Social Contract is a Promise to Listen and to Act

Communities, colleagues and the environment remain at the heart of National Grid’s updated Social Contract for 2023.

Since becoming the first electricity distributor to publish a Social Contract in 2021, we’ve acted on the wishes of our stakeholders to add social and environmental value across our network to customers, employees and the wider community.

The 2023 Social Contract outlines progress over the last 12 months, delivering local community investment and strengthening the links between our colleagues and the communities we serve.

This includes the continuing success of our Community Matters Fund, which has awarded grants of £4.3 million to grassroots organisations since its launch in October 2021, with £3 million targeted at tackling fuel poverty.

We also appointed 23 ambassadors to support Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) outreach activities and launched new environmental and biodiversity projects to ensure a positive impact on the environment.

These included working with local ecologists to identify insect biodiversity and piloting an initiative to install solar panels on schools.

As part of our commitment to improve social mobility, we also introduced a Power Network Craft Assistant scheme, creating an opportunity for people to take up engineering roles without the usual academic qualifications.

Other schemes included a pilot project to provide refurbished iPads, free mobile data and digital skills training to customers experiencing fuel poverty. This is one of several projects set to be scaled up over the next 12 months.

The relaunched document also includes actions for the year ahead which include a pledge to award a further £3 million of shareholder funding through our Community Matters Fund in 2023, in response to the ongoing cost of living crisis.

We’ve also set out a significant increase in our volunteering ambitions, and new partnerships to support the creation of woodland habitats, as part of our work to increase biodiversity.

Alison Sleightholm, Regulation and Corporate Director, said: “Our Social Contract is part of our ongoing commitment to do the right thing for our customers, colleagues and the wider community. It’s a promise to listen actively to our communities and employees and offer locally-tailored solutions to the challenges they face.

“The actions we take now – to reduce carbon emissions, support our customers and empower our colleagues – are critical. That’s what we have set out in our Social Contract and that’s what we plan to deliver.”

You can find out more and download our social contract here.