At Abri, inclusion and belonging aren’t just ideas, they’re part of who we are. We want Abri to be a great place to work, because when our colleagues feel supported and valued, they can deliver great customer service. That’s why over the past year, we’ve been making sure these values guide the decisions we make, the services we offer, and the culture we foster with our colleagues. We know that when people feel they belong, they do their best work, and that means better services for our customers.
I’m really proud to share our latest Inclusion and Belonging Report for 2024/25, which shows how we’re turning intentions into meaningful action. There’s still more to do, but it’s encouraging to see the progress we’re making and the positive changes already taking shape.
Highlights from our latest Inclusion and Belonging Report
In September 2024, Eddie Lynch MBE joined us as the Independent Chair of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Group. With decades of leadership experience, Eddie has helped us think differently, focusing not just on what we want to achieve, but on the real impact we’re making.
This focus on real and tangible impact challenged us to look beyond intention and ask: what difference are we making? His insight and leadership were instrumental in shaping this report. Here are some of the key findings:
- 11% of colleagues identify as having a disability or long‑term health condition meaning our team better reflects the communities we serve.
- We have good LGBTQ+ representation in senior leadership, with Heads of Departments and Executive Directors being more likely to identify as gay, bisexual, or another sexual orientation compared to all colleagues in general.
- Our gender balance at executive and director level is now closer to that of our wider workforce, moving from 61% male last year to 56% female today.
These improvements support our ambition to be a great place to work, ensuring colleagues feel valued, represented and empowered which directly enhances the quality of service our customers receive.
What we’ve achieved in our workforce this year
We’ve taken some important steps to make Abri a more inclusive place to work:
- Safe spaces for colleagues: We launched a Disability and Chronic Illness Group which has already made a valuable contribution by helping to review our Workplace Reasonable Adjustments policy to better support long-term health conditions. We’ve also begun work on an LGBTQ+ Forum. which will provide a dedicated space for colleagues to connect, share, and advocate for inclusion.
- Inclusive recruitment: Social mobility questions were introduced at board level, with plans to roll out across colleague recruitment.
- Accessibility in learning: We’ve started reviewing all mandatory training to make it easier for neurodiverse colleagues to engage with.
What’s next
Inclusion is an ongoing journey, and over the next 12 months we’ll be taking focused steps to deepen our impact. We’ll be strengthening our connections with the communities we serve so we can better understand the inequalities and discrimination people face every day, and work with them to address these challenges.
As part of this, we’ve signed the LGBTQ+ Housing Pledge, an important step that reaffirms our commitment to improving LGBTQ+ inclusion, ensuring everything we do respects identity and contributes to a safer, more welcoming community for everyone.
We’ll also continue creating more inclusive environments for disabled colleagues and customers and improving our understanding of how protected characteristics shape people’s experiences, including pathways into and out of homelessness.
We’re proud of the progress we’ve made so far. In 2024, we achieved Investors in People Platinum, ranking in the top 7% of companies worldwide, and were recognised as one of the best 50 large companies to work for in the UK. These are clear signs that we’re building a great place to work. But we know we can go further.
As we move into our 2026–31 corporate strategy, one of our key ambitions is to become a top five place to work for in the UK. Creating an inclusive, diverse workplace where everyone can thrive will be central to achieving this goal, and we’re excited to continue this journey together.
Vicky Beckwith - Director of HR and OD