Yesterday, Crisis, the DWP and DLUHC launched a new Homelessness Covenant with a range of partners, including the Good Business Charter, who have contributed to shaping it through an Advisory Board. The Good Business Charter was invited because of its action around fair employment practices as well as the insight it brings from its network […]
Last week I had the privilege of being part of a round-table on Levelling Up run by the University of York and University of Central Lancashire in partnership with the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. The scale of the challenge is immense but one thing is crystal clear: nothing will be achieved without genuine […]
As we mark World Day Against Trafficking in Persons it is good to reflect on how the Good Business Charter feeds into the narrative on eradicating modern slavery, both in the UK and globally. There are signs to look out for when it comes to identifying someone in slavery, the main ones being that a […]
The word ‘culture’ is not one that the Good Business Charter has tended to reference, instead developing a focus on EMBEDDING the 10 components of the GBC. However, embedding a framework like the GBC does not flow from outside. Championing people both within and external to your organsiation flows primarily from the heart – from […]
Natalie Thompson of Schroders Personal Wealth shares some of the nuts and bolts of how they have utilised the Good Business Charter to communicate their commitment to being a responsible business. We are grateful to SPW, and other organisations like theirs, for sharing great ideas that can inspire us all in our journey of championing […]
It’s always a pleasant experience to be in the same room as a load of people who are passionate about the same thing you are – and keen to talk about it! That is what happened at the University of Northampton’s first ever Sustainability Summit last month. This was two days to share ideas about […]
We call our fourth component Employee Representation and I believe it is helpful to unpack what that looks like in practice. I attended an excellent roundtable on the topic recently, run by Tortoise Media with Kate Bell from the TUC as the speaker. The key is to not only provide opportunities for employees to express […]
At the beginning of March we were contacted by former clients of Apostle Accounting to state why they felt Apostle should be stripped of its GBC accreditation. We welcome people reporting their concerns – whether they be employees, customers, suppliers or other stakeholders of a GBC accredited organisation. You can do that here: https://goodbusinesscharter.com/whistle-blowing/ For […]
Given the recent allegations at the CBI, the Good Business Foundation Board of Trustees has decided to suspend its GBC accreditation and involvement in ongoing events pending the outcome of the investigation being conducted by Fox Williams.
We were delighted to host our very first round-table with our medium and large accredited organisations on 28th February, and our chosen topic was financial well-being – to share ways in which different organisations were looking after their employees. In one-to-one discussions with individual members over the past few months, we knew this was an […]
6 March, 2023 Accreditation scheme marks anniversary with call to champion people Good Business Charter publishes first annual report on state of responsible business in the UK Three years ago, on the cusp of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new minimum standard to define ‘good business’ was launched, in partnership with the TUC and CBI, […]
Three years ago, today, the Good Business Charter launched with founder members Capita, Richer Sounds, Brompton, Deloitte and London City Airport among others. The Charter is going from strength to strength at a time when increasing numbers of people want to work for, buy from or invest with responsible organisations. Over the past year […]
It feels crazy to even have to say this – how have we moved so far from such a basic ethic as paying our suppliers on time? And yet, Bellevue Law was one of our accredited members to speak out on the issue last year and call the big businesses to account. As founder, Florence […]
Accredited GBC organisation, Leek Building Society, provides an excellent example of how people can be truly championed, and employee wellbeing put at the heart of a business. Pre 2019, the Director of HR did not have a position on the Executive Committee which therefore meant work around employees was not always prioritised. This was rectified […]
Earlier this month we had our inaugural AGM – what we hope will become our Annual Gathering of Members. It was lovely to read a write-up of it afterwards by one of our accredited organisations, Go Squared. Really glad you found it helpful, Chris. For those of you who would like to hear the meeting […]
When we launched York as our first Good Business Charter city, I was excited to connect with Rebecca Hill of Galtres Lodge, an independent hotel. She also chairs Indie York, a group of over 200 independent businesses across the city. York has a thriving independent business culture, with Bishopthorpe Road voted best high street in […]
REAL LIVING WAGE INCREASES TO £10.90 IN UK AND £11.95 IN LONDON AS THE COST-OF-LIVING RISES 10.1% increase in real Living Wage, the largest year-on-year rise Over 390,000 Living Wage workers are set for a pay boost at over 11,000 Living Wage employers £338m in extra wages has gone to low-paid workers since January 2022, […]
