Swipe left/right to view full table
Corporate Social Responsibility
Cabot's Commitment to its corporate social responsibility
Our commitment to corporate social responsibility and sustainability is an extension of our company values, We Care, We find a better way & We are inclusive and collaborative. We can achieve this by ensuring we are giving back and making a positive impact on the communities, where we live and work. We are proud to do so.
Investing in our people
Colleague retention
We attract and retain talented people by offering competitive salaries, and a wide range of employee benefits e.g. pension matching across the Cabot Credit Management group. We are also accredited by ‘Great Place to Work’ based on our colleague’s feedback to them. This independent validation of our culture gives us a good test that we are providing the right environment.
Professional growth
We continue to expand and offer various professional development programmes across the group including online courses, apprenticeships, and customer service qualifications. In addition to this, departments and teams are given opportunities to enhance their skills in their individual roles through training. For example, our sensitive support teams are given various levels of training to better their service to our vulnerable customers.
We aim to maximise the benefits of the training and qualifications our colleagues achieve for their and our consumers benefit.
Diversity and Inclusion
We work to create an inclusive culture within all of our businesses by championing diversity awareness across all of our sites in Europe. Our Diversity and Inclusion steering group has a representative from each of our businesses helping to bring awareness and focus to the impact our everyday decisions have on building an inclusive culture and diverse workforce.
Giving back to communities
Volunteering
We encourage colleagues to give time voluntarily to community service. We provide support through corporate matching programmes and give paid time off for volunteering activities in some sites. We also provide company-sponsored volunteer opportunities.
Colleagues have volunteered over 1300 hours in 2022 across UK and Europe and will continue to support local communities throughout 2023.
Charity
As a group, we are involved with many charities throughout the year. Colleagues take part in activities and events to raise money and awareness of great causes. Our Colleagues in each site vote annually for a local cause they want to support.
Where we can, we will match fund the donations raised by our colleagues across the Group to recognise the efforts they have made.
We also proudly partner with Blueprint for all. They believe in a future where talent is respected and nurtured irrespective of where it comes from. One where organisations recognise and realise the benefits of a diverse workforce and where our communities can come together and thrive. Their work supports our Mission, Vision and Values and they help keep us honest to our principles through challenging our thinking and sharing best practice. We also learn from each other through the Blueprint for all mentoring schemes our leaders take part in.
Financial literacy and responsible finance
In our UK Debt purchase sites, we run Skills4Bills sessions for primary school children to teach them about managing their finances. In our UK Servicing sites we also support secondary school children with mentoring.
To address and accommodate the strong growth needs of our main French site in Lyon, we have established a three-party partnership with the local Job Centre and with C2N, a government-sponsored training company, to provide people who are unemployed with a two-month training programme.
Environmental Sustainability
Carbon Footprint
We are intent on reducing our carbon footprint across Europe, this includes; plastic free areas, recycling initiatives and encouraging colleagues to think before they print. We promote and facilitate car share, cycle to work schemes and promote use of electric cars by signposting to electric car charging points where possible. We are all committed to powering our business sites with renewable energy where possible.
Our Spanish business is ISO 14001 certified. The ISO process identifies where further improvements can be made that would reduce the negative impact on the environment.
Responsible sourcing
We have put measures in place through our online payment options and incentives to ensure we reduce the use of paper in an effort to reach paperless in our UK, Spain and France sites. In addition to this, we work with our suppliers to provide recycled and sustainable resources for our customer statements and letters.
Consumer Centric approach
Consumer Centric Approach
Our customer centric business model focuses on Creating pathways to economic freedom. We take a principle-based approach and use behavioural science to support our interactions making time with our consumers the best experience we can.
At Cabot Credit Management, we understand we have a responsibility to protect the financial stability and well-being of our consumers, especially those, who for a variety of circumstances, may be considered vulnerable. We partner with and make referrals to debt recovery charities who can provide further support to our customers in the UK.
Call Frameworks
We have invested in a Call Framework model focusing on tailored customer treatment. Each consumer has their outcome matched to their needs, be that a payment plan or appropriate forbearance.
Training Customer Consultants
Throughout our European businesses, we provide an extensive induction programme for our customer consultants to enable them to provide exceptional customer service and most importantly make good decisions which are helpful outcomes.
This core induction is then adapted and tailored for other roles within our businesses. Mental Health and Wellbeing training is provided to allow our colleagues to understand and empathise with situations our consumers find themselves in and have the skills to react in a positive way to difficult circumstances. It also supports our colleagues to manage their own wellbeing when handling these situations and more widely.
Our colleagues who interact with vulnerable customers receive further, in depth training to provide specialist support.
Regulation and Authorisation
Businesses across the group are authorised by many recognised regulatory bodies to ensure compliance and give additional confidence to our consumers.
Cabot Financial, Wescot and Mortimer Clarke Solicitors are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK.
Cabot Ireland is regulated by Ofcom and the ICO and authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland.
Cabot Spain is a member of the board of directors of ANGECO (Spanish National Debt Collection Association)
Mortimer Clarke Solicitors, is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority
Operating Responsibly
Ethical Practices
Our Conduct and Ethics Policy, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy and Equality and Diversity Policy support our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships.
Health and Safety
Each business unit has its own Health, Safety & Wellness policy, ensuring our colleagues feel safe and supported in the workplace.
We have Mental Health First Aiders; a team of specially trained colleagues who are a point of contact for a colleague who is experiencing a mental health issue or emotional distress. Mental Health First Aiders are valuable in providing early intervention help for someone who may be developing a mental health issue and signposting the appropriate help. Their role is to get someone to the right place.
Business Continuity and Data Security / Protection
Business continuity
We operate a ‘3 lines of defence’ framework that monitors compliance with numerous regulatory and legal rules. This includes compliance with Bribery Act Fraud and Financial Crime requirements.
We have implemented an Anti-Money Laundering, Anti Bribery and Whistleblowing policy and have systems of prevention and recovery to deal with potential threats to our company.
Our Risk Management policies and processes that are in place are monitored by our Risk & Compliance function. The Cabot Holdco Board and management oversee the risk of corruption by having a Group Anti-Financial Crime Policy.
Data security/protection
Protecting our customers data is something we take seriously as a business. As part of our General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) we made the decision to appoint a Group Data Protection Officer in addition to the Data Protection Officer/ Privacy Champion at each of our sites across Europe.
We have direct board sponsorship of information security initiatives across the business which includes ISO27001 certifications in our largest businesses.