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2021-06-30-accounts

BUSINESS INTHE COMMUNITY The Prince's Responsible Business Network Business in the Community ANNUAL REPORT 2020121 ROYAI. FOUNDIING PATRON

The Directors of Business in the Community (BITC) present their Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2021, which incorporates, within pages 5-47, a strategic report under the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities and Trustees Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and related regulations.

Company Registration Number 01619253

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CONTENTS

CONTENTS
2020 – 2021: ON REFLECTION,GAVIN PATTERSON, CHAIR 4
FOREWORD 5
INTRODUCING BUSINESS IN THE COMMUNITY 7
ENGAGING OUR MEMBERS 9
WORKING WITH OUR MEMBERS IN NORTHERN IRELAND 13
OUR STRATEGY AND ADVISORY SERVICES 16
NATIONAL BUSINESS RESPONSE NETWORK 20
BRINGING EVERYONE TOGETHER 23
OUR REGIONAL LEADERSHIP 26
BUILD BACK RESPONSIBLY 28
TACKLE INEQUALITY IN EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT AND COMMUNITIES 30
ACCELERATE ACTION ON DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION 33
PUT WELLBEING AT THE HEART OF BUSINESS PLANNING AND JOB DESIGN 37
RAPIDLY INCREASE EFFORTS TO TACKLE THE CLIMATE CRISIS
AND BUILD RESILIENCE FOR FUTURE SHOCKS 41
OUR FUTURE PLANS 44
OUR APPROACH TO RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS 45
FINANCE REVIEW 48
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT 55
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 59
GOVERNANCE 81

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2020 – 2021: ON REFLECTION GAVIN PATTERSON, CHAIR

My first year chairing Business in the Community (BITC) has coincided with a global pandemic, really putting into perspective, more than ever before, the importance of our mission. This time has given business an opportunity to rethink its role in society, its purpose and how it operates. The unique situation provided an opportunity for BITC to inspire business to build back better; to refuse to remain static or take a step back on societal and environmental issues, instead using this time to accelerate action.

During the challenging times, BITC’s ability to mobilise business in communities has shown itself to be an impressive force, particularly around the emergency response needed to support communities throughout the pandemic. From requesting, coordinating, and delivering donations from businesses, such as the 1.5 million bottles of hand sanitiser, the 10,000 sandwiches a week or the 410,000 items of clothing which were distributed to food banks and homeless shelters across the UK. Having this ability and power to be able to convene at scale should not be underestimated. It is through collective action that we have greater influence and achieve far wider-reaching impact. When you put this alongside a waning trust in institutions, businesses reacted and assumed responsibility. The all-important connection of business to community is essential to moving forward.

I wish to thank the BITC Board, Advisory Board, Leadership Teams, Regional and National Leadership Boards who have steered BITC on this path so far and all those who contribute to help building our movement. In particular, HRH The Prince of Wales and The Prince’s Responsible Business Ambassadors for all they do to advocate on our behalf. BITC as an organisation has never been more relevant than it is today, an organisation filled with trusted and credible experts, with an unrivalled power to convene. With businesses more active and engaged on the responsible business agenda, listening to their customers, employees, and the wider community, now is the time for meaningful, positive change.

Gavin Patterson

President and Chief Revenue Officer, Salesforce Chairman, Business in the Community

I have seen BITC step up as the voice of responsible business – a voice that has increased in importance despite the uncertainties. This is evident in the success of our campaigns and our increased engagement with businesses across the regions and nations. With nearly 90% of our members engaged in our campaign to Build Back Responsibly, a waiting list for our Responsible Business Tracker® and double the number of leaders on our Regional Leadership Boards. BITC is and will continue to be the beacon that will define the direction of responsible business in the UK, ensuring that no one is left behind after the pandemic and the years that follow.

As we grow the responsible business movement further, we have the opportunity to really cement the UK as a leader in responsible business. We will utilise the strength of collaborative business leadership, working together to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. With the weight of our network behind us, we have the ability to drive impact and make those goals a reality.

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FOREWORD

PROGRESS, GROWTH AND SUCCESS IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY

The unfolding of this past year has been extraordinary. Uncertainty has underpinned our lives as we have all tried to steady the ship. I must say that, in such times, I am extremely grateful to all those who work for and support Business in the Community (BITC).

These past 12 months might have been a time when we sank. Thankfully, due to the diligence and determination of our team, our renewed strategy, the cost savings, and the invaluable support from our members, this has not come to pass. We have been able to restore our reserves, grow our membership and increase our net promoter score. We have also designed measurement frameworks for our key programmes that will allow us to showcase our collective impact and lead the way on responsible business like never before.

In many ways, responsible business has come of age. 150 years ago, we had the very first companies – such as Cadbury and Lever – who understood doing well by doing good, albeit with a certain patriarchal leadership. This became what we now know as corporate social responsibility (CSR), which at the time was not seen as an intrinsic part of business.

We are seeing more companies realise there is long term value for both themselves and all of their communities if responsible business sits at their core and drives their business. This is evident in the evolution of CSR into environmental, social and governance (ESG), that many now see as key to building a business from the ground up. Our Responsible Business Map and Responsible Business Tracker were designed with this in mind. It also means businesses are widening their scope to look beyond the ‘E’ in Environmental, Social and Governance, to issues such as wellbeing and inequality. Testament to that is the 5.8 million employees now covered by our Race at Work Charter, on top of the exceptional demand we have seen for our diversity and inclusion services in the last 12 months.

I have no doubt the roots of ESG have had an impact worldwide and with BITC moving into its 40th year, we’ll be calling for a significant change in pace and ambition in order to drive our vision for the future. A future where business contributes to restoring the planet, benefits communities, guarantees everybody has an equal chance and is a place where employees can bring their whole self to work. A future everyone deserves.

BITC has been around for 40 years, during which time the involvement of businesses in communities has progressed and CSR has become more integrated within organisations. Nothing showcases this more than the extraordinary feat of our National Business Response Network (NBRN), which has supported 1.7 million beneficiaries since its inception. This itself is evolving and we are channelling a continued desire to help communities in need.

Thank you for all your support this year.

Amanda Mackenzie OBE Chief Executive Business in the Community

Over the last year, we also worked alongside businesses to help get more people into jobs. Through the Ban the Box campaign, more than one million roles have been opened to jobseekers with criminal convictions. We supported small businesses and built community resilience, setting up a taskforce and running support pilots in places such as Aberdeen, Newport and on the Fylde Coast. In essence, this is nothing new. BITC and its members have been levelling up in communities since day one, and we will continue to do so.

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INTRODUCING BUSINESS IN THE COMMUNITY

WHO WE ARE

We are the largest and longest established, business-led membership organisation dedicated to responsible business, founded by HRH The Prince of Wales 40 years ago.

WHAT WE OFFER

We provide expertise to measure and improve your impact in responsible business.

WHAT WE DO

We work with members to continually improve their responsible business practice, leveraging the collective impact for the benefit of communities.

OUR VISION

We want the UK to lead the world in responsible business.

OUR FOCUS

We grow the responsible business movement and collectively create a greater impact focused on:

WHAT WE ASK

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INTRODUCING BUSINESS IN THE COMMUNITY

WHY JOIN

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ENGAGING OUR MEMBERS

The more members we have, the better engaged and more connected they are with our areas of work. And the longer they stay with us, the greater the change and resulting long-term impact we can achieve together. With this in mind, our 2020-21 membership goals were to grow the size of the overall membership, and increase the retention rate driven by higher member satisfaction.

