Corporate Responsibility Review
Community Strategy
Economic impact
HBOS is a significant generator of wealth across the UK, particularly around our heartlands in Yorkshire and Scotland. We are one of the largest payers of tax in the UK, paying £700m in tax on our profit in 2007. The UK Exchequer received a total of £1.2bn in tax and National Insurance from HBOS in 2007.
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.
HBOS Foundation
The HBOS Foundation is now one of the largest corporate fundraisers in the UK. Funded by HBOS, the Foundation drives volunteering and charitable work for the Group. In 2007, HBOS donated £8m to the Foundation. During the year, the Foundation donated almost £11m to charity, including contributions raised by colleagues and customers.
National and regional grants: the Foundation is funding a new educational programme, believed to be the most comprehensive of its kind in the UK, with the Sutton Trust in Yorkshire. The programme, delivered by Leeds University, aims to widen participation by under-privileged young people in higher education. The Foundation also distributed £2.8m in national and regional grants to financial literacy and money advice projects and to develop and support communities.
Matched funding: in 2007, HBOS colleagues in the UK and Ireland, supported by matched funding from the Foundation, raised over £3.6m for the Million £ Challenge charities. They were: British Heart Foundation, WRVS, Family Holiday Association, RNLI and Age Action. The matched funding scheme raised £2.1m for a wide range of other charities.
Colleague volunteering: volunteering has continued to grow. In 2007 over 10,000 HBOS colleagues volunteered, compared to over 7,000 in 2006. £21.3m has been raised via the Foundation, through volunteering, in the last five years.
Sponsorship
Over 70,000 young people benefited last year from HBOS sponsorship of sports and arts projects in our heartlands of Yorkshire and Scotland. An estimated 65% of these young people were from socially disadvantaged areas. Bank of Scotland’s Community Football is the most comprehensive grassroots football programme in Scotland. The Midnight League aims to keep young people off the streets and reduce crime levels. It was expanded in 2007 into all 32 Scottish Local Authorities, reaching over 10,000 young people.
Museum on the Mound
HBOS’s Museum on the Mound, awarded five stars by the Scottish Tourist Board, is Scotland’s only banking museum. The Museum focuses on ‘money’, in all its shapes and forms. Working with educational consultants, schools sessions have been developed to support the curriculum-related topics of money and financial awareness. Over 30 classes of school children participated in workshops at the Museum in 2007.