Our responsibility

We published our first Corporate Responsibility report in 2006. It demonstrated our commitment not only to members but also to our staff, the communities in which we work and the environment. We did this in response to findings of a survey of 6,000 members and our staff.

Much of the work conducted over the last few years indicates that responsible businesses are the ones that naturally do good things. This means providing excellent products and services, supporting local communities or charities or simply being a good place to work.

Recognising that being a responsible business is important we will be renaming our strategy to reflect that. I hope you like our new Corporate Responsibility (CR) report. By learning from the feedback given to us after publication of our previous report we've aligned many of our CR strategies to those within our own Corporate Plan. In doing so, the best practices within the CR field will become part of our business processes and plans in future.

This year's report 'about you, about us, about them' mirrors the values of our business.

We have included much more factual information such as energy use, profiles of community support given and case studies. We have also reported on our progress in developing an environmental policy. You will also find information about the work of Chelsea Building Society Charitable Foundation which since inception has contributed £490,000 to worthy causes across the UK.

You may notice that we've changed the style of the report this year to reflect our developing brand identity, something which customers visiting our branches will already have noticed. This website, www.chelseacares.co.uk represents our new brand identity.

Please take time to read about some of the things we're proud of, I hope it makes you proud to be associated with us. It's also about you so please do take the time to give us feedback. Many people have since we launched our first report. You can do this by clicking on the 'My thoughts' link on the right.

I look forward to reading your comments.

Richard Hornbrook
Director and Chief Executive

Corporate Responsibility report

What is it?
Corporate Responsibility is all about the responsibilities we have as a business and as an employer. Many Corporate Responsibility (CR) topics mentioned in this report are top of the media and political agenda at the moment.

We could sit back and wait for others to take the lead; instead we strive to achieve best practice in the way we conduct our business. It is important that all of our activity is in synergy with that of our brand and core values. Our first report gave us a benchmark and identified key priorities. Our CR report this year is a demonstration of how far we have progressed.

Why do we do it?
We recognise CR is about the range of responsibilities we have as a business, that these are wider than just social issues and important to anyone associated with us.

How do we do it?
We:

• make sure customers receive excellent service and a range of products to suit their needs
• improve customer service levels
• open up channels of communication with stakeholders
• are open, honest and respectful with each other and our customers
• invest in the communities in which we operate
• manage our impact on the environment

The online version of our Corporate Responsibility report is an abbreviated version of the full report. To download the full version, please click on one of the right hand links.

The report can also be requested in Braille. Please telephone us on 01242 271464 for a copy of the report in this format.