2020/21 GOALS

2020/21 PROGRESS

We aim to grow the responsible business network of members by bringing in new members, ensuring members stay in membership and constantly providing excellent value to our members so they are engaged. It should be noted that, as in 2019-20, this was affected by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Despite the tough external environment, in 2020-21 we achieved a net increase in membership of seven new members in England, Scotland and Wales, which is a remarkable achievement.

As shown by the progress in net membership, membership retention and member satisfaction, 2020-21 has been a significant year of progress towards our aim of growing the Responsible Business Network.

This success has been driven by:

We closed 2020-21 in a strong position, and our trajectory into 2021-22 continues to be positive. However, we need to achieve a step-change in membership numbers to realise our vision for the UK to lead the world in responsible business.

Against our goals, in 2020-21:

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WHAT OUR MEMBERS HAVE BEEN UP TO

LEGAL & GENERAL IS BUILDING SMALL BUSINESS SKILLS IN WALES

As a top 20 global asset manager and the UK’s largest provider of individual life assurance products, Legal & General has a clear purpose: To improve the lives of customers by building a better society for the long term, using its assets in an economically and socially useful way to benefit the communities it serves.

support webinars for local Newport businesses, and assisting local firms through tailored, one-to-one support sessions. These sessions provided a space where business owners could talk through their recovery ideas, and explore new approaches to their digital capabilities, business planning, and marketing.

As well as being a major global business, the business has a strong commitment to local UK communities. From its Cardiff offices, Legal & General has long supported the work of BITC in Wales, since becoming a member of the network in 2007. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it has proactively supported Welsh communities through the National Business Response Network (NBRN). As well as offering support and donations to organisations tackling the effects of the pandemic, it also encouraged staff to use their skills to support the resilience of small businesses.

Staff played a prominent role in piloting an SME support programme in Newport, South Wales, promoting and managing a series of small business

Now is the time for larger businesses to extend support to the thousands of diverse and dynamic SMEs, and the millions of people they employ. We have all faced some incredibly tough challenges over the past year, and myself and my colleagues are incredibly motivated to share helpful skills, resources, and advice with communities in Wales.

Lynne Sheehy, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Legal & General

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WHAT OUR MEMBERS HAVE BEEN UP TO

TSB USES ADVICE TO DO WHAT MATTERS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

TSB is a retail bank with a heritage stretching back to the start of the savings bank movement more than 200 years ago. Today, it is a fullservice bank with 7,000 employees serving over 5 million customers online and on their mobiles, over the phone, and across its branch network (the seventh largest in the UK).

TSB became a BITC member in 2019, but the relationship pre-dates this as the bank began working with BITC on its diversity and inclusion policies in 2016. This experience led TSB to decide to make use of BITC’s Environment Advisory Services, to help translate its ambition to reduce its environmental impact into a strategic plan with meaningful actions. BITC Environment Advisers supported TSB through expert led one-to-one meetings and by delivering workshops for senior staff – the first focused on helping TSB to develop public environmental commitments, and the second advising on strategy and governance.

This support helped shape TSB’s campaign to be net zero for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions –

encompassing fuel and utilities usage – and commit to be accredited by the Science Based Targets initiative to support its net zero strategy for Scope 3 emissions.

In 2020, the bank launched its first responsible business strategy – its ‘Do What Matters Plan’ – setting out relevant and meaningful actions and goals, and aligned to relevant national and international targets.

We were determined to deliver our sustainability ambitions. The one-to-one sessions and the workshops helped us to sharpen our thinking, understand tried and tested tools to land on meaningful and measurable actions, and to learn from other businesses.

Federika Coll, Responsible Business Manager, TSB

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WHAT OUR MEMBERS HAVE BEEN UP TO

CO-OP SUPPORTS FAIR WORK AND SAFER COMMUNITIES

The Co-op is one of the world’s largest consumer co-operatives, owned by millions of members. With over 2,500 stores and almost 70,000 employees across the country, it is the UK’s fifth largest food retailer. It is also the number one funeral services provider, and has major operations in insurance and legal services.

With its origins tracing back to 1844, the Co-op has a long history of conducting business with a social conscience, and is today a recognised leader for its support for and engagement with communities. Having joined BITC in 2011, the business has taken great strides in embedding responsible business principles and practices across its organisation. A significant aspect of this has involved Co-op bringing its longstanding values of fairness and inclusion to its approach to recruitment and retention.

In August 2020, Co-op formally signed up to Ban the Box, a campaign through which BITC calls on UK employers to give ex-offenders a fair chance to compete for jobs by removing the tick box from application forms and instead asking about criminal convictions later in the recruitment process.

The company recognises that by removing barriers to entry and providing greater access to employment for people with a history of criminal convictions, it can increase the likelihood of sustained rehabilitation, help to reduce reoffending and crime, and increase the economic wellbeing of the local communities it serves. This is all part of Co-op’s ambition to support safer and stronger communities for colleagues, customers, and members. Since adopting the principles of Ban the Box, the Co-op has reviewed its resourcing and screening processes to ensure inclusivity for the ex-offender community.

The Co-op has also built upon its organisational practice to make a direct difference by supporting targeted initiatives in partnership with the penal system. It has built a close working relationship with HMP East Sutton House in Kent to support people on Release on Temporary Licence into work both during and after their sentence.

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WORKING WITH OUR MEMBERS IN NORTHERN IRELAND

Throughout the past year, BITC’s Northern Ireland (BITCNI) membership has stabilised and is once again on a growth path, with 215 members, a retention rate of 96%, and a healthy pipeline to achieve its target of 220 members by the end of the 2021.

BITCNI continued to support member organisations through the process of achieving accreditation in CORE: The Standard for Responsible Business. A 95% renewal rate was achieved, and eight new companies entered the process of accreditation, which measures and benchmarks responsible business performance.

This year, two Northern Ireland companies – Translink and Belfast Harbour – obtained the highest level of CORE accreditation, achieving Platinum level.

In 2021, the annual Responsible Business Awards in Northern Ireland celebration event took place virtually, with a dedicated two-week programme of online activity in the run up to and following the event. A slick, one-hour,

live broadcast revealed winners in eleven categories, including Northern Ireland Responsible Company of the Year, which was awarded to Henry Brothers Ltd.

The Climate Action Pledge – a key part of the Business Action on Climate campaign – is gaining widespread attention. 25 businesses have already signed the Pledge, committing to either a 30% or 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (scope 1 and 2) by 2030, with further commitments to measure and report on scope 3. BITCNI is working with a healthy pipeline of businesses at various stages on their climate journey, encouraging them to sign the Climate Action Pledge as part of their race to net zero.

Businesses continued to support the National Business Response Network throughout the pandemic, with more than 700 matches made with the support of Northern Ireland members. One notable project, the NI Big Community Sew, successfully engaged businesses in supporting a community sewing initiative which provided 40,000 face coverings to the most vulnerable.

HIGHLIGHTS

Taking action on key issues

Creating a fairer opportunity for all

recruitment processes in relation to hiring people with criminal convictions. We worked with members to support them to prioritise employee wellbeing throughout the pandemic, introducing creative and innovative wellbeing initiatives and interventions with a whole-person approach.

Collaborating on climate

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WHAT OUR MEMBERS HAVE BEEN UP TO

DANSKE BANK – BANKING ON A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

Danske Bank UK has long had a strong focus on minimising the environmental impact of its operations and in championing action to address climate change in Northern Ireland. The Bank recently created the new role of Head of Sustainability and developed a new climate strategy.

