Strategic report Governance Financial statements Other information RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS TOWARDS HIGHER STANDARDS CONTINUED •Being active members of the Bank of England, Our activities support our local schools, colleges, Bristol and the local community HM Treasury, Financial Conduct Authority universities and communities and are focused Our response to supporting our community Productive Finance working group. This group around three core aspirations: spans high level strategic involvement with key is considering new investment vehicles for We support Bristol as a city where everyone stakeholders in the city, through to targeted financing long term assets. • initiatives that allow colleagues to volunteer on can thrive specific causes. We support local projects and •Working with industry groups to champion We are a socially responsible and committed plans which aim to improve the lives of the people client interests on a variety of policy issues • including on improving transfer times. employer who live and work in the city. Tax strategy • We want to support and promote financial Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)/West of Integrity and good conduct are central to our resilience for all England Combined Authority secondments: culture and this means we aim to comply with Financial inclusion and social mobility In July 2020 we seconded five HL colleagues both the spirit and the letter of the law and are We take our responsibility to deliver financial to the Local Enterprise Partnership to aid in committed to conducting our tax affairs in a clear, inclusion and education seriously. We aim to raise the Regional Recovery Taskforce. The purpose fair and transparent way. awareness about the importance of investing for of the West of England Regional Recovery Taxes provide public revenues for government to your future, and saving from an early age. Taskforce is to support the recovery of the meet economic and social objectives. Paying and Community Our service educates other organisations on communities, businesses and public services collecting taxes is an important part of our role as investing and pensions and this is something we of the West of England following COVID-19 a business responsibly operating within and Our values have always guided how we act, and as want to do more with schools and universities. by addressing adverse impacts and to drive contributing to society. a company we have always strived to go the extra We have an internal Financial Inclusion Group who economic recovery that reflects the priorities mile and do the right thing. From supporting the are a group of volunteers dedicated to supporting of clean and inclusive growth. We aim to comply with all our tax filing, tax local community to minimising our environmental financial education andinclusion initiatives in the A year on, and thanks to the hard work of all those reporting and tax payment obligations. impact, our aim is to ensure our actions have a community. The group educates school and involved, real progress is being made with HL We seek to maintain an open, honest and positive positive impact on society. university students because it is important to colleagues providing “a much needed driving working relationship with tax authorities and We’re proud of the contribution our colleagues build good financial habits early. Topics include: force” and “it feels like there is now an engine we do not undertake aggressive tax planning. and business make to the local community and budgeting, savings and their future options. powering the recovery plan”. This is a great Our corporation tax and employer’s National our focus has been on supporting activities that We are looking to extend this further to example of HL making a difference. Insurance paid in respect of the year ended encourage social mobility whether through community groups. The key areas of involvement included: 30 June 2021 was £77.5 million (2020: £99.5m). education, food provision or financial resilience. We appreciate the difficulties the pandemic has In addition, we pay other taxes such as VAT, presented to education and have donated over •Putting together a recovery plan, including stamp duty and business rates. 200 laptops to schools in order to close the digital measures to help businesses adapt to the new Our full tax strategy is available at divide. Our apprenticeships and placements offer economic landscape and improve resilience, www.hl.co.uk/about-us/taxstrategy. students the opportunity to gain experience and as well as support for residents to develop new life skills. skills, training and employment opportunities. 39 Hargreaves Lansdown Report and Financial Statements 2021