their sustainable investment strategy and framework is included on pages 20 to 21. • Information on Just’s sustainability pillars including the steps we are taking to leave a responsible footprint is set out in our Sustainability and the environment report on pages 18 to 19.
2. COLLEAGUES • Building our organisational resilience, strengthening our talent and capabilities, and ensuring colleagues feel proud to work at Just is a key strategic priority for us. • The Group has broadened its diversity and inclusion strategy in five areas: increasing diverse representation, particularly at senior levels; strengthening leadership focus and accountability for diversity and inclusion; ensuring all groups have equal opportunity for progression and development; educating on bias and developing an inclusive culture; and fostering belonging through supporting people to be themselves. The Board sponsor for diversity and inclusion is the Group Chief Executive Officer. • There is an active programme to improve Board diversity in accordance with the Board diversity policy. Further information on this policy and the steps taken to improve Board diversity can be found in the Nomination and Governance Committee report on pages 81 to 83. • Gender diversity across senior roles has increased by three percentage points to 27% and we remain on track to achieve our pledge as a signatory to the Women in Finance Charter that 33% of senior leaders will be female by 2023. As a signatory to the Race at Work Charter, we have committed to increasing the percentage of senior leaders from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic background to 15% by 2024, in line with the percentage in the broader UK population. We have also published our ethnicity pay gap report alongside our gender pay gap report.
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