This year, Danske Bank:

• Launched the UK’s first carbon neutral mortgage, certified by the Carbon Trust

• Became BITCNI’s Climate Champion for the financial services sector, actively challenging other businesses to take action on climate

• Became a climate-action pioneer as the first bank to sign the Climate Action Pledge

• Introduced the Climate Action Programme in partnership with BITCNI, delivering a structured series of workshops, training programmes, toolkits and advisory support on climate literacy, carbon foot-printing, mitigation strategies and target setting, to support its key customers to recognise and address their climate risks

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Business in the Community BITC Annual Report 2020/21

OUR STRATEGY AND ADVISORY SERVICES

We advise and engage our members through our advisory packages and bespoke consultancy work across the responsible business map to help our members ensure they drive positive change.

During FY 20/21:

ADVISORY SERVICES

Increased awareness and recognition of racial and gender inequalities led to a surge in demand for our inclusion advisory services. The agenda has been elevated to the highest levels of decision making and we are working with boards and executive teams on their role in driving equality, diversity and inclusion within their organisations, as well as seeing continued high demand for our training and facilitation products across all levels in member organisations.

The impact of COVID-19 on wellbeing has heightened the need for businesses to think about the support they provide for their people. Our offer in this space has evolved in response.

Our strategy and purpose, and community advisory work are also seeing high levels of demand as our members are navigating changing stakeholder expectations of the role business should play in addressing environmental and societal issues.

96

organisations had at least one champion advisory package

350

organisations had at least one light touch advisory package

132

organisations took out extra advisory support

Download Advisory Services brochure here

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WHAT OUR MEMBERS HAVE BEEN UP TO

UNUM MATERIALITY ASSESSMENT

Unum are one of the UK’s leading employee benefits providers offering financial protection through the workplace including Income Protection, Life Insurance, Critical Illness and Dental Cover. They listen to their customers to create the benefits and wellbeing support that matters most to employers, employees and their families. Unum is a subsidiary of Unum Group, a provider of employee benefits products and services in the United States, including group and individual disability insurance.

At the end of 2020, Unum protected 1.6 million people in the UK and paid claims of £360 million — representing almost £7 million a week in benefits to our customers — providing security and peace of mind to individuals and their families.

This involved extensive desk research on key trends and governance requirements, stakeholder mapping and various methods of engagement such as focus groups, interviews with senior leaders and employee and customer surveys. The results from this engagement were then used to create a materiality matrix, or list of priorities and recommendations for next steps.

These results were then presented to Unum’s UK Board which included a robust discussion with key decision makers on appetite for actions and potential timelines. BITC provided results and analysis of all the research and engagement along with recommendations for next steps resulting in the agreement of priority issues, sign-off on a new governance approach for responsible business in the UK and an agreed timeline for action.

THE ISSUE

Unum wanted to understand what Responsible Business issues were important to their internal and external stakeholders in the UK. However, Unum had never had the opportunity to engage directly with them about this topic. Unum wanted to identify those issues and prioritise the ones that would have a high impact, creating business and societal value to make the most difference.

WHAT THE COMPANY DID

Unum worked with BITC to conduct a materiality assessment for the UK business to figure out what issues were important to UK stakeholders and where Unum needed to take action.

We learned so much about what our own employees, customers and partners think about Responsible Business and how important it is to them. It was a learning curve and we had to take a lot of people on the journey. Becoming members of BITC has been extremely valuable.

Susan Saunderson, Senior Manager Corporate Sustainability and CSR, Unum

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OUR STRATEGY AND ADVISORY SERVICES

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION

We are continuing to evaluate and evolve our product offer to respond to member need and demand. Since 2019, 30 new products have been launched to support our members to improve on responsible business. A further 12 products are under development and will be launched FY20/21.

Our product evaluation survey enables us to track the impact of our work.

INSIGHTS AND ANALYTICS

We are focused on gathering insights on our members’ priorities through a number of digital tools to ensure that we maximise our engagement with them and ensure that we support them in delivering on all areas of responsible business.

We have ensured that we have developed robust evaluation frameworks and measures for key programmes, including NBRN and the Skills Exchange.

Following the completion of all submissions in 2021, we will be publishing a full insights report in May 2022 informed by this year’s Tracker data.

We continue to embed the Tracker as our core engagement tool and it has been a key feature in attracting new members. Following completion of the Tracker, our Relationship Managers work with members to develop an engagement plan, working on the key priority areas identified.

We have been working hard to improve the profile of the Tracker to increase uptake and showcase how the Tracker can support businesses to improve in different areas of RB and we are launching a Tracker Mark in October 2021 which will be awarded to all Tracker participants to show their commitment to responsible business. We have also established relationships with the Sustainable Markets Initiative and the World Benchmarking Alliance to further amplify the Tracker.

Feedback from participants has been positive:

OUR RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS TRACKER®

Our Responsible Business Tracker® has been updated this year, resulting in a more robust and structured performance measurement and improvement tool.

Key changes include:

4/5

likelihood to recommend the Tracker

4.2/5

respondents ranked the Tracker 4.2/5 for usefulness

Early analysis shows top 3 most material issues for members are still:

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NATIONAL BUSINESS RESPONSE NETWORK

BITC established the National Business Response Network (NBRN) in the week of the UK’s first COVID-19 lockdown. We launched a digital platform one week later to facilitate business offers of support reaching communities in need. Working collaboratively with other organisations responding to the pandemic, including FareShare, In Kind Direct, the National Emergencies Trust, CBI, and Voluntary and Community Sector Emergency Partnership (VCS EP), we galvanised the responsible business network to respond. This was made possible thanks to the support of our Founding Partners – AXA UK, the COVID-19 Support Fund and London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) – and our supporters – the National Lottery Community Fund, Barclays, UPS, the Assurant Foundation, and platform funders Nominet.

recovery locally, regionally and nationally.

We set out the ambition for one third of BITC members to be actively supporting their communities through the NBRN and BITC’s wider community programmes, and to secure continuation funding for the Network.

Across the year, this ambition was achieved to engage one third of BITC members, with particular peaks of engagement in Q1 (July to September) and Q3 (January to March), correlating with impactful periods of lockdown during the initial period, and over the winter months.

TESTIMONIALS

In our 2020-2021 business plan, we set out to build on the success of the NBRN to develop a coordinated approach to BITC’s work in communities. By focusing on long-term, sustainable recovery and future resilience, and taking a needs-led, whole-systems approach, the Network can help us address the issues that are preventing growth and

The NBRN captured the public imagination, and saw endorsements from celebrities like Ruby Wax, charities such as FareShare and our Royal Founding Patron HRH The Prince of Wales.

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

Key achievements across the UK include:

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NATIONAL BUSINESS RESPONSE NETWORK

FUTURE PLANS

With a refreshed approach to activation in emergencies, and our operational response codified, the NBRN is ready to respond to future emergencies which may arise. Over the year ahead, we will be transitioning away from our emergency response vehicle (the National Business Response Network) towards a longer-term proposition which helps to tackle key social and environmental challenges facing the UK in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

SUCCESS STORIES

Essential training to deliver vital food packages

Technology to aid home-schooling

John Lewis donation to help offenders

Virgin Media supports education projects with unwanted tech

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BRINGING EVERYONE TOGETHER

BITC’s Place Programme is about bringing everyone together in a place to act collaboratively on long-term goals, based on a common agreement of the challenges, opportunities and solutions. It is also about drawing on the strengths of everyone in that community – whether they are a business, a community organisation or from the public sector.

