2024 in Review: Charity
2024 has seen Aaron & Partners continue its proud tradition of fundraising and supporting a wide variety of charities.
This includes:
- Hosting a March Hare Ball on behalf of Warrington Disability Partnership. Themed around Alice in Wonderland, the evening saw fancy dress, live music from students at the Hammond School, high-quality local food and fundraising games. The event raised over £5,000 for the charity.
- On behalf of our Chester charity partner Hospice of the Good Shepherd, we have:
- Completed the Welsh Three Peaks Challenge.
- Took part in the Farndon Soapbox race.
- Hosted a charity rounders tournament.
- Ten members of the team ran the Chester Half Marathon, collectively raising over £2,300 for the charity.
- Raised £235 through participation in a corporate five-a-side tournament.
- Donating 268.5kg of food to the West Cheshire Foodbank as part of our annual Carols in the Courtyard event.
- Donating £500 to the Coracle World Championships Race in Shrewsbury, fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support.
- Supported a collection for The Ark, a charity which provides ongoing support and day centre facilities for the homeless and vulnerable in Shrewsbury. The collection is for a variety of items, such as rucksacks, deodorants, toiletries and sports-style clothing.
- All colleagues are now entitled to take one paid volunteering day per year to support local charity or community work.
- Raised £278 for Macmillan Cancer Support through their Coffee Morning event.
- Personnel from Aaron & Partners used their volunteer day at Claire House Children’s Hospice, painting the perimeter fence of their site.
- Sponsored one of the alter trees in Chester Cathedral, for £480.
- Raised a fantastic £25,000 for Claire House Hospice at the Gold Ball in November, organised by Partner Helen Watson
2024 in Review: Community
2024 has seen us continue to support art events across Cheshire, Shropshire and North Wales through sponsorship and volunteering. We are proud sponsors of the Storyhouse theatre in Chester, Theatr Clwyd in Mold, and the Welsh National Opera. Head of Employment Law Helen Watson is currently Chair at Theatr Clwyd, overseeing a £50 million capital project.
Alongside our sponsorship of the arts, we are also proud sponsors of the ITF W100 Tennis Tournament in Shrewsbury. Bringing elite tennis players, such as future Wimbledon Ladies Singles Champion Marketa Vondrousova, to the town, the event seeks to promote the sport to new players of all ages.
We have also continued to be actively involved with local business groups, working with organisations on both a regional and sector basis. These include local chambers of commerce, Chester Business Club, Women in Property, and the Country Land and Business Association.
We have participated in open evenings, school and college careers fairs, offer insightful work experience and recruit from across the local educational platforms.
All colleagues are entitled to take one paid volunteering day per year to support local charity or community work.
The Team at A&P has also support the following this year
- Chambers of Commerce: Warrington Business Exchange, Shropshire, West Cheshire & North Wales, Wirral, Sale & Altrincham
- North Wales Business Club
- Country Land and Business Association
- Deeside Business Forum (MJD on the board)
- Bangor University (board member Helen Watson)
- Liverpool Uni Law School lecturing (PNH)
- Governor Coleg Cambria (CXB)
We have continued to use solely fairtrade (or equivalent standard) tea and coffee, purchasing from Tilley Green’s Fairtrade options.
2024 in Review: People
A recognised Investors in People employer, Aaron & Partners is a firm committed to being a legal employer of choice, recognised for developing our people. We’ve also signed up to Manchester’s Good Employment Charter to make sure we are adhering to local standards.
2024 has brought a renewed focus on supporting our people, including
- We have agreed that those returning from maternity leave will have their targets reduced by 50% for the first three months, and by 25% for the next three months. This has been done to make the transition back to work less daunting.
- We have implemented a flexible working policy that is collaborative in finding the best working solutions for each staff member, on a case-by-case basis.
- We have begun a consultation process with staff to assess their views on career progression.
- By conducting this survey, we will be able to develop a strategy to ensure that we are continuing to be the legal employer of choice in the areas we operate.
- All colleagues are now entitled to take one paid volunteering day per year to support local charity or community work.
- We have promoted healthy and green initiatives, such as:
- Undertaking a Steptember challenge across all teams, encouraging individuals to record their daily steps and raise their average to support their team. As a firm we recorded 15,304,856 steps over the month.
- Implemented an “Eat Fresh” offering, where we have partnered with local greengrocers to supply a range of fresh fruit for staff to eat.
- Partnered with the Tim Cogley Foundation to offer staff aged 18-39 a free health check.
- Encouraging colleagues to join monthly ‘Wellbeing Walks’ at lunchtimes throughout the year
- Actively reducing the number of colleagues who commute to the office via car through the promotion of alternative transport measures alongside car sharing. Sharers are given a guaranteed car parking space in front of the office. The car share policy is currently under review by the Executive Board, pending approval.
- Supporting individual
2024 in Review: Environment
- We have completed our submission for B Corp certification.
- For Employee Appreciation Day, we provided plants around the Chester and Shrewsbury offices, bringing with it all the benefits that would be expected.
- Carbon assessment
- We have launched a shared transport initiative in order to reduce our Scope 3 emissions caused by employee commuting.
- We have relocated our Altrincham office to a category A building, meaning the building is more energy efficient and thus environmentally friendly.
- We have continued to implement our paperlite policy, embracing modern technologies to reduce our reliance on printed documents.
