Corporate Social Responsibility

We acknowledge that running our business has an effect on society. In particular, we have a responsibility to our clients, our employees and our contractors as well as to the broader community.

We are committed to taking responsibility for our actions and encourage a positive contribution towards improving standards for our clients and employees, minimising our impact on the environment and improving the quality of the local community.

By putting CSR into practice, we are committed, wherever possible to create a positive and supportive working environment; to support our local community; to act fairly in our dealings with suppliers and other third parties; and to minimising our impact on the environment.

Communication

We communicate this policy to our staff, clients and other stakeholders by means of making this policy available on our website.

We provide our staff with training on our CSR strategy and this policy and seek to raise awareness of any negative impacts of our business and methods to reduce them.

Responsibility and Review

One of our Partners, Christopher Taylor, has overall responsibility for our CSR strategy and for implementing this policy. He consults with the Partners and also consulting with small team of employees which meet on a quarterly basis to ensure we are meeting the aims of this policy and to ensure that it is regularly reviewed. The team plays a key role in ensuring the systems and controls we have in place are effective.

All members of staff have a role to play in complying with our CSR objectives and are encouraged to make further suggestions in relation to initiatives we could undertake. If anyone has a suggestion, they should contact Christopher Taylor.

We are fully committed to the highest possible standards of openness, honesty and accountability. In line with that commitment, in accordance with our Whistleblowing policy, we actively encourage all staff members who have serious concerns about any real or perceived departure from the high ethical standard that we set to voice those concerns openly.

Our People

We believe our staff are at the heart of everything that we do.. Some examples of how we support our staff include:

Mental health support: during the last 12 months. We actively supported Andover Mind and encourage staff to be involved in regular mental health activities which included visiting their Garden for Mind and engaging in meditation sessions.

Staff benefits: we offer a comprehensive range of benefits including bereavement leave, maternity and paternity pay, occupational sick pay from day one and access to ride variety of discounts.

Employment opportunities: from offering work experience to T level students to actively promoting staff from support positions to that of Partners, we are actively support and encourage our staff to progress their careers.

Our Community

In considering our impact on the community we have resolved to sponsor and support a different charity nominated by the staff each year. This involves Partners and staff carrying out fundraising activities for those charities and also Partners and staff engaging in activities throughout the year suggested by those charities. This year we are supporting an elderly activity club set up by Brendan Care which is now run by one of our employees.

One of our Partners, Christopher Taylor is a Trustee of Icknield Trust which is a Further Education Centre in Andover for young people from Icknield School aged 16 to 19, who all have learning difficulties and/or physical disabilities. Christopher has been a Trustee since 2013. Christopher has been a member of the local Rotary Club and has been a member since 2020 and is regularly involved in raising funds for the local community.

Our Suppliers

We are committed to eliminating unlawful discrimination and to promoting equality and diversity in our dealings with suppliers and other third parties. Our Equality and diversity policy can be found on our intranet.

We endeavour to enter into clear and fair contracts with our suppliers. We commit to the timely settlement of suppliers’ invoices.

Wherever possible, we aim to support the local economy by contracting with local suppliers.

Our Environment

We are committed to behaving responsibly and to minimising our impact on the environment. We do this in the following ways:

1. Using local suppliers wherever possible
2. Recycling our waste as much as possible, including ink cartridges, computer hardware, paper and general waste
3. Allowing our staff to work flexibly and to work from home wherever possible thereby reducing the carbon footprint in our staff travelling to our offices

Barker Son and Isherwood CSR efforts reflect our dedication to building a more resilient, inclusive and sustainable community. Through our focus on people, premises and sustainable purchasing, we aim to make a meaningful and lasting impact.

31st March 2025