Community
HL in the community
Helping people find their financial freedom is our purpose at HL, both for our clients and the wider community. We wanted to explore ways we can utilise the financial expertise we hold internally, to support our local community, with the ambition of making Bristol the most financially resilient city in the UK. Underpinned by our 5 to Thrive Framework.
To achieve this, we launched the Bristol Financial Resilience Action Group in 2023, a programme which supports local employers by offering free financial education, in the form of webinars and guides for their employees and works with the employers on a set of internal initiatives which could boost the financial resilience of their employees.
We have also delivered financial wellbeing courses to local university students and financial education to school students through our charity partnerships.
In 2021, in partnership with Bristol City Council, The Mayor’s Office and UWE, we created the Strive Internship scheme, offering a paid internship opportunity to Black, Asian and minority ethnic university students, living or studying in the Bristol area. Over 100 paid internships have now taken place, both at HL and at partner organisations. In 2025 the running of the programme was taken over by global recruitment solutions company Sanderson, who have been able to use their in-house expertise to further enhance the programme.
HL is proud to be accredited by the Living Wage Foundation, paying a real Living Wage based on the cost of living, not just the government minimum. To this end, we are also part of the Living Wage City Action Group. The action group meets periodically to exchange information and ideas, allowing Bristol businesses to learn from each other toward a common goal of encouraging employers to offer the Living Wage across the region.
We have active involvement with the Bristol City Office and the development of the Bristol One City Plan, an initiative to bring together businesses to help develop a shared vision for Bristol and address key challenges facing the city.
Volunteers at Ashton Gate
Our colleagues are dedicated to doing the right thing and giving up their time to help charities and good causes. The HL Volunteering Scheme gives people a chance to volunteer by having 2 days, or 15 hours to give colleagues flexibility on how they use their volunteering time (pro-rated) during the calendar year to volunteer their time, skills and experience to good causes.
Activities colleagues have used their volunteering hours for, include:
- Fundraising for our partner charities
- Beach cleans and litter picking
- Maintaining local parks and farms
- Mentoring through partner programmes with schools
- Paired reading
- Using their commercial knowledge and expertise to support local charities
- Blood Donations
- Packing and sorting at local Foodbanks
In 2016 we launched our HL Foundation, a charitable arm of HL. Since inception, our charitable trust has raised money for local and national charities.
The Foundation’s mission is to utilise the skills and time of our workforce and partners to make a positive, sustainable difference in the world around us.
For more information go to our HL Foundation page.