As a major global investor, pension fund manager and provider of financial and protection services, much of what we do has inherent social value. As a provider of financial services, for example, we meet the needs of c.14 million customers through our Retail division.
We meet our obligations to tomorrow’s retirees – in the UK, US and Canada – and the people we insure by creating assets that are socially useful today and will hold their value in tomorrow’s economy. From affordable housing to urban regeneration and science parks, we’re investing to provide people with better places to live and work.
But while we’re well placed to generate social and economic good through the work we do, we are not immune to the great challenges of our time which, most recently, include geopolitical instability and significant inflation. Our long-term strategic response remains focused on six major challenges: ageing demographics; globalisation of asset markets; investing in the real economy; welfare reforms, technological innovation; and addressing climate change.
c. 14 million
customers through our Retail division
£1.2 tn
of assets managed by our investment management business
11,500
employees to whom we have a duty to create a positive culture
Building long-term financial wellbeing
We know that financial difficulties can impact all aspects of human health, especially when unexpected challenges arise, such as cost-of-living pressures. We’re committed to creating a better financial future for the customers and communities we serve, whatever their life stage or financial position.
In 2023, we provided additional funding for our partnership with RedSTART, enabling them to expand into Wales. RedSTART’s mission is to improve financial literacy in primary school children across the UK. We also pledged support for Cardiff Commitment, which was created to tackle the rising number of young people not in education, employment or training in the city.
With our ‘Bank of Family’, research showing that parents and grandparents provided record levels of financial support in 2023, we published a free ‘Guide to Gifting’, which provides useful information to help customers maximise their support to loved ones. We also worked with the charity Age UK, and rolled out our Care Concierge service to help customers find and fund care for loved ones.
17,000
primary school pupils benefitted from RedSTART in 2023/24
37,200
downloads of our ‘Guide to Gifting’ (August to October 2023)
1 million
people can now access our Care Concierge service
Creating better communities
Access to quality jobs, decent housing, thriving communities and economic prosperity are key to helping people live longer, healthier, better lives. As one of the UK’s largest real estate investors, we are well-placed to create better places for people to live and work.
We do this through our place-based social impact toolkit, which drives maximum economic, social and environmental benefits for people and communities. We have taken the Toolkit into account in, for example, our ongoing £4 billion commitment to regenerating the West Midlands; our £1 billion investment in Cardiff; and our £300 million investment in Sheffield.
Other projects include:
Select
The Dolphin Shopping Centre
The Dolphin Shopping Centre in Poole where our community partnership has led to a new NHS outpatient clinic, the Poole Adult Skills and Learning Hub, a co-working space and a foodbank storage centre.
Ancora L&G
The 210,000 sq. ft. Ancora L&G building, which is designed to bring life and health science organisations into downtown Providence, Rhode Island.
Select
Bruntwood SciTech
The UK’s largest local authority pension fund – The Greater Manchester Pension Fund – joined our Bruntwood SciTech partnership in 2023, bringing £500 million to invest. The partnership provides world-leading lab and office assets across UK towns and cities.
Legal & General Affordable Homes
Legal & General Affordable Homes builds a combination of shared ownership and both social and affordable rented homes. We increased our total number of homes by 80% in 2023, taking the total number to 3,032, with more than 2,700 in the pipeline. And our Inspired Villages Group (IVG), which aims to provide high-quality homes and communities for older people, now has 1,102 homes across eight developments.
University College London’s Institute of Health Equity
Our partnership with University College London’s Institute of Health Equity, which aims to reduce inequalities in health in the UK, grew its UK-wide health equity network to 1,450 active members, linking up local authorities and health professionals. We convened 200 members at the first network annual conference in Birmingham.
Overview of social impact themes and priorities
Our real estate social impact toolkit is a comprehensive framework of themes and priorities which we can support through our real estate investments.
Jobs and skills
Ethical, local and inclusive employment, skills and educational opportunities.
Responsible procurement
Responsible sourcing of supplies and services that is ethical, local and inclusive.
Equity and affordability
Contributing to the affordability and equity of local places.
Physical and mental health
Supporting the health and wellbeing of people and communities influenced by places and buildings.
Quality of life
Supporting the social health, quality of life, vibrancy and safety of communities.
Community and partnerships
Supporting active community engagement and partnerships with local organisations.
Just transition
Enhancing and preserving the local environment and supporting a just transition to net zero.
Access to nature
Supporting local access to, and regeneration of, nature and biodiversity.
Connected places
Supporting sustainable and active transport and infrastructure.
Engaging customers and employees with our impact
We want our customers and employees to feel that they play an important role in driving positive social and environmental change. Over time, our aspiration is that our reputation for creating these outcomes will create additional demand for products with social and environmental good at their heart.
In 2023, we responded to the Financial Conduct Authority’s Consumer Duty to achieve better outcomes for all our customers, especially those who may be vulnerable. We also took further steps to protect those working in our value chain. By the end of the year, more than 650 people benefitted from our new policies to reduce health inequalities for Hidden Workers – those who keep our building safe, clean and well-maintained but are often not directly employed by the organisations on whose sites they work.
We established CARE teams in each of our larger UK offices. We provide these teams with budget, coaching, mentorship and support, while allowing them autonomy to deliver impact initiatives, such as food bank collections and supporting isolated, elderly people.
£3.4 million
given to UK civil society organisations
£200,000
donated to 86 non-profits chosen by our people
650
Hidden Workers benefitted from our policy to reduce health inequality
Being a responsible role model
We hold ourselves and our employees to high standards when it comes to being role models of responsible business practices. Our culture is key to retaining employees and doing our best work and we recognise this creates value for our customers and shareholders, and the communities we serve.
In our core UK business, our longstanding partnership with the Unite union – our trade union for collective bargaining – continued to flourish. And we continued to offer benefits to our workforce, including private medical insurance, access to an employee assistance programme, and access to advice and resources to help them balance work and caring responsibilities. In September 2023, our Voice survey gave an employee satisfaction score of 79, four points above the industry benchmark.
We continue to introduce positive change in the workplace, for example introducing a new health and safety strategy designed to protect employees and places and promote safer, healthier lives.
Embedding diversity and inclusion
Our vision is to build a diverse workplace and foster an inclusive culture where we can all perform at our best, no matter who we are. Not only is it the right thing to do, but we believe that diversity of experience will help us to meet our commercial ambitions.
We set ourselves a goal that 17% of senior roles would be held by people from ethnic minorities by the end of 2027. We are currently at 17.3%. In 2023, 47% of our new hires were female, compared to 41% in 2022. We launched programmes to help recruit and retain diverse talent, including work experience programmes and talent sponsorship. And for the first time, we published ethnicity pay gap data for our people.
For more information on the makeup of our employee body, our gender pay gap disclosure, and our commitment to running our business ethically, read the full report.