For people, for community and for the planet
Our founding purpose as a mutual Society run for the good of its members is a legacy that goes back to our creation in 1875, this is a role we seek to continue by meeting the needs of our present members without compromising on the ability of future generations to meet their needs, too.
This duty of care starts with being a responsible business, making choices and changes to take positive action for our people, the environment and the communities we serve.
Partnering with JUST ONE Tree
We’re partnering with JUST ONE Tree (JOT) as part of their £1 for 1 tree campaign, initially contributing £1 for each employee and then making an annual contribution equal to the number of new members attracted in the previous calendar year.
JOT are a Community Interest Company (CIC) that use funding to support reforestation organisations around the world, focusing in areas that have been severely affected by mass deforestation. Being a CIC stipulates that any profits generated must be used to create social good – in this case planting more trees, helping provide sustainable incomes for thousands of people and supporting great reforestation projects. With us being a Mutual, we feel that this is an excellent fit for us and our members.
Free EPC Plus for eligible members
Green Agenda
We’re making moves both operationally and strategically to reduce our carbon footprint, improve our energy efficiency and to educate ourselves about emissions and waste, because small changes can make a big difference.
Here are some current plans and recent changes we’ve implemented:
- Using alternative materials for our passbook wallets (card) to make them 100% plastic free and 100% recyclable for when you need a new one.
- We use renewable energy sources where possible, such as solar panels, which provide us with more energy than we use with the additional energy going back to the grid. We aim to expand our implementation of renewable energy sources across all our branches and head office.
- We have a dedicated Green Committee, who meet to discuss our green agenda through new ideas and concepts.
- We have plans to introduce an electric car scheme to encourage our colleagues to switch to sustainable transportation.
- We have put together some extra tips to help you become greener at home. Please click here to view them.
Social Responsibility
As well as caring for the environment, we have a responsibility to encourage the economic health and social cohesion of our community, because stability in the world allows people to thrive.
Charity
We love investing in charitable ventures and work hard to make a difference by donating money, fundraising and volunteering. We set a company target of between 500 and 1000 hours of voluntary work per year which allows us to get involved in a great range of projects.
Education
We have partnered with Melton and District Money Advice Centre that pays for a fully qualified education officer to visit schools and teach young people the skills they need to manage their finances now and in the future.
Wildlife
We are partnered with Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust; a leading conservation charity working to protect and enhance our wildlife and green spaces – engaging people with nature.
The Global Goals for sustainable development
As we strive to improve our sustainability across all areas and to hold ourselves accountable for our progress, Melton Building Society has signed up to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, a blueprint that sets clear targets to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. Ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
We are incredibly proud of the progress that we have made to support our five goals in 2024 and are delighted to have received a five-star rating from Support the Goals during the year for our commitment to sustainability as well as working with our partners and suppliers to share the importance of supporting the UN Goals. We have focused on both our people and our communities with actions completed across the year.
We are proud to continue to be a Living Wage employer for another year and our colleagues have completed over 1,000 volunteering hours in 2024, the second successive year we have exceeded 1,000 hours. The Society has also become an Independently Accredited Menopause Friendly Employer, something we are very proud of. From a financial education perspective, we have supported over (figure TBC) young people through the opportunity to attend a workshop in their school or college and have also ran adult Money Management sessions which have been expertly delivered by Melton and District Money Advice Service (MADMAC). During 2024 we increased our monetary donation into financial education by 50% to £30,000 donated in 2024, this investment has enabled MADMAC to deliver much needed financial education in our local area. In relation to Climate, we are delighted to now use recyclable passbook wallets for our members and remain committed in our work to identifying opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint such as implementing digital poster displays.
The following shows what we have achieved within each of our five goals for 2024 and what we have set out to achieve in 2025:
Achieved in 2024
- 50%/50% gender balanced board
- Achieved real living pension employer
- Real living wage employer
Targets for 2025
- Maintain real living pension employer
- Maintain a 50%/50% gender balanced board
- Maintain real living wage employer
Achieved in 2024
- Volunteered over 1,000 hours
- Donated more than 1% of Society surplus to community activities
Targets for 2025
- Volunteer over 1,500 hours
- Donate more than 1% of Society surplus to community activities
Achieved in 2024
- Fair life accreditation
- Reached 17,300 pupils with financial education
- Attended mock interview session with local schools
- Donate increased amount into financial education
Targets for 2025
- Maintain Fair life accreditation
- Donate £30,000 to financial education
- Reach 20,000 pupils with financial education
Achieved in 2024
- Menopause in the workplace accreditation
- Appointed mental health first aiders
- Vulnerability hub available to colleagues
Targets for 2025
- Maintain menopause in the workplace accreditation
- Continue to use mental health first aiders
Achieved in 2024
- Introduction of recyclable passbook wallets
- Establish a sustainability taskforce to work with colleagues and key stakeholders
- Continued to offer EPC plus
- Just One Tree donation
Targets for 2025
- Introduce digital poster displays into our branch locations
- Commit to increase the use of emails over postal letters
- Continue to use recyclable passbook wallets
To monitor our progress and for means of accountability we have aligned with Support the Goals, a Social Enterprise who provide a simple rating system that measures how we are progressing against our targets under each goal and independently assess our performance by awarding us a star rating. Only a small number of businesses out of 3,000 signed up have achieved 5 starts – a club we aim to join!