Last year, we set out to achieve three things through our Place programme:

2020/21 PROGRESS

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SUCCESS STORIES

Coventry Food Network (CFN)

Blackpool’s digital vision

Key highlights include:

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OUR REGIONAL LEADERSHIP

OUR REGIONAL LEADERSHIP

WALES LEADERSHIP BOARD

Over the past 12 months, good progress has been made in Wales with Board, membership and programme engagement. Peter Perry, CEO of Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, has joined the Wales Leadership Board as Chair, supporting the growth of the Board to 18 active and engaged members, from a range of sectors and sizes, and including the Senedd Cymru (the Welsh Parliament).

Our Welsh members have been retained despite the challenges of the last year and we are starting to attract new members too, as Wales sees significant growth in sectors such as fintech and the creative industries

and charitable partners to deliver essential items such as food, technology and clothing to community organisations across Scotland who deal with the most vulnerable communities.

In October 2020, we supported Aberdeen City Council’s Community Planning Department with its Responsible Business event, with sessions on securing the future for our children and young people, and nurturing our local communities. In May 2021, our latest webinar explored how diverse Scotland’s workforce really is – and how everyone can benefit from an inclusive workforce.

ENGLAND LEADERSHIP BOARD

We have continued to invest in our relationship with the Welsh Government, resulting in further funding to deliver responsible business support beyond the immediate network in Wales, with a particular focus on supporting the foundational economy and Welsh SMEs.

Throughout the past year, we have participated in two successful pilots:

We have also cemented our relationships across the voluntary sector and with our key stakeholders, such as the Welsh Council for Voluntary Action, the Future Generations Office, and Natural Resources Wales.

We continue to be focused on embedding BITC Cymru into the Welsh business infrastructure, so that when people think about responsible business in Wales, they think of us.

SCOTLAND LEADERSHIP BOARD

At the start of 2021, Alison Rose, Chief Executive of NatWest Group, joined as the new Chair of the Scotland Leadership board. With her leadership, Scotland now has a clear focus on climate action and developing best ways to support organisations through their climate journeys, as well as inclusion and food security.

In partnership with The Prince’s Foundation, we recruited a Project Manager for the Making Food Go Further project, driving action through collaboration with key stakeholders from industry, retail and food producers to prevent food waste.

Over the past 12 months, our nine England Leadership Boards have grown from 110 to over 200 members. We have welcomed three new Chairs who also serve as HRH Ambassadors: Chris Reeve, Regional Chair for PWC to our London Board; Owen Marks, Head of Rare Diseases for Pfizer to our South East Board; and Heather Cooper in the South West.

The Boards are working on key regional priorities that align to our national campaigns. Activities include convening regional businesses and partners to network and learn from one another; leading practical collaborative action; advocating for and participating in our national campaigns and programmes; contributing to the National Business Response Network; and supporting our Placebased work.

The strong leadership provided through our Boards is strengthening our regional relevance as a convenor and a powerful network able to translate ideas into action. Our Board members are actively working with us to grow our network of members in each region, and we are developing strong relationships with local government and elected officials across the country.

To harness this momentum, we have recently formed a new Community Leadership Board. Co-chaired by Dame Vivian Hunt, Senior Partner, UK and Ireland, McKinsey & Company and Steve Rowe, Chief Executive Officer, Marks and Spencer, the Board brings together the Chairs of our Regional and Nation Boards, Place and SME Taskforces and aims to drive action at pace and scale through crosssector collaboration, and finding and replicating innovative solutions to enable long-term recovery.

Since the launch of the National Business Response Network, we have worked as a key partner with NatWest

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BUILD BACK RESPONSIBLY

We undertook research and consultation with more than 600 people from BITC member companies and our wider network to identify and capture insights and learnings as they responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. We used these to identify key opportunities for responsible business and to reassess priorities for BITC. We published these in the Time to Fix Up report providing both a snapshot in time and a to-do list for the future. We have shared these learnings through events, presentations and meetings with our network and partner organisations.

We delivered and disseminated the Time to Fix Up report, in association with Direct Line Group and supported by Linklaters, providing learnings and priorities for businesses to Build Back Responsibly.

We used these findings to clarify BITC’s 5 priorities for business action to build back responsibly:

RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS TO BE BIGGER, BOLDER AND FASTER

Priorities to deliver in 2021/22

BITC is working with businesses to accelerate the pace and scale of action to deliver against the United Nations (UN) Global Goals, also known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

We inspire, engage and challenge businesses to be purpose-driven, taking practical action and mobilising their collective strength to deliver against the Global Goals. Rather than philanthropy, we are focused on how companies can bring about structural and lasting social, environmental and economic changes by running their businesses responsibly.

In 2015, the UN SDGs were adopted by the 193 Member States in a bid to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all by 2030. While business engagement with the Global Goals is imperative for the wider world, it also opens business market opportunities, while finding shared value for communities and environments.

Key deliverables from 2020/21

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TACKLE INEQUALITY IN EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT AND COMMUNITIES

The beginning of the last year saw record levels of redundancies as industries such as hospitality, retail and culture felt the full effects of lockdown. Existing divides in society have been exposed and accentuated, as unemployment and financial hardship have fallen disproportionately on those already disadvantaged in the labour market, including young people, older workers, and Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse people.

While the labour market has started picking up in recent months, the benefits of that are not being experienced evenly across society.

As we look to the year ahead with hope for better things to come, there is no escaping the fact that it will continue to be difficult for many, as progress made prior to the pandemic has now been put into reverse. A trend that is clear within education is that, at the end of Summer 2020, disadvantaged children had lost an average of three months of learning, putting them 18 months behind their peers.[1]

Priorities to deliver in 2021/22

Our ambition is to ensure that no one is left behind, demonstrating how through business action we can ensure everyone, regardless of their background or experience, can access the education, employment and skills they need to thrive throughout their working lives.

Key deliverables from 2020/21

[1] Education Policy Institute (2020).

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TACKLE INEQUALITY IN EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT AND COMMUNITIES

SUCCESS STORIES

Asda Bans the Box

Boots is an essential skills trailblazer

In November 2020, we reached our milestone of making one million jobs available to people with criminal convictions when Asda became a signatory to the campaign, joining the other 148 businesses who had already banned the box.

BITC has supported Asda since 2019 to explore how the business could Ban the Box, engaging senior HR practitioners in events and webinars, making an introduction to an HR leader in another retailer who could share their experiences, and providing one-to-one support as the company accelerated its progress towards signing up to the campaign during a high-volume recruitment drive in 2020.

BITC introduced Boots to the Skills Builder Universal Framework through the company’s participation in our Future Skills and Good Work Taskforce. Provided with the opportunity to be a pioneer in the development and adoption of this universal framework, Boots took part in a bespoke workshop with BITC in 2020, becoming one of the first Essential Skills trailblazers.

Boots have since adopted the Skills Builder Universal Framework to make its recruitment journey simpler, easier, and quicker. Using simple language from the Framework about the essential skills required for a role, Boots has updated its Early Career Programme job adverts, interview packs for candidates and hiring managers, and adapted the language used when offering hints and tips for interviews

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ACCELERATE ACTION ON DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

The issues we campaign on drives thought leadership and content across the diversity and inclusion (D&I) agenda. We want every UK employee to feel included at work, like they belong, have a voice, are valued and can be their true selves everyday.

GENDER

COVID-19 risks have intensified an already unjust situation. When it comes to the working world, women across the UK typically earn less, have less power, work in more insecure jobs, and may face gender based sexual harassment and discrimination. This is not only detrimental for individuals but also impacts on businesses’ ability to thrive.

in the form of unintended ‘ microaggressions ’. This has

Failing to fully embrace the talents and experience women – over half the population – have to offer costs money. Research has shown that organisations with more diverse leadership are more profitable. According to World Bank estimates, the global economy could grow by an estimated $160 trillion were we to pay men and women equally.[2]

RACE

The death of George Floyd and the resulting, peaceful, anti-racism protests in the UK and US have had a profound impact. We heard business leaders reflect honestly that they were overwhelmed by the impact of his murder on their workforce and humbled by how little they had previously understood the lived experience of Black colleagues.

