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Our Environmental, Social, and Governance Committment
Introduction
Barchester Healthcare has been committed to activities now commonly captured under the “ESG” heading for many years.
During 2023, Barchester worked with an independent third party to review the status of our ESG activities, and more importantly to set key criteria for these activities to continue to develop over time. The principal activities and metrics are set out below, but there are many other areas of interest and work on-going within the company.
ESG is now the subject of a Board sub-committee chaired by the CFO. The ESG Committee meets quarterly and is attended by all Executive members of the Board, the Chief People Officer, the Director of Customer Experience & Marketing and the Commercial Director. Relevant subject matter experts are invited to attend where relevant. Progress on ESG matters are reported to the Board by the Chief Executive.
Environment
Barchester has a broad range of measures in place relating to the environment, including:
- A full time “Energy & Environment Manager”
- Monitoring of energy consumption statistics by site
- Water data loggers to monitor consumption patterns to detect constant use, issues or leaks
- Environmental register to track environment agency requirements, invasive species reporting, monitoring licences and environmental legislation
In terms of the key metrics monitored by the ESG Committee and the Board, with regard to the Environment:
Site Specific Energy Performance Certificates (EPC’s)
Barchester aims to drive the energy efficiency of all site locations, so that no sites have a rating below a “C” standard. As at the end of December, positive progress has again been made.
Proportion of sites with each EPC Rating
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2022 | 3.2% | 51.4% | 30.4% | 8.1% | 2.4% | 0.8% | 3.6% |
| Dec 2023 | 4.4% | 62.0% | 23.6% | 3.2% | 2.4% | 0.8% | 3.6% |
| Change | 1.2% | 10.6% | -6.8% | -4.9% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Solar Power Capability
Barchester has committed to invest at least £2million per annum to deploy solar panels across its estate to generate carbon free electricity. In addition, all of our new build care homes are built with solar panels. The latest progress on these installations is set out below:
| No. Schemes | Energy Savings (MWh) | Carbon Savings (tCO2) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| As at Sept 2022 | 25 | 759 | 3,923 |
| As at Sept 2023 | 33 | 1,281 | 6,626 |
| As at Sept 2024 | 43 | 2,263 | 11,703 |
| Improvement | 10 | 982 | 5,077 |
LED Lighting
Barchester is committed to converting all of its light fittings (where suitable) to LED alternatives by December 2024. Whilst the majority of the locations have some LED fittings already, as at end of December 2023, 60.4% of the sites in the estate were 100% on LED fittings.
Overall Energy Consumption
Overall energy consumption by Barchester, and the source of the energy used, is shown below.
| Fuel | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gas | 130,142,624 | 131,150,794 | 137,782,689 |
| Electricity | 43,852,238 | 43,325,947 | 43,872,885 |
| Oil | 73,915 | 151,887 | 208,345 |
| LPG | 1,495,619 | 1,445,752 | 1,454,132 |
| Biomass | 1,136,565 | 1,102,846 | 1,186,142 |
| TOTAL | 176,700,961 | 177,177,226 | 184,504,193 |
At this time, the business has not purchased certified “green” energy, due to the substantial cost associated with securing the renewable energy certificate (REGO). This will be reviewed at the time of the next utility tendering exercise.
Emissions Management
Barchester’s CO2 emissions, by energy source, are set out below. These figures are only produced annually, so 2023 represents the most recent available data. There was a 2.64% reduction (on a per bed basis) between 2022 and 2023.
