HomeServe has main office sites in eight towns and cities in the UK and operates from dozens of depots. We also have overseas operations in France, Spain and the US, and have now added Belgium to this list having commenced business in the Benelux region earlier this year.

With such a widely spaced geographical presence, we understand the importance of developing and maintaining responsible business practices, which both support and enhance the diverse communities in which we are based.

We have a dedicated community development resource, based at our head office in Walsall, UK, and take our community involvement very seriously.

Charitable support

As a member of the UK charity, Business in the Community, HomeServe has committed itself to numerous voluntary projects in many of its locations over the past year.

Many of our sites have programmes in place that enable staff to sponsor local groups with which they have an affiliation, and in Preston and Weston-super-Mare we have community committees which focus on building links with the community and fundraising. Staff from across the business are able to contribute to regular employment volunteering projects by offering their time and talents to local groups and causes.

During the past year, our major donation scheme – Charity Begins at HomeServe – has seen three projects local to our office sites receive £5,000 each in the form of direct financial assistance and specialist HomeServe tradesmen's labour.

The good causes that have benefited from our major donations to date are a drug prevention group, a sports centre and a regional branch of the children's charity Barnado's. In the coming year, Charity Begins at HomeServe will extend its financial assistance to other communities that we are part of and all our staff will have the opportunity to influence which types of causes benefit from donations.

Representing the communities we serve

As a company that employs large numbers of local residents in all our main offices (our head office in Walsall in the West Midlands is the largest commercial employer in the town) we are very aware that we have a responsibility to those communities. As an employer, we actively seek to represent the diversity of all the communities we operate in and serve, and we particularly welcome applications from groups which are under represented in our current workforce. HomeServe's stock and trade is the homes of its local residents. We aim to serve these residents and employ them.