We have no option but to acknowledge that racism persists in UK workplaces, and we must be relentless in the pursuit of race equality. Currently, race equality in the UK would potentially bring a £24 billion annual boost to the UK economy, yet only one in 16 people at senior levels in the private and public sector are from an ethnic minority background.

Key deliverables from 2020/21 GENDER

AGE

The UK workforce is changing, and we need to act now to unlock the opportunities of multi-generation teams. Over 50s already make up one in three workers, and by 2030 half of all adults will be over 50. Understanding the challenges and opportunities of an ageing population is vital if we all want to create productive, innovative and inclusive multi-generational teams as we all lead longer working lives.

RACE

2 Unrealized Potential: The High Cost of Gender Inequality in Earnings, World Bank (2018).

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ACCELERATE ACTION ON DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

AGE

Priorities to deliver in 2021/22 RESTRUCTURE RESPONSIBLY

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ACCELERATE ACTION ON DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

We’re focussed on attracting, developing, and retaining female talent, in order to deliver for our customers, communities and the environment. We entered the Times Top 50 to benchmark ourselves against other organisations, share best practice and receive feedback to help us prioritise our continuous improvement plan. The free application process was quick and easy to navigate. Having performance data and a gender quality plan will help other organisations compete the application. The judges were really impressed with our submission, and it was great for Team Thames to be recognised for the progress we’re making to achieve gender equality.

Thames Water

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PUT WELLBEING AT THE HEART OF BUSINESS PLANNING AND JOB DESIGN

When we are at work, we don’t expect to be physically injured and nor should we expect our mental health be negatively impacted. However, 41% of employees experience poor mental health that is work related with the leading causes being excessive pressure, workload and long hours.

The pandemic has changed the nature of where, when and how many of us work. We now have a once-in-alifetime opportunity to reimagine ways of working that transform mental health and wellbeing at work.

The purpose of BITC’s focus on ‘What if your job was good for you?’ is to drive employer actions that tackle the systemic root causes of work-related poor mental health and to transform wellbeing at work.

Key deliverables from 2020/21

Priorities to deliver in 2021/22

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WHAT OUR MEMBERS HAVE BEEN UP TO

ANGLIAN WATER SUPPORTING HEALTH AND WELLBEING EVERY DAY

Anglian Water supplies water and water recycling services to over six million people in the east of England and Hartlepool. The company’s award-winning wellbeing strategy was designed in alignment with BITC’s Workwell Model, which recommends that health and wellbeing should be embedded into organisational culture.

As COVID-19 spread throughout the UK, leading to more people spending time at home, the need for Anglian Water’s services to function has never been greater. In response to this, the business has been busy building on the success of its Wellbeing Strategy by developing responsive, innovative measures to support colleagues. In late 2020, the business launched a supplementary wellbeing calendar, in partnership with Vitality Health, focused on mental and physical wellbeing. The activities and resources highlighted by the calendar are informed by employee need, measured through regular data capture. There is something different available each day, from Mindful Mondays to HIIT Tuesdays, weekly yoga classes, articles, podcasts, and webinars, ensuring that colleagues can benefit no matter their abilities or interest.

Looking after wellbeing doesn’t only depend on making opportunities available, it also requires team members to understand and want to take advantage of things on offer. Anglian Water recognises the vital impact that flexibility and openness to different working needs can have on employee health and wellbeing. It has added extra options to its Employee Assistance Programme support package, including a Live Chat function, so that it can approach caring and schooling responsibilities with respect and sensitivity to different needs, and support employees with their homeworking setups.

Anglian Water has strengthened its leading-edge reputation for caring deeply for its employees physical, mental, financial and social health and wellbeing. The business has shown a cultural readiness to adapt to the pandemic by embedding everyday opportunities for wellbeing support for colleagues, which can be an inspiration for other members of The Prince’s Responsible Business Network.

Louise Aston, BITC Wellbeing Director

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WHAT OUR MEMBERS HAVE BEEN UP TO

ASSURANT’S WELLBEING CAMPAIGN

At the start of the pandemic, employees had been very engaged with wellbeing activities, and Assurant’s staff survey showed a positive response. The challenge was keeping up the level of engagement after the initial phase of lockdown.

BITC advisors worked with the practitioners at Assurant to address a number of issues identified. This included:

Assurant’s new branded wellbeing campaign – Boost – includes activities, resources and calls to action. The approach is structured and flexible, with branding that made it more engaging. It has been so well received by the HR Director that the approach is going to be embedded moving forward.

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Business in the Community BITC Annual Report 2020/21

RAPIDLY INCREASE EFFORTS TO TACKLE THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND BUILD RESILIENCE FOR FUTURE SHOCKS

The impacts of the climate crisis are already being felt by communities in the UK and across the world. If we do not act rapidly to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience, we are on track for disruption that could lead to the collapse of society as we know it. We have a small window in which to respond by putting in place measures to neutralise negative impacts and at least halving emissions by 2030. As a result, public, investor and government pressure is rising. Businesses who act now will prosper. Those that do not, may not survive.

In order to succeed we must think and act differently. Creating a circular economy so we make the best use of resources and eliminate waste; restoring the health of nature to draw down carbon and increase resilience and in cities and rural areas; upscaling renewable energy technologies; reinventing key systems such as transport and mobility and accelerating social and technological innovation; ensuring that we deliver a just transition that powers up social mobility and ensures nobody is left behind.

Key deliverables from 2020/21

Priorities to deliver in 2021/22

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RAPIDLY INCREASE EFFORTS TO TACKLE THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND BUILD RESILIENCE FOR FUTURE SHOCKS

SUCCESS STORIES

Helping TalkTalk to maximise its environmental impact

TalkTalk joined BITC in 2020 and worked with our advisory team to help develop an environmental policy and plan. By providing structure, templates, advice and guidance, BITC supported the company to build an overarching plan based on best-in-class practices, prioritising the most material issues.

By joining and chairing BITC’s Net Zero Carbon Taskforce, TalkTalk has collaborated with leading businesses on key issues, co-created resources and delivered events to maximise its impact across the business community. The partnership has enabled the business to learn more about the circular economy and how adopting circular principles can help tackle the climate crisis. For the first time, TalkTalk used environmental messaging in a campaign to show how returning broadband routers can reduce plastic use, cut carbon and slash waste, which is expected to strengthen relationships with customers.

CO-OP goes circular

The Co-operative Group wanted to explore the use of circular economy principles to extend the time needed between refits of their food retail stores. We supported the Co-op to run a circular procurement pilot at one of its stores in Kent as part of BITC’s Interreg ProCirc project. Working collaboratively with staff and the firm’s fit-out contractor, we developed a circular ambition for the project, identified specific opportunities for applying circular principles, and developed an approach to measure the circularity of the project.

The refit will be carried out in Q3 2021 and is expected to increase the amount of assets that are retained or refurbished, reduce new materials being used, and increase the time needed between future refits, resulting in fewer refits and further reduced future waste.

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OUR FUTURE PLANS

The focus of our work in 2019/20 proved particularly successful. Our National Business Response Network (NBRN) galvanised business support for communities throughout the UK, generating more than 5,000 extraordinary matches and improving the lives of more than 1.7 million beneficiaries

Nearly 90% of our members engaged with our campaign to Build Back Responsibly in critical areas of responsible business, particularly inclusion, employee wellbeing, employment and skills, community impact and climate action.