2023 SCER
| Energy/Fuels | tCO2e | tCO2e/bed |
|---|---|---|
| Gas (kWh) | 23,401 | 1.50 |
| Electricity (kWh) | 8,778 | 0.56 |
| Heating Oil (litres) | 78 | 0.00 |
| LPG (litres) | 2,326 | 0.15 |
| TOTAL | 34,582 | 2.21 |
2022 SCER
| Energy/Fuels | tCO2e | tCO2e/bed |
|---|---|---|
| Gas (kWh) | 23,624 | 1.55 |
| Electricity (kWh) | 8,192 | 0.54 |
| Heating Oil (litres) | 282 | 0.02 |
| LPG (litres) | 2,527 | 0.17 |
| TOTAL | 34,625 | 2.27 |
2021 SCER
| Energy/Fuels | tCO2e | tCO2e/bed |
|---|---|---|
| Gas (kWh) | 25,330 | 1.64 |
| Electricity (kWh) | 8,468 | 0.55 |
| Heating Oil (litres) | 529 | 0.03 |
| LPG (litres) | 2,086 | 0.14 |
| TOTAL | 36,413 | 2.36 |
Waste & Resource Management
In partnership with our waste management partners, in the previous 12 months (ending September 2024), Barchester sent to landfill 2.87% of its waste (representing 296,976 kg). So far in Q3 2024 Barchester has sent landfill 2.86% of its waste (representing 74,788 kg). At present, Barchester targets to send less than 3% of waste to landfill. It is not presently possible to reduce this due to the clinical nature of some of the waste products produced from care homes.
Social
Barchester takes its social responsibilities seriously, not least given its role in the centre of social care in society. One of our key commitments is to pay above the National Minimum Wage (NMW), and currently we undertake to pay at least 40p / hour above the NMW.
|
Heading |
Example of constituent elements |
|---|---|
|
Culture & Workplace |
Above National Minimum Wage Employer, People strategy, Internal Communications Team, Speak Up programme, Wellbeing, Leadership Development, Apprenticeships, employee Net Promoter Score |
|
Community |
Barchester’s Charitable Foundation, Volunteer Programme, Community Engagement Initiatives |
|
Customer |
Customer Experience Team, Customer Feedback, Net Promoter Score, Google Score, Carehome.co.uk Score |
|
Awareness |
Tell Barchester, Best Companies |
|
Corporate Compliance |
Modern Slavery Statement, Gender Pay Report, Whistleblowing Policy, Disability Awareness |
Barchester's Charitable Foundation
Barchester’s Charitable Foundation is a registered charity that helps older people and adults with a disability across England, Scotland, Wales & Jersey. The Foundation’s focus is to connect or re-connect people with others in their local community, and it supports applications that combat loneliness and enable people to be active and engaged. Further information can be found here.
The total grants awarded in 2023 to assist those in their communities was £223,846 vs £171,651 in 2022.
Resident & Patient Wellbeing, Dignity and Safety
This is expressed internally under Barchester’s strategic objective of “Quality First”. The belief is that the safety and quality of life enjoyed by our residents and patients is the key driver for the business to be successful. We undertake our own rigorous inspections of all of our services by an independent team which is used to drive continuous improvement. One public measure of our performance are the ratings awarded to our services by external regulators.
England (CQC)
| As at: | No's of Services | Percentage Good or Outstanding |
|---|---|---|
| June 2024 | 221 | 84.6% |
| June 2023 | 221 | 85.5% |
Scotland (Care Inspectorate)
| As at: | No's of Services | Percentage Good or Outstanding |
|---|---|---|
| June 2024 | 17 | 94.1% |
| June 2023 | 17 | 88.2% |
The above data excludes services that have not yet been rated, typically new developments that have yet to receive their first inspection.
Inspectors in Wales and Jersey do not publish ratings as such, which affects 5 and 2 services respectively.
Resident & Patient Engagement and Satisfaction
We undertake an internal exercise in the business to understand the Net Promoter Score for each service. This is also used to drive actions to improve the quality in each service. External measures of resident and patient engagement and satisfaction are set out below.
England (CQC)
| As at: | Carehome.co.uk Score (Maxmium 10.0) | Google Review Score (Maxmium 5.0) |
|---|---|---|
| June 2024 | 9.7 | 4.7 |
| June 2023 | 9.6 | 4.6 |
Workforce Management
We measure the turnover of staff based on a rolling 12 month average. Internally we monitor and report this statistic across individual services, regions and divisions. Our strategic target is to have staff turnover below 38%.
| Year | Company Turnover (%) |
| 2024 (YTD) | 32.3% |
| 2023 | 34.4% |
| 2022 | 41.6% |
Workforce Inclusion
Our goal is to ensure we have a culture where everyone feels they belong, and celebrates diversity. Everyone should feel they belong. That they are seen, and respected as an individual.
