Our Social Impact
Work with customers, colleagues and communities to encourage sustainable practices and economic activity that aims to create shared prosperity.
We have a long, proud history of supporting communities, colleagues and customers.
Our purpose-led approach to financial inclusion is evidenced through our aspiration to work towards the eradiation of the poverty premium for our customers by 2030. The poverty premium taskforce, established by Virgin Money, brings together businesses from key sectors as well as third sector experts to share insights and identify potential solutions and opportunities to collaborate to tackle the poverty premium. We are working with the Smart Data Foundry (SDF) on the impact of poverty premiums on our customer base so that we better identity drivers and develop solutions.
In line with our digital inclusion ambitions, we were the first UK bank to join the National Databank founded by Virgin Media O2 and Good Things Foundation, and offer free data-loaded O2 SIM card to people experiencing data poverty. We’ve also supported the National Device Bank, helping put technology and training in the hands of those who would otherwise be digitally excluded due to poverty.
We have worked with the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) to develop a report called Left Out: How to tackle digital exclusion and reduce the poverty premium. The report highlights some of the key challenges around digital access and the financial impact this has on individuals – particularly those on lower incomes – when it comes to purchasing essential goods or services.
The Virgin Money Foundation supports organisations with the vision to change their communities for the better. Their grant funding has helped to tackle issues caused by poverty, provide opportunities for education, training, employment and voluntary roles, and provide advice around debt, benefits, and financial support. With the soaring cost of living we believe that tackling the Poverty Premium is more important than ever before making these services incredibly valuable to the community they serve.
We are also providing financial education to school children across the UK through our Make £5 Grow programme.
For more information on our achievements as a Group, including on our progress noted above, see our ESG Disclosures.