The coming year will see us focus our energy and resources in five principal endeavours

GROW THE MOVEMENT

Members are our agents of change. Our ability to drive societal and environmental change is dependent on us mobilising their individual and collective power as a force for good. Hence, we will be devoting increased energy in the years ahead to significantly growing the responsible business movement with businesses of every size to effect greater impact

Secure long-term partnerships for transformational change

We are focused on activating the power of businesses, leaders, government, think tanks, academia, community organisations, and local governments and councils to drive sustained positive impact in locations and communities, and on issues benefitting from a collective response, particularly in our four focus areas:

SUPPORT AND EMPOWER OUR PEOPLE

Central to our future success as an organisation and the delivering of our strategy is our people. We are privileged at BITC to work with colleagues who care passionately about our mission. We are committed to putting people at the heart of everything we do, ensuring that our colleagues love coming to work and have fulfilling careers, making BITC an employer of choice.

Our long-term ambition remains to realise our vision for the UK to lead the world in responsible business. To achieve this, our future focus continues to be devoted to three areas:

Putting people at the heart of our strategy is about much more than development plans and high performance. It is about having a culture of kindness, trust and respect. It is about ensuring we have the right resourcing model and skillsets to deliver our plan. And it is about all of our ways of working, every day. This is the only way we can achieve the incredible, long-lasting impact we seek.

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OUR APPROACH TO RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS

OUR APPROACH TO RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS

OUR 2020/21 GOALS

As an employer, BITC aims to make its vision of responsible business a reality by developing a sustainable, inclusive, and high performing workplace, while building trust, capability and skills for the future.

Our two critical goals in 2020 were:

These were overseen by our BITC Executive and, ultimately, the BITC Board.

personally keep colleagues up to date and aware of our plans and progress.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

In 2020, we launched our revised approach to performance management emphasising the importance of aligning personal objectives to our purpose and taking a simpler, less bureaucratic approach. We focused on having great conversations between colleagues and line managers that consider not only day-to-day deliverables but also colleague development and feedback, so that our people can grow in their roles. We also ran regular line manager sessions to focus on developing our leadership capabilities.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

OUR 2020/21 PROGRESS

LOOKING AFTER COLLEAGUE WELLBEING

We are proud of the passion, focus and flexibility all our colleagues have shown in this continued period of working virtually and remotely. As the impact of the pandemic continued to be felt it was critical that we continued to prioritise the wellbeing of our colleagues. We placed significant focus on guidance and support for all colleagues, but specifically line managers, giving them practical guidance on how to support the wellbeing of their team – from ensuring regular wellbeing conversations took place during lockdown to upskilling on mental health essentials.

We launched a new Employee Assistance Programme. We offered financial wellbeing guidance and supported flexible and hybrid ways of working to cover the specific challenges that COVID-19 brought.

We kept in touch with our colleagues through our regular team and organisational communication channels but also ensured we could respond and react quickly to the ever-changing advice to put in place extra support and briefing

Hearing the voices of our colleagues has been critical during this financial year, and we took on board colleague feedback for more opportunities to hear both individual and collective voice. In February we entered into a voluntary partnership arrangement with Community and have an Employee Forum of elected colleagues to hear and act on colleague feedback.

Despite the pandemic we have continued to develop our approach to truly being an inclusive employer, raising the bar on our diversity aspirations.

The demographics of the Board of Trustee Directors already meets the guidance of the Parker Review and the Advisory Board and was set up to provide independent, diverse, expert advice to the Chair. This Board was conceived with diversity in mind. It is no coincidence, therefore, that its make-up exceeds the guidance of both the Parker Review and the Hampton-Alexander Review.

We have set a challenging ethnicity target for ourselves to increase our ethnicity diversity to 25% Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse, achieving a minimum of 23% by the end of 2023.

We will also recruit a more ethnically diverse group of Trustee Directors, with the objective that at least 20% of the Board of Trustee Directors will be composed of Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse trustees by the end of 2023.

To further our inclusion agenda, we looked to ensure our recruitment and reward practices and practices were updated to ensure fairness and inclusivity. We also invested in a pilot of reciprocal mentoring for our Executive team with Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse colleges acting as mentors.

We also introduced other communication mechanisms, such as a digital suggestion box, and a refreshed series of bi-weekly webinars to give everyone consistency and transparency of messaging. It enabled Amanda to

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OUR APPROACH TO RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS

We continue to work closely with our employee networks and internal experts, Be Well (health and wellbeing), Cultural Awareness Network (CAN) (diversity and inclusion), UNITY (LGBTQIA+) and the Social Network.

As an employer, BITC is required to carry out Gender Pay Reporting under the Equality Act 2010. Our mean Gender Pay Gap for 2020 is 7%, a decrease of 1.2%.

The BITC ethnicity mean pay gap in 2020 was -1.5% .

Comparing all Black, Asian, Mixed Race, and other ethnically diverse female categories against all white female categories, we see that the mean pay gap at BITC is -5% . This means that our Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse female population are paid, on average, 5% more than our white female population.

2019 8.2% 2020 7.0%

We saw a minor increase of 0.4% in the median gender pay gap, to 1.2%. The very low median gender pay gap indicates that we still have an even distribution of men and women’salaries throughout the organisation at all levels.

2019 0.8% 2020 1.2%

It is our aim to maintain a gender pay gap as near to zero as we possibly can, but we acknowledge that in a small organisation, a relatively minor change to the workforce can have a disproportionate impact on the figures. We are determined to monitor our gender pay gap, and what drives it, so that we can address any gaps and ensure that men and women at BITC can progress equally.

Taking the same approach and comparing all Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse male categories against all white male categories, our male ethnicity mean pay gap is 21% .

Whilst we see there is a large gap amongst Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse male employees and their white male employees at 21%, we need to acknowledge that we are working with tiny data sets.

We are striving hard to encourage and promote diversity and inclusion, such as working with our colleagues in the CAN to eliminate any bias in our recruitment process for roles, focusing on development, setting ourselves clear ethnicity targets, and looking at ways we can improve our attraction strategy to attract candidates from all communities.

There is currently no legal requirement to report on ethnicity pay gaps, but we believe that it is incredibly important to do so. As such, we have been encouraging other organisations to report and the Government to legislate this.

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FINANCE REVIEW

age 51

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FINANCE REVIEW

The principal reason for the increase of£531k in overall income in the year was the continued successful funding of the NBRN programme with an increase in funding of £2,162k. However partly offsetting this increase was a reduction in income due to the International Tourism Partnership's transfer of activities to the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance on the 30th September 2021 for which we had a reduction in revenue of £862k.

In the year we experienced changes in other income streams due to the increasing importance of the responsible business agenda to companies but also in part due to the change in the way we engage and work with our members. We saw growth in membership subscriptions of £227k to just over £4m, growth of £225k in advisory income especially around consultancy on the Race agenda and we saw an increase in income relating to Northern Ireland of £303k.

Offsetting these increases was a reduction in the funding of our delivery programmes of £237k as we have reduced the amount of physical delivery of our programmes due to lockdown and a reduction in our Leadership Team revenue of £419k due to the migration of the BERG and Place Leadership Teams from a paid activity to one where companies support specific activities. Finally, in FY2019/20 we recognised the income from the July 2019 Gala Dinner and with no equivalent event in July 2020 there was a fall in Sponsorship and ticket sales of £399k.

