Our commitments
We live our purpose through everything we do. We've made four fundamental guarantees which serve as golden threads in everything we do. You can read an overview of each below.
We share prosperity locally
We believe strong organisations are built with, and by, the communities around them. Our 70/30 Guarantee commits us to spend, recruit, and source at least 70% of our goods, services, and people within 30 miles of our Midlands Campus or from within the West Midlands Combined Authority area. This is a deliberate choice to keep opportunity, investment, and talent rooted locally, not an aspiration or a “best endeavours” promise.
In practice, this means that when we hire, we prioritise local people and local pathways into work. When we buy, we look first to local suppliers, social enterprises, and small businesses. And when we grow, we do so in a way that strengthens the regional economy rather than extracting from it. Where specialist expertise must be sourced further afield, we are open about why and recognise them as a clear exception, not the norm.
The 70/30 Guarantee is about accountability as much as intent. We track it, we report on it, and we hold ourselves to it. Being anchored in place matters because prosperity works best when it circulates close to home.
We make it real
We believe in people being paid fairly and appropriately for the work they do. Our Making It Real Guarantee commits to the real Living Wage as determined by the Living Wage Foundation. At present (2024/25), this is £12.60 an hour or a salary of £24,570. At Ignis Lodge, our entry level roles all start at £25,000 or the equivalent of £13.73 (our working week is 35 hours).
For colleagues who work shifts, we have committed to Living Hours. This means we guarantee a minimum of 16 hours for all employees unless they wish to work less. All shifts are confirmed a minimum of 4 weeks in advance. If we cancel any shifts in that time period, staff still receive payment in full.
We want our employees to be dignified when their working life ends. For that reason, they are guaranteed a Living Pension when working with Ignis Lodge. This means a minimum of 12% of salary where the person contributes 4%, we add 8%. If they'd like to save more, we will contribute 2% for every additional 1% from them until the maximum from us (12%) is reached. This means if our people contribute the maximum of 6%, the total pension is 18%.
We live our purpose
We believe in having an inclusive environment where everyone is empowered to succeed and are signatories of both the Armed Forces Covenant and the Care Leaver Covenant. Part of living these commitments means we have made a Supporting You Guarantee - a final interview where any of the following people meet the minimum criteria for a role:
- a veteran;
- serving in the armed forces community but soon transitioning out;
- partner or dependent of a serving member of the armed forces community;
- someone who was looked after by a local authority at any time before they were aged 21;
- someone who has a physical or mental impairment, or a long-term health condition which has a substantial and long-term (over 12 months) adverse effect on the ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
(We define the armed forces community as regular, reserve or cadet adult volunteer. )
No tricks, no loopholes, no exceptions. We've got your back.
We walk alongside our people
It's important that someone joins us, there is development for growth as a professional. Our Developing Together Guarantee means we have mapped every role in our organisation to an appropriate apprenticeship on entry and apprenticeship for onward promotion. They range from Level 2 (GCSE-equivalent) to Level 7 (Masters-degree). This means however someone joins us, we commit to their development and career.
Not only that, we have committed 25% of our workforce will enter on an apprenticeship. New starters may be people not in education, employment or training (NEET) or individuals reskilling for today’s workplace