I feel compelled to write a blog entry as we walk through all that is going on around us – a plummeting pound, high inflation, interest rates on the rise and the general cost-of-living crisis. What does this all mean for businesses upholding our commitments to responsible business behaviour? Last week the Living Wage Foundation announced […]
Business leaders call for more organisations to join and raise the bar on responsible business behaviour. York’s commitment to good growth will be celebrated in style on the closing day of York Festival of Ideas 2022, with a number of activities centred around building the city’s entrepreneurial culture as well as a panel discussion to […]
A blog by Good Business Charter’s CEO, Jenny Herrera. When I came on board to lead the Good Business Charter, there is no doubt I had a lot more experience in the S and G of ESG than the E! As a chartered accountant I am hopefully relatively au fait with what good governance looks […]
I have recently finished reading Martin Vander Weyer’s informative analysis of why we have lost faith in capitalism in “The Good, the Bad and the Greedy” which at times had me plunged into despair at the scale of some of the issues that have arisen in recent decades, particularly in areas of governance such as […]
It is one thing to say you are committed on paper to our 10 components. To embed them into the very core of your organisation is quite another, yet it is as this occurs that the real value of the GBC is unlocked. Our vision is for each employee within a GBC accredited organisation to […]
Passionate suppliers of woodworking tools and machinery, Axminster Tools have spent 50 years building our family business into the renowned organisation it is today. We do what we do to maintain a sustainable future for Axminster Tools, for the prosperity of our staff and the communities we support and engage with. We know that if […]
UK Accountancy Profession Takes Next Step Towards Net Zero We are delighted to share that our partners at Net Zero Now have launched their first industry-wide protocol & certification to set standard for Net Zero, in collaboration with Sage, ICAEW, ACCA, AAT and our team at the Good Business Charter. This new digital platform helps […]
We were very excited for this year’s Good Business Festival, as our CEO, Jenny Herrera was due to speak on a panel with James Ghaffari – Director of Growth and Product, B Lab UK, Janet Williamson – Senior Policy Officer, TUC and Soulla Kyriacou – Chief Operating Officer, Blueprint for Better Business. Unfortunately, Jenny caught […]
After just 2 years the GBC has accredited its 1,000th organisation Today the Good Business Charter, set up 2020 in partnership with the CBI and TUC, welcomed its 1,000th organisation, the Institute of Directors, into its accreditation scheme. Ealing Council, Aubrey Allen and Dawsongroup plc are some of the latest organisations to join. The Institute […]
First printed in the Sunday Times, online 5 March 2022 and in print 6 March 2022 “I was enjoying a lunch with my friend Simon Fox, at the time head of the Reach newspaper group, when he told me he was keen to do something on responsible business — a subject close to my heart. […]
Welcome to another month of news and updates from us at GBC! We are rapidly growing, with 920 accredited organisations and we can’t thank our supporters enough for continuing to spread the word. 2 Year Anniversary of the launch of the Good Business Charter Earlier this month, we celebrated the 2nd anniversary of our launch […]
Guest blog from Silver Birch Care We are delighted to celebrate our two-year anniversary as a member of the Good Business Charter (GBC). We are proud to be the first social care provider and one of the first 20 organisations to join the GBC, gaining our accreditation on 16 February 2020 – only 6 days […]
Guest Blog from Jon Lewis In 2016, I returned to the UK, having spent the prior 20 years working internationally, but based in the US. It surprised me how many employees had negative perceptions of big corporate businesses in the UK, and that exposed me to the thinking at the time around being a responsible […]
Today marks our second anniversary of launching the Good Business Charter on 10th February, 2020. Not a good time to launch anything given the pandemic about to unleash havoc across our nation! And yet that same pandemic has sharpened the focus on some of the issues we stand for, through complaints of tax bailouts for companies […]
Earlier this week the World Benchmarking Alliance launched a report on the global state of play for responsible business conduct, sharing findings and insights from their Social Transformation Baseline Assessment. The results were extremely disappointing with only 1% of the 1,000 global businesses analysed able to demonstrate the fundamentals of socially responsible business conduct. I […]
Happy New Year to you all! Here at The Good Business Charter, we have had a monumental year of growth, as we saw a rapid increase in the number of organisations who gained GBC accreditation, as well as seeing our team expand. We hope you enjoy reflecting back on 2021 with us as we look […]
Welcome to another month of GBC news! We are delighted to welcome 44 new members to the GBC this month, bringing our total up to 754, with 56 of those being public and third sector organisations, and 698 companies. We’re so happy to see the GBC continue to grow, and thank you to everyone who […]