Gifts in Kind reduced by £393k to £905k for the year primarily because the charity received the benefit of fewer secondees in the year. We have not included in the financial accounts the considerable amount of support and donations to community groups given by our members through the NBRN programme.

Total expenditure decreased by £1,671k and amounted to £15.3m for the Financial Year 2020/21 (2019/20 £16.95m).

The main reasons for the decrease in expenditure were the reduction in costs relating to ITP of £864k, a reduction in expenses due to lockdown of £393k, the provision for redundancy costs of £447k charged in the previous year (related to the restructure initiated in June 2020) and a drop in costs related to Gift in Kind income of £393k.

On the 30[th ] September 2020, the activities and reserves of the International Tourism Partnership (ITP) were transferred to a new standalone charity: The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance. The transfer of restricted reserves as at 30[th ] September 2020 is treated as a cost on the statement of financial activities of £430k.

Business in the Community had one active subsidiary during the year supporting its activities, BITC Trading & Advisory Limited. This represents the trading arm of the organisation, with income generated through advertising and sponsorship activities. The company had income of £550k, which was a fall in the year of £162k, and generated a profit of £331k (2020: £473k). As in prior year all profits have been gift aided to the parent charity.

All BITC's income, including members' contributions, is used solely to finance expenses incurred in connection with its mission.

The positive movement in unrestricted funds of £953k (2020: £1,541k decrease) represents an increase in free reserves available to support any part of the charitable undertakings of the company.

The net movement in the unspent restricted funds arises from the differences in timing between the recognition of the income and the incurring of the related expenditure. This year the restricted funds of £2,206k at 1 July 2020 increased by £720k (2020: £1,011k increase) to £2,926k at 30 June 2021. The largest reason for this increase is the level of funding the company has received due to the COVID-19 response and its NBRN initiative. This will continue to be deployed in FY21/22.

The endowment funds connected with the development of the BEAM project reduced by £20k to £363k (2020: £19k decrease to £383k).

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Fundraising policy

Business in The Community is committed to its charitable aim of building healthy communities with successful business at their heart and raises funds in order to carry out our campaigns and programmes.

Business in The Community complies with UK law and Charity Commission regulations. We concur with the Fundraising Regulator's Promise that fundraising should be open, honest and legal.

Business in The Community does not raise money to pay for its activities from members of the public. The source of the charity's funds come from Business in The Community's business members, the public sector, and charitable foundations that we collaborate with.

Risk policy

The Board is responsible for the management of the risks faced by the charity and the group.

A risk management process is in place and continues to be refined and enhanced with the assistance of the Finance & Risk Committee and the Audit Committee.

Through this risk management process, the Directors have identified the key risks to which the company is exposed and the actions in place to address them.

The period since March 2020 has seen the impact of COVID-19 and the resulting lock down seriously affect the charity. The charity through its Business Continuity Group was able to focus the organisation to resolve many of the issues that we had identified through our risk assessment that we would face. This included:

Ensuring that our staff were safe, and that we had cover for staff that were absent: We ensured we were able to identify cover for staff through a skills assessment to ensure we remained able to deliver in case of staff absence.

Ensuring that staff were able to operate from home during travel restrictions and the closure of our offices: We had already implemented many of the systems required to work from home. We successfully tested these systems before lockdown and have been able to operate remotely online.

Analysis of cashflow due to reduced expectation in income to remain viability. We continue to model cash projections based on reductions of income and determined mitigations. We advanced invoicing to ensure that cash continued to be received as needed.

Ensuring the charity was in a position to respond to the increased need that arose from the impact of COVID-19 and the lockdown on communities. We identified the opportunity that the charity could support local communities by matching companies and their available resources with organisations. In addition, we have focused our campaigning and member support on 'building back better'.

We continue to review these risks and ensure that we manage them as the risks change.

The other significant risks facing the charity are:

Key risks identified by our review Macro-economic uncertainties, in particular, Brexit could cause businesses to cut discretionary expenditure, causing a loss of members, or lower programme participation

Controls and mitigations

Control: relationship management working closely with members to highlight the relevance of BITC's activity and campaigns to current challenges.

Mitigations: widely diversified income streams. Longer­ term commitments.

BITC's purpose, programmes and services could become out of step with the needs of businesses causing a reduction in member numbers and income.

Control: regular review of company support including use of external references (satisfaction surveys and reference panels); competitor analysis; pipeline for recruitment and follow-up of any resignations.

Mitigations: boards and leadership team structure keeps BITC close to business-relevant issues. Changes . to membership engagement proposition. CEO-led review with current and former members.

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Equal Employment policy

We respect all individuals and are opposed to all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination on the grounds of ethnic origin, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, religion and belief, age, work pattern, family status and we build a culture that values meritocracy, openness, fairness and transparency. At BITC, this policy is applied to all processes relating to recruitment, employment and training and to any dealings with members and stakeholders.

Public Benefit

Our charity's purposes are set out in the objects contained in the company's memorandum of association.

We review our aims, objectives and activities each year to ensure that what we aim to achieve and what we have achieved remains focused on our stated purposes. We have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aim and objectives and in planning our future activities. In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives they have set.

Our main activities and who we try to help are described on pages 5 to 47. All our charitable activities are undertaken to further our charitable purposes for the public benefit.

Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

In the application of the charity's accounting policies, which are described in note 1, the Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and underlying assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an on-going basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods if the revision affects the current and future periods.

In the view of the Trustees, no assumptions concerning the future or estimation uncertainty affecting assets and liabilities at the balance sheet date are likely to result in a material adjustment to their carrying amounts in the next financial year.

Statement of directors' responsibilities

The Trustees (who are also the Directors of Business in the Community for purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Report of the Directors and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards).

Company law requires the Directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law, the Directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and the group, and of the incoming resources and the application of resources including income and expenditure of the charitable company and of the group for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Directors are required to:

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81 to 85

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INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS AND TRUSTEES OF BUSINESS IN THE COMMUNITY OPINION

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INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS AND TRUSTEES OF BUSINESS IN THE COMMUNITY OPINION

’

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INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS AND TRUSTEES OF BUSINESS IN THE COMMUNITY OPINION

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INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS AND TRUSTEES OF BUSINESS IN THE COMMUNITY OPINION

Crowe U.K. LLP

London

11 November 2021

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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

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As highlighted in the report of the Directors, an exercise assessing the charity’s financial position has been undertaken by modelling the result of charity’s plans for the foreseeable future, and then testing against this model a number of different scenarios representing the risks to which the charity is exposed. Based upon a review of these cash projections, the trustees are satisfied that cash levels are of an appropriate level and the charity holds enough free reserves to ensure that it can mitigate against the risks tested. it therefore remains appropriate to prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis.

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GOVERNANCE

DIRECTORS

The directors, who are the trustees, are elected by a decision of the Board. Directors are eligible for re-election every three years and are re-appointed to be a trustee by ordinary resolution of the members. A list of present directors and those who also served during the year is set out at the end of this report.

GOVERNANCE

The role of the Board of Trustee Directors is to determine the charity’s mission and purpose, while guarding its ethos and values, and ensuring that the charitable purposes as laid out in the constitution are upheld. The Board is responsible for ensuring that the charity complies with all legal and regulatory requirements and, wherever possible, upholds high standards of good governance. The Board ensures the provision of effective fiscal oversight an sound risk management, approves the Business Plan and annual financial statement and budget, and ensures that finances are handled in the best interests of the charity.

