Community Mark

HBOS is one of the UK's best Community Investors

HBOS is one of the first UK companies to be awarded a Community Mark. Endorsed by the government, voluntary sector leaders and HRH Prince of Wales, it is the only national standard that recognises excellence in community investment.

Background to the Community Mark

The Community Mark was launched in 2008 by Business in the Community. To achieve a Community Mark, companies must demonstrate that they measure the impact of their community investment, and that their investment has made a tangible difference to communities. In the past, companies measured community investment as a percentage of pre-tax profits. HBOS invests around £50 million a year in communities. Importantly, however, achieving the Community Mark demonstrates that our investment also has a significant, positive impact on communities.

Why did we get it?

HBOS invested £55.2m in communities across the UK in 2007, including support for financial inclusion, sponsorship of sports and arts for young people, and donations through the HBOS Foundation.

The Community Mark recognises HBOS's sponsorship, financial inclusion, charitable and volunteering activity. We achieved the Mark with the support of our community partners and colleagues, hundreds of whom took part in the rigorous application process.

An example of our financial inclusion activity is our partnership with UNLOCK, the National Association of Reformed Offenders

HBOS plc is working in partnership with UNLOCK, the National Association of Reformed Offenders, to deliver social banking provision to low category former offenders.

In 2005, HBOS and UNLOCK began an innovative pilot programme in two prisons, Cookham Wood and Coldingley, opening basic bank accounts for prisoners approaching release. The accounts are opened for prisoners who are imminently due for release, so that they are active and ready to be used upon release. Social banking accounts provide a foundation for former offenders to rebuild their lives, making it easier for them to secure accommodation and employment.

Having opened accounts for 99% of applicants, the success of the pilots has led to plans to expand the programme from two prisons to four by the end of 2008 and integration into business as usual. The programme demonstrates that HBOS is going well beyond the minimum expected to actively engage excluded groups. 

Separately, the HBOS Foundation, a registered charity funded by HBOS plc, is supporting UNLOCK with a grant of £164,137 over three years. The funding has enabled UNLOCK to deliver a capacity building project ‘UNLOCKing Financial Capability’ in prisons and Young Offenders Institutions to train prison staff, charities and peer supporters to provide financial capability skills for prisoners. The course covers basic banking and money management skills, such as “chip and pin”, budgeting and dealing with debt, to help people prepare to enter the banking system. It also provides a “virtual reality” learning experience including a cash machine demo, sample application forms and role-play.

The UNLOCKing Social Banking programme aims to benefit up to 480 low category prisoners each year.  The UNLOCKing Financial Capability programme aims to benefit around 5000 prisoners per year. Both programmes aim to leave sustainable systems in place so these benefits continue after the end of the project.

Says Chris Bath, Director of Projects at UNLOCK: "HBOS were quite simply the only bank brave enough to pilot the concept of pre-release banking with UNLOCK. By engaging with a financially excluded group that no other bank would even consider at the time, HBOS's pioneering attitude to financial exclusion has not just helped those in our project, it is fundamentally changing the industry's attitudes and practices. Where they have led, others are now following."

To view our Community Mark application*, as well as our commitments to communities, click here .

*The information in our application was correct as at March 2008.

To view more information on our community investment activities, see the HBOS 2006 Corporate Responsibility Report  , the HBOS Foundation website  and HBOS Sponsorship web pages.