For this blog, we would like to look closely at how our members have been working towards net zero, and members who offer offsetting services as part of their business, in line with their GBC environmental component. We have just chosen a few to talk about on this blog, so this is not an extensive […]
This week marks #LivingWageWeek with the announcement of new minimum rates of pay. On Monday the Living Wage Foundation announced that the UK real living wage will rise from £9.50 an hour to £9.90 an hour and the London Living Wage will rise from £10.85 an hour to £11.05. We are delighted that this means […]
Member Update This month we are delighted to have welcomed 36 new members this month bringing our member total to 712, including 52 charities and public sector, and 613 SMEs. Carbon Consultancy for SMEs GBC member and events agency Conference Care have announced the launch of a new service – Carbon Consultancy by Conference Care. […]
We are delighted to see GBC member Conference Care, who accredited with us in February 2021, launching a new service that calculates the carbon emissions generated by an organisations event, which will be a fantastic tool for small businesses who are working towards net zero. Each GBC accredited organisation must show a commitment in reducing […]
Member Update 41 new members have joined us this month, bringing our total up to 677 of which 582 are small businesses, 44 large companies, and 51 third or public sector organisations including charities. New members of the GBC team We are delighted to announce that we have expanded and are welcoming three part time colleagues to our team! Please […]
All industries have their jargon and the world of responsible and purpose-driven business is no exception. Some speak of ESG, others focus more on social value, then there is sustainability as a more generic term and what about the UN SDGs. How does it all fit in and where would we position the Good Business […]
The Good Business Charter is open for the public sector, charities and other organisations in the third sector. We want to recognise public sector and third sector organisations that have responsible practices towards the environment, their employees, stakeholders and suppliers alongside the valuable public service/charitable work they do. The Soil Association joins Oxfam, Amnesty International, […]
It’s been over 6 months since we launched our streamlined GBC application process for small and medium sized organisations, which make up over 99.3% of all businesses, and we are delighted to see a huge number of SME’s and small public and third sector organisations gain GBC accreditation in those 6 months. At the beginning […]
A guest blog from GBC member Greenwich Pantry. Greenwich Pantry is a small business in the food industry. Our cooking school is the centrepiece of our business. With a focus on balanced eating, we help people cook, eat and live well. In 2016 we embarked on the journey of building a sustainable business and use our […]
The Results Fieldwork conducted between 25th and 27th June 2021, with a sample size of 2,148, for the Good Business Charter, in collaboration with TSB showed the following headline trends: 79% of people think a business acting responsibly is extremely or very important and a further 18% think it is somewhat important. Just 2% of […]
Consumers need help to judge business behaviour · New research from the Good Business Charter and TSB has highlighted how consumers are struggling to judge whether businesses are living up to the right standards. · While 97% of UK consumers expect businesses to behave responsibly, only 25% feel they have enough information to judge brands […]
Today we are delighted to announce the first GBC city in the UK! Huge congratulations to York where the City of York Council last week approved championing the Good Business Charter throughout the city. This marks the launch of a movement for change, and we are excited to see where it leads for the people […]
York first city in the UK to sign up to Charter – putting people and planet at the heart of business York has become the first city in the UK to sign up to the Good Business Charter – in a pioneering initiative spearheaded by entrepreneur Julian Richer. The Good Business Charter was developed in […]
The Living Wage Champion Awards celebrates Living Wage employers and individuals that are leading the movement by promoting the real Living Wage in their industries, supply chain and areas. This year we are delighted to announce that GBC members Seniors Helping Seniors and Boo Coaching were both receivers of a Champion Award in the 2021 […]
Case Study on Seriously Helpful Online Marketing At the Good Business Foundation we think practicing responsible business behaviour should be intuitive, and we accredit organisations whose ethos strives for ethical practice and transparency. Not only is it ‘the right thing to do’, but running an organisation ethically improves office culture, sales and reputation – if […]
The Good Business Foundation is thrilled to announce the recent accreditation of FTSE100 insurance company Aviva to its Good Business Charter which recognises responsible business behaviour across 10 components. Aviva becomes the first insurance company to make this commitment to care for its employees, suppliers, customers, the environment and pay its fair share of tax. […]