Our activity

We are very much aware of our corporate responsibility to use our resources for the benefit not only of our customers and shareholders, but also for the wider community.  We want to give something back to the communities we serve and last year we invested more than 1% of pre-tax profits through our community programme.  The programme aims to maximise our support and make a positive impact through a wide range of initiatives, a few of which are highlighted below.

Care for safety challenge	Community sponsorships	Grant giving
Cheque it out	Employee volunteering	Payroll Giving

Employee volunteering - Just an hour

Just an hour is Northumbrian Water’s highly successful employee volunteering programme.  We recognised both the need to take our community support beyond a pure donation of cash and also the wealth of knowledge, skills and expertise of our employees.  A structured programme of employee involvement in the community designed to impact on education, the environment and the general well being of the community has been developed.

One of the main objectives is to add value to the community and to realise this, each of our employees has been given the opportunity to take a minimum of 15 working hours a year to support community initiatives.

Since the launch of 'Just an hour' in 2002 our employees have committed over 43,000 hours in support of the communities we serve.

Payroll Giving

The Northumbrian Water Payroll Giving scheme was launched in October 2005.  Payroll Giving is a simple tax effective way that enables employees to make donations to their chosen charities straight from their gross salary.  A regular monthly donation is deducted from the employee’s gross pay before it is taxed. So, for instance, if £5 is pledged, it will actually only cost the employee £3.90 (£3 for higher rate taxpayers) but their chosen charity will receive the full £5.  All new donors have their monthly contribution matched by the company for the first year, up to a maximum of £20 per month. After the first year we make an annual bonus payment to the employees chosen charity based on their contribution i.e. if they give £10 per month for 12 months we will give an additional £10 to their charity, to make their goodwill go further. We also pay the administration charges on all donations to ensure that the charity receives the full amount.

Employee sponsorship – Cheque it out

We also support employees who are actively involved with local community projects outside of normal working hours.  Employees can apply to Cheque it out, our employee sponsorship fund for a contribution to boost their own fundraising efforts.  There are some terrific examples of employees requesting sponsorship to help their community.  Employees can also request raffle prizes, volunteering from colleagues or appropriate use of company facilities. 

In 2008 we received over 100 requests and supported 82 beneficiaries totaling £8,730.  In addition to this, 12 employees preferred raffle prizes and were given Kielder Water & Forest Park day passes worth up to £30 each.

Care for Safety challenge

The Northumbrian Water Care for Safety challenge was formally launched in April 2004. As part of a health and safety initiative, the challenge was established to help raise awareness and improve our health and safety record whilst at the same time generating vital funds for charities. Since its launch £243,125 has been raised. More recently, the initiative has been broadened to include charities nominated by employees. Mencap, RNLI, Great North Air Ambulance and Zoe’s Place have all received donations generated by the challenge.

Grant giving

We have established endowment funds, which are managed by the three Community Foundations within our areas of supply; County Durham, Teesside, Tyne & Wear and Northumberland.  These endowments provide an annual income to support community and environmental projects that fit with our criteria for sponsorships.  Employee committees decide which projects should receive funding.

Community sponsorships

Many of our community sponsorships are focused on health initiatives which reinforce our Water for health message. We try to support as many beneficiaries as possible within reason, in our water supply area.  We receive requests from all over the UK and occasionally overseas. 

In 2008 we received 327 applications for support of which we decided to support 252 of these beneficiaries.  From raffle prizes and educational support to monetary donations we have given out over £38,000.