Social Value Statement

Building Community Resilience

We contribute to the resilience of the communities we work with by:

• Delivering self-advocacy training so people understand their rights, develop the confidence to advocate for themselves and others and are more self-reliant
• Sharing our expertise, training and resources with our partner organisations so they can support individuals with a wider range of issues
• Offering our staff one day’s paid leave per year to volunteer with community projects or charities
• Funding small community and voluntary organisations through our Arthur Bate fund to support the capacity and sustainability of community projects
• Participating in local Policy Labs to ensure co-production takes place, supporting positive change that addresses the root causes of disadvantage
• We are a member of Human Rights alliances which strengthen local communities, and campaign nationally to protect people’s rights and entitlements

Creating Opportunities

We are committed to improving opportunities for groups who are under-represented in the workforce. We do this by:

• Offering a range of volunteering opportunities including training to help people to develop the skills and confidence to obtain employment
• Encouraging our volunteers to apply for paid roles with POhWER and elsewhere
• Advertising all job vacancies locally so that local residents have opportunities to apply
• Taking part in schemes that aim to increase employability e.g. by offering work experience and placements for young people and students
• Offering careers guidance and advice to young people

Being an Ethical and Inclusive Employer

• POhWER is an accredited Living Wage Employer
• We are a Disability Confident Employer
• We have closed our mean and median gender pay gap
• We operate to a comprehensive Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy, offering fair and open opportunities to all our staff and volunteers
• We are signatory of the Mindful Employer Charter
• We support our employees’ health and wellbeing by providing an Employee Assistance Programme and a Health Welfare Cash Plan
• We train and invest in our staff to provide continuing professional development.
• We hold the Investors in People Silver award
• We involve and engage with our staff through our consultation group UNIFY and an annual staff PULSE survey
• Our Anti-racism, Neurodiversity and LGBGTQ+ staff network groups are supporting us to achieve equality and inclusion
• Family friendly policies which embrace and support different family types and support our employees to manage their caring and parenting responsibilities

Contributing to Local Prosperity and Promoting Ethical Practice

As part of our commitment to the geographical areas where we work, we recognise our obligation to support the local economy.
Our Procurement Policy requires us to apply ethical procurement principles to 100% of contracts, including:

• Assessing all external procurement and supply chains for modern slavery risks
• Considering whether our suppliers pay their taxes, pay the national living wage, promote Corporate Social Responsibility and have robust sustainability policies
• Seeking local providers and suppliers as a preference
• When possible we procure services including room hire, catering and training from local, not-for-profit organisations.
• Sub-contracting with small, grass roots providers, providing sustainable income and ensuring skills are shared

Being Green and Sustainable

Our Carbon Net Zero Strategy 2021-2030 sets out our plans for achieving net zero by 2025:

• Having well maintained buildings and facilities
• Buying renewable energy and promoting virtual working
• Recycling, reusing and repairing
• Promoting public transport, walking and cycling
• Reducing waste and consumption
• Using electricity not oil where possible
• Offsetting our small remaining carbon footprint

We will retain our Carbon Charter accreditation and continue to monitor carbon footprint in the context of new green technologies