Supply Chain
Provident Financial is the market leader in home credit in the UK and Ireland. It also has a successful credit card business, offering a different kind of card specially designed for people who often find themselves excluded by other lenders.
Provident Financial aims to procure products and services that have minimal negative impacts on the environment and society at large. This involvement not only yields social and environmental improvements throughout the supply chain, but also helps to contain costs, improve risk management and enhance the company’s reputation.
In keeping with its environmental supply chain management policy, Provident Financial reviewed the environmental performance of key suppliers and joined forces with them to develop policies and practices that minimise environmental risks.
Corporate Citizenship assisted Provident Financial with an analysis of its supply chain, mapped and prioritised its risks and responsibilities, reviewed the supply chain policy and drafted a risk assessment questionnaire to guide and inform its supply chain managers. We also facilitated a training workshop for procurement teams to raise awareness and assist with the ‘embedding’ process.
Assurance
Provident Financial is a FTSE 250 financial services company which specialises in the provision of personal credit products for consumers in the non-standard lending market. The business operates in the UK and Ireland, with around 3,000 employees and over two million customers in the UK and Ireland. Corporate Citizenship has provided advice and support to Provident Financial on a range of corporate responsibility matters since 2001.
Given the nature of Provident Financial’s business and customer base, the company has always received a high level of scrutiny regarding its performance as a responsible business. Since 2005, Provident Financial has asked Corporate Citizenship to provide an external assurance of its corporate responsibility reports. The service we have given has been very much added value, in that we have not only verified report content but also helped Provident Financial to produce better reports, whilst making forward looking recommendations that have influenced strategy and driven new initiatives. We also organise and facilitate an annual stakeholder roundtable for Provident Financial prior to report drafting, the results of which are used to shape content development.
By working with Provident Financial over a number of years, we have helped the company make great progress in its approach to corporate responsibility, as well as its performance and reporting.