Cabot colleague community round up

This January, our brilliant community volunteers across Cabot Credit Management will be making their plans to support the communities we serve during 2024. As the teams get themselves ready, we look back over some of the wonderful things they achieved in 2023.

Colleagues in Worthing (Cabot Financial and Mortimer Clarke Solicitors) have continued to support Chestnut Tree House, who care for children and young adults with progressive life-limiting conditions and who are not expected to live into adulthood.

Over the past twelve months they’ve abseiled down Arundel Castle’s 180ft main tower, sorted mountains of charitable donations at the central warehouse and given time to support maintenance and upkeep of Chestnut Tree Houses’ gardens.

Their single aim has been to raise awareness and valuable cash, so that the incredible Chestnut Tree House team can continue to provide the love and support that so many children and families need. As well as giving their time, the team in Worthing have managed to raise well over £10,000 in 2023 which is truly amazing.

Jess Staunton, one of our colleagues at Mortimer Clarke Solicitors told us:

“It is such a lovely feeling being able to give back to the local community. I’ve really enjoyed the days I have spent at Chestnut Tree House over the years, and being able to see how much our involvement makes a difference is really rewarding!”

Our Cabot Financial Ireland Team have continued to volunteer at Ronald McDonald House Ireland, preparing meals for families whose children are undergoing medical treatment and staying at the Hospice. Giving a small amount of time can make a big difference to others and we are proud of the team for supporting their local community and a cause which they are consistently passion about.

All of our UK brands (Wescot, Orbit, Cabot Financial, DLC and MCS) took part in a charity sponsored cycle aiming to ride the 975 miles from Lands’ End to John O'Groats across all of our sites.

They smashed the target, covering 1116.80 miles in 7 hours raising money for three great causes in Mind, Chestnut Tree House and Prostate Cancer UK. Seeing our UK colleagues come together to get some good exercise for body and mind whilst supporting each other in achieving a massive goal was a lovely moment. There are bigger plans in the works for 2024!

Our UK Legal Team spent time giving back to the community by supporting Port Lympne Hotel and Reserve & Howletts Wild Animal Park. They helped clear plants and vegetation from an old enclosure, to ensure it was ready for its new residents – the mongoose! It not just the mongoose that benefits, as our team's contribution plays a vital role in supporting Port Lympne Reserves conservation efforts to help critically endangered animals and their habitats, in the UK and around the world.

Our Cabot Financial Team based in Kings Hill, completed a Beach clean by litter picking at Whitstable and considering the general weather in 2023, were really glad to get some sunshine for it! They also had a great day at the RSPCA in Leybourne with 7 volunteers helping to support the charity by creating extra walkways using bark chippings. We also recommenced our Skills 4 Bills® school programme which gives Key Stage 2 (age 9-11) students an awareness of the financial commitments and decisions they will face during their lives. We have exciting plans to widen the number of communities we offer this experience to in 2024.

Cabot Financial Spain, placed their focus on protecting the environment and long term sustainability through responsible practices. Together with the Paisaje Limpio association, they organised a collection of "basuraleza" in the forest of El Pardo (Madrid), during which several of our colleagues and their families participated as volunteers. Paisaje Limpio led the teams in how to safely collect all waste that is harmful to the environment and gave a workshop on how to care for and respect our environment in a sustainable way. Everyone took away some very practical tips and lots of incentive to put them into practice.

In keeping with their annual tradition, our Compliance Team in Spain participated as volunteers at the Food Bank of Madrid, helping collect and sort donations for the local community.

Over in Wescot, our ‘Saltcoats Superstars’ held a coffee morning to help raise money for Dementia UK. We have some fantastic bakers in the Saltcoats office, and the team managed to raise an incredible £270! The team also followed that up in December by supporting the local community with their gift-giving tree. The initiative provided over 100 gifts to children who may not receive a present at Christmas through donations and promises placed on the tree by our colleagues.

In November, Cabot Financial Portugal promoted an ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) event for all its employees and their families! With the help of ANEFA - Associação Nacional de Empresas Florestais, Agrícolas e do Ambiente and Camara Municipal de Torres Vedras, our colleagues who were due to help plant 500 trees, ended up planting about 800! That is some effort in a day. Our thanks to ANEFA and the Municipality of Torres Vedras for their time and support.

We also joined our parent group Encore Capital Group in November, for our third annual ‘Encore Connected Week’, as colleagues across the world bought into the theme “Our Mission, Our Purpose: It Starts with Us.” As part of this multi-day celebration of our Values (We care, We find a better way and We are inclusive and collaborative), teams across Encore worked together to identify organisations and causes in need of support, and we couldn’t be prouder of the impact they made.

From donating essential items such as food, clothes and personal care products for those in need, to extending holiday gifts to children from underprivileged communities, our colleagues united across the globe to make a local impact and show that “We care” is more than just words we put on a wall. Here’s some numbers on what they achieved:

Our wonderful colleagues held numerous other events, coffee mornings, foodbank collections and fundraisers for national and local causes in 2023, too many to list them all here. All we can say is a huge thank you to everyone who took part and an even bigger thank you to our organisers and representatives on each site. Your goodwill, drive, passion and determination really are awe inspiring and we appreciate the impact you make every year. We are looking forward to sharing more of our colleagues’ successes in 2024.