That’s what Inclusion at Barchester is all about. We’re all unique, and what we have in common is our passion for what we do, the care we provide and the services we deliver. Our Inclusion group includes people from across the business, different roles, different locations, all with a passion for inclusion.
Our members meet regularly to develop the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda at Barchester, offering professional expertise and personal experience that informs the group’s work. They champion equality and diversity in their areas of work and throughout the business, raise awareness and issues of concerns and highlight areas of good practice in relation to inclusion.
Workforce Engagement
The engagement Survey closed on the 30th November 2023. The overall company eNPS was very positive at 42.3%.
Below is a table showing the NPS scores for each division against the Barchester overall NPS;
|
Division Overall |
NW & Midlands | Scotland & NE | Central | South | Hospitals & CC | Barchester Overall | |
|
Net Promoter Score Number of responses |
41.9 10780 |
48.5 1750 |
35.1 1922 |
439 1857 |
42.3 1857 |
36.9 634 |
42.3 11554 |
Gender Pay Gap Reporting
Barchester reports information in relation to Gender Pay Gap annually. Details can be found here:
Barchester Healthcare’s Gender Pay Gap Report 2022/23 | Barchester Healthcare
Gender Diversity
Barchester’s employees comprise 78% females and 22% males.
The top 2% of the company (defined by annual earnings) is 333 employees. This group comprises 76% females and 24% males.
Staff Training
Given the nature of the work undertaken in Barchester, training is critical to maintain staff competency, skills and development. Our most recent training statistics are set out below.
| Nine months as at: | Hours Training (000s) | Mandatory Training completion rate (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 2023 | 885.4 | 94.7% |
| Dec 2022 | 739.9 | 93.8% |
Governance
The Board of Barchester seeks to uphold the highest standards of corporate governance. Key elements of the Governance Framework of the business are:
|
Heading |
Examples of constituent elements |
|---|---|
|
Board Governance |
The Board of Barchester meets regularly and aspires to maintain the best corporate governance compliance. The board maintains a majority of non-executive directors relative to executive directors. The Board has devolved powers to a number of committees, including: - Nominations - Quality & Clinical Governance - Audit (including risk register) - Risk (reports results to the Audit Committee) - Investment - Remuneration - ESG |
|
External Quality Regulation |
The business is regulated in each of the four jurisdictions in which it operates by external quality regulators |
|
Health and Safety |
The Business has a Director of Health & Safety and a H&S Committee that meets regularly |
|
Internal Audit |
An internal audit function exists and reports directly into the Chair of the Audit Committee (independent of the Executive management team) |
|
Governance |
All policies of the business are scrutinised and approved by the Policy Committee, guided by the Policy Officer. |
Whistleblowing
Barchester encourage staff to “Speak Up” about any concerns they may have, and provide a number of channels for staff to express such concerns – ranging from “Speak-up Champions” in every location to a confidential, independently run helpline. Each event is reported to the Audit Committee.
Figures for the number of whistleblowing reports are set out below.
| Year | Total Number of Whistle-blowings |
| 2024 (YTD) | 30 |
| 2023 | 69 |
| 2022 | 82 |
To give the above figures some context, the company as at 30 September 2023 employed 18,185 people, so 82 incidents represents a frequency of 0.4%.
Grievances
A summary of the number of grievances received year to date is set out below. Each grievance is investigated in accordance with the Company’s Grievance Policy.
| Year: | Number of Grievances |
|---|---|
| 2024 (YTD) | 80 |
| 2023 | 196 |
| 2022 | 199 |
Modern Slavery
Details relating to Barchester’s position with regard to modern slavery can be found here.
Procurement Policy
Details of our ESG procurement policy can be found here.
Latest news and press
Barchester maintains sector-leading reward package for employees
Great care is delivered by great people, and Barchester Healthcare’s high quality care and premium service is down to our passionate teams and their dedication.
Speak Up! Month: Fostering a Culture of Openness and Action
October marks Speak Up! Month, a time to champion the importance of raising concerns, listening with empathy, and taking meaningful action. Here at Barchester Healthcare, we believe that every voice matters, and it’s everyone's responsibility to speak up when something isn't right.
Inclusion Group - Our journey so far
Here at Barchester, we understand our team spends a lot of time with each other, so it’s important everyone feels included in the Barchester family.