Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility

We understand that corporate social responsibility starts from within. Therefore, we aim to support the following three pillars; the people who make us Taylor Walton, the environment in which we live and work, and the communities surrounding our offices.

People

Our unique talent, brought together by our People, is the key ingredient at Taylor Walton. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and foster an engaging and inclusive place to work.  We offer flexible and hybrid working, allowing work to be a part of life that can be adapted to fit around life stages as may be required. It’s all about balance. 

There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a colleague succeed. We have a strong track record of supporting individuals to realise their potential, be it through pursuing a professional qualification with financial support from the firm and time off to study, gaining increased confidence through a learning and development programme or charting a career path by taking different roles within the practice. Our people are experienced and trained in developing each colleague to succeed.

Our people have the opportunity to develop their expertise by being given early responsibility in their professional careers, direct exposure to increasingly complex client matters and to work with experienced legal professionals.

Environment

From planting trees, recycling single use plastic and batteries, to concerted efforts to use less paper we are committed to becoming a more sustainable workplace.

In 2022, we launched our ‘grow our own’ tree planting initiative.  We have planted over 100 trees across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, which is a clear step in our sustainability plan while marking and celebrating our colleagues’ annual promotions and exam successes.  Our plan is to increase the number of trees we plant each year.

We have invested heavily in a series of technology updates over the past 18 months has helped us to significantly decrease the amount of printing and paper usage across the business by 35.7% in the last few years.

We actively recycle paper and plastic across all of our offices.

Investment in new energy efficient lighting has reduced our carbon consumption in our Luton office. Plans are in place to convert lighting in our St Albans and Harpenden offices to further decrease our energy consumption.

As part of our plans to reduce our carbon footprint, we offer the government cycle-to-work scheme and are looking into providing electric car charging points at our offices.

Community

As a firm that has been present in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire for several decades, supporting the local community is a priority for us. Over the last 5 years, we are proud to have raised over £20,000 for local causes. Some of the charities we have supported are:

As part of our Firm-wide CSR strategy, we collectively vote for a charity to support each year. Money is raised through various fundraising efforts organised by our Charity Champions. This year’s chosen charity is Home-Start Hertfordshire.

Home-Start Hertfordshire

Home-Start Hertfordshire provides families struggling with post-natal depression, isolation, physical health problems, bereavement and many other issues, the support of a volunteer family mentor who will spend around two hours a week in a family’s home. Through practical and emotional support, they make sure parents have the skills, confidence and strength they need to nurture their children.

Home-Start offer life-changing support to more than 1,000 people in Hertfordshire each year, including several hundred vulnerable children. Their family mentors work alongside parents, in their own homes, to help them cope with the stresses and strains of life and be the best parent they can be.

As a firm, we also offer each employee ½ a day annually out of the office to volunteer with our chosen charity.

Our Charity Champions

Taylor Walton Scholarship and Mentoring in association with the University of Hertfordshire

For over 15 years, we have provided a financial contribution to support a Law student through their studies at Hertfordshire University with a scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to the top-performing second-year student in the Property Law module. The scholarship is competitive. The process includes academic assessment, panel interview and a presentation.  We are pleased to have recently joined the University Law School mentoring scheme. 

These initiatives are thoroughly rewarding knowing that we have given so many students a helping hand for their onward careers in law.

Local Schools

We are involved with a number of schools in our local area; attending events to support students with their career choices, through charitable donations, as well as a number of our Partners and employees being school governors.

Taylor Walton Rising Stars

We have recently introduced a new initiative to support a talented young person in the community each year, by way of sponsorship or fundraising, to support their budding talent. This year we have partnered with the English Schools Football Association (ESFA) to sponsor 14-year-old Harpenden schoolgirl superstar Annabelle Tang, who was called up to play for the England Schools International U15 schoolgirls team, as well as playing for Hertfordshire at a county level, the U16s Arsenal women’s academy team and other local teams. We look forward to seeing where the rest of the season takes her.

Volunteering

Several of our team volunteer for different charities and organisations. Just two examples of this are:  

Olive McCarthy, Partner and Arbitrator in our Family Law Department has for more than 22 years supported families and individuals with free legal advice.  This is focussed on family matters, through regular monthly sessions at three different Citizens Advice centres across the region.

Recognising a growing need to help keep estranged families connected, in 2008 Olive applied for and was granted a National Lottery award to help her set up the Hertford Contact Centre which is an accredited centre under National Association of Child Contact Centres (NACCC).

The NACCC is the only UK charity dedicated to providing safe spaces where children can meet the parent they don’t live with. The organisation oversees around 350 contact centres across the UK, which are run by a network of nearly 3,000 dedicated volunteers, just like Olive. 

Olive was recognised for her tremendous contribution by winning the Hertfordshire Law Society Community Engagement Award.

Emily Waddell, our Head of Marketing and Business Development is a volunteer Director at the St Albans Chamber of Commerce.  She is responsible for organising regular networking events, specifically supporting young professionals in the region to develop skills and a professional network on which to develop their careers.

Supporting Entrepreneurs

In 2023 & 2024, we were delighted to support the Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire’s Entrepreneurs Challenge by offering free legal advice to the winners of the award. It is fantastic for our team to support keen and promising businesses to succeed.