The Board has detailed terms of reference which were updated and approved in 2020. The Finance & Risk Committee is responsible for supervising the financial affairs of the charity and the Audit committee for compliance and policy. The Executive Team provides dayto-day management of the charity and monitors performance throughout the year. BITC has Advisory Boards in the nations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In addition, The Board has two Advisory Boards to help inform them and management: the Chairman’s Advisory Board of senior representatives from stakeholder bodies; and a Future Leaders Board of representatives from member companies. Both bodies work to support the Board and to ensure that we have a diverse set of voices putting forward their perspective on what corporate responsibility should mean in today’s society.

Incoming trustees receive an induction into the work of the charity and meet with the Chairman, Chief Executive, Company Secretary and Finance Director.

The Remuneration Committee of the Board is responsible for setting the annual pay review for sta�ff, after consideration of external benchmarking within the charity sector.

The full Board met four times in the year and:

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GOVERNANCE

The Finance & Risk Committee met five times in the year to:

The Audit Committee met three times in the reporting period to:

Work also took place with the members of the Board and the Committees outside of the formal meetings.

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GOVERNANCE

Royal Founding Patron HRH The Prince of Wales KG KT PC GCB OM

The present directors of the company are as follows:

Chairman

Gavin Patterson

President and Chief Revenue Officer, Salesforce

Vice Chairman

Steve Holliday

President, The Energy Institute Chairman, Cityfibre, Chairman, Zenobe

Directors

The following directors have retired, who also served during the year:

Roy Adair CBE

CEO, Sonas CS (retired 4 November 2020)

Jeremy Darroch

Executive Chairman, Sky (retired 21 December 2020)

Christine Hodgson

Chair, Severn Trent plc (retired 9 February 2021)

Lucinda Charles-Jones

Chief People & CR Officer

Duncan Tait

Group CEO, Inchcape plc (retired 9 March 2021)

Jane Ashcroft CBE

Chief Executive, Anchor (appointed 4 November 2021)

The following non-Board members serve on the Audit Committee:

Raman Bhatia

Chief Operating Officer, OVO Energy (appointed 4 November 2021)

Joe Greenwell CBE DL

Non Executive Director Xtrac Ltd

Chris Conway

Group Chief Executive, Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (appointed 4 November 2020)

Dame Vivian Hunt

Noelia de Carvalho

Head of Financial Planning & Analysis Finance, MS Amlin

The following non-Board members serve on the Finance and Risk Committee:

Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company

Nicola Bancroft FCMA

Richard Hutton²

Non Executive Director, Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust

Finance Director, Greggs

Andrea Bonafe CMIIA

John M Neill CBE¹

Chief Internal Auditor, Barclays UK

Chairman & Group Chief Executive, Unipart Group

Jeremy Pocklington CBE²

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Alison Rose

Nigel Hinshelwood

Senior Independent Director, Lloyds Bank plc and Bank of Scotland plc

Spencer Sheridan

Chief Financial Officer, Healthcare at Home

Chief Executive, NatWest Group

Victoria Fakehinde

Keith Weed CBE

President, Royal Horticultural Society Non-Executive Director, Sainsbury Plc Non-Executive Director, WPP plc

Director of Finance, Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund

John Williams¹

Vice Chair, Association of Chairs

1, 2 signifies membership of the Audit and Finance and Risk Committees, respectively

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GOVERNANCE

BITC Advisory Board

Advising the Trustee Board is a small senior group of stakeholders convened by our Chairman. Their goal is to challenge the definition of responsible business and shape BITC’s response to some of the biggest overarching issues facing responsible businesses today.

Business in the Community’s Senior Staff: Amanda Mackenzie OBE Chief Executive

Paul Buchanan

Director, Delivery and Impact

Chair: Gavin Patterson President and Chief Revenue Officer, Salesforce

Nick Diamond Membership Director

Sir Ian Cheshire

Chair, The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund

Drake Dubin Chief Operating Officer

Tony Danker

Director-General, CBI

Gail Greengross LVO Creative Director

Richard Curtis

Vice Chair, Comic Relief

Kieran Harding Managing Director BITC NI

Lord Mark Price

Founder, Engaging Works

Anna Jakobsen Director, Strategy and Advisory:

Adrian Joseph OBE

Managing Director, Group AI and Data Solutions, BT Group

Charlie O’Neill Director, Finance

Karen Blackett OBE

Chairwoman, Mediacom

Catherine Sermon Campaign and Content Director

Frances O’Grady

General Secretary, TUC

Lesley Wolfenden LVO Company Secretary

Vice-Presidents

Dame Julia Cleverdon DCVO CBE Sir Stephen O’Brien CVO Sir Mark Weinberg

Nations Directors

Scotland: Alan Thornburrow Northern Ireland: Kieran Harding Wales: Sue Husband Hon DSc OBE

The Prince’s National Responsible Business Ambassador

Dame Vivian Hunt Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company

Advisors

Bankers | Barclays Bank PLC 1 Churchill Place London E14 5HP

Registration Details

Business in the Community is registered as a charity in England and Wales (297716) and Scotland (SC046226) Company limited by guarantee No 1619253.

Registered Office:

137 Shepherdess Walk, London N1 7RQ Telephone 020 7566 8650 Website: www.bitc.org.uk

Solicitors | Bates Wells & Braithwaite

10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1BE

Auditors | Crowe U.K. LLP

55 Ludgate Hill London EC4M 7JW

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GOVERNANCE

Leadership Team Chairs:

Climate Action | Louise Kingham OBE

Senior Vice President, Europe and Head of Country, UK BP plc

Global Goals | Anne Marie Verstraeten

Group UK Country Head, BNP Paribas Group

Gender | Sarah Bentley

Chief Executive Officer, Thames Water

Race | Richard Iferenta

Partner, KPMG

Wellbeing | David Oldfield

Group Director & CEO of Commercial Banking, Lloyds Banking Group

Employment & Skills | Jonathan Lewis Chief Executive Officer, Capita

Leadership Taskforce Chairs

Age | Andy Briggs

North West | Christopher Gray Managing Director, Accenture

South East | Owen Marks Head of Rare Diseases, Pfizer

South West | Heather Cooper Independent Advisor

West Midlands | Lee Mellor

Vice President and General Manager, Interface

Yorkshire and Humber | Helen Kaye

Partner, Deloitte

London | Chris Reeve London Region Chair, PwC

Scotland | Alison Rose Chief Executive, NatWest Group

Northern Ireland | Chris Conway Group Chief Executive, Translink

Chief Executive, Phoenix Group

Wales | Peter Perry

Circular Economy | Guy Grainger

Chief Executive, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water

Chief Executive EMEA, JLL

Net Zero Carbon | Jonathan Kini

Managing Director,Talk Talk Business

Place | Lord Steve Bassam

Small Business | Co-chaired by Deepak Soni

Director of Commercial at AXA Insurance and Eleanor Bradley , Interim Chief Executive Officer at Nominet.

Leadership Board Chairs

Community Leadership Board | Co-chaired by Dame

Vivian Hunt , Senior Partner, UK and Ireland, McKinsey & Company and Steve Rowe , Chief Executive Officer, Marks and Spencer.

Future Leaders Board | Chair rotates

East of England | Peter Simpson

Chief Executive Officer, Anglian Water Group

East Midlands | Rebekah Wallis

Director, People and CR, Ricoh

North East | Tim Hill

Partner, Eversheds Sutherland

Business in the Community

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Business in the Community 137 Shepherdess Walk London N1 7RQ

www.bitc.org.uk 020 7566 8650

Chairman: Gavin Patterson

Business in the Community is a registered charity in England and Wales (297716) and Scotland (SC046226). Company limited by guarantee No. 1619253.

Business in the Community

BITC Annual Report 2020/21