"Ethical and sustainable growth is our priority from here, and this certification gives us a framework to keep building on that in the right way."
- Oliver Rayner - Caspian Insurance
Manchester-based life and protection insurance broker Caspian Insurance has achieved B Corp Certification, verified by B Lab against standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
The firm scored 81.3 in the assessment, against a median of 50.9 for businesses completing it.
Caspian specialises in business protection for UK company directors, founders and shareholders and employee benefits. The certification assessment examined the whole business rather than environmental matters alone, covering governance, employees, communities, suppliers and environmental impact.
As part of the process, Caspian formally embedded a commitment to its wider stakeholders into its company governance.
Caspian already operates in a highly regulated industry in which customer outcomes, integrity, compliance and professional standards carry significant weight. The certification process extended that discipline into areas the business had not historically measured or documented to the same degree.
Practical changes made during certification include a first formal Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas inventory, establishing a baseline against which the firm can measure its environmental impact, as well as an environmentally preferable purchasing policy, covering office supplies, paper and printing, electronics, cleaning products and responsible disposal.
Other changes include a supplier policy setting expectations on business integrity, ethical employment practices, anti-bribery and corruption, and environmental responsibility, and measurable environmental goals around waste reduction, recycling, lower paper and stationery use, responsible and local procurement, and energy and emissions measurement.
Caspian's Manchester office operates within Tower 12's building-managed recycling programme, and the building is supplied with renewable electricity.
In addition, Caspian says that employee wellbeing and development remain areas of continued focus. Current and planned benefits include enhanced annual leave, birthday leave, death in service cover, Cycle to Work, wellbeing support, and support for professional qualifications and career progression.
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The most significant outcome of certification, according to the business, has been greater internal awareness and accountability, with policies, measurements and targets now in place where matters were previously handled less formally.
Caspian joins a UK B Corp community of over 2,700 companies, part of a global network of more than 10,900 certified businesses across 102 countries and 163 industries. B Corps must recertify every three years, with their scores published publicly.
"Becoming a B Corp is a proud achievement and fantastic milestone for Caspian," Oliver Rayner, founder and managing director at Caspian Insurance, said. "We've built this business around protecting the directors and founders who put everything into building something of their own, so holding ourselves to the same standard of accountability felt like the right move to make.
"Ethical and sustainable growth is our priority from here, and this certification gives us a framework to keep building on that in the right way."
He added: "The people side of B Corp aligns closely with the culture we strive for at Caspian - a caring, happy, responsible, supportive and fair place to work, where people are treated respectfully and have real opportunities to develop."
