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Here's a selection of awards we've won recently...

FST Business Continuity Awards

Britannia has won the Best Business Continuity Implementation award at the Financial Sector Technology magazine's 2008 awards for our Remote Data Backup project.

The award was a tribute to the quality of the solution delivered by the project which combined innovative use of technology, collaborative working across many teams within Britannia and appropriate protection of customer data.

20 Best Big Companies to work for

Britannia Building Society has been named as number two in the Sunday Times' 20 Best Big Companies to Work For.

The list, is based on the feedback from almost 1500 Britannia employees who were randomly selected to complete the Sunday Times' survey. It is their feedback that confirmed Britannia's place in this prestigious list.

And there was even more good news for Britannia - group chief executive, Neville Richardson received a special award for the Best Leader.

Neville Richardson said:

"This is fantastic news for Britannia and I am very proud. Our people tell us, through our internal satisfaction surveys, that Britannia is a great place to work - now we've won the award to prove it.
"Last year we entered the Sunday Times' Best Companies to Work For, for the first time. Then we were classed as a mid-sized company and achieved position 56, which was a great starting point.
"Our success and growth in the last year means that we were in a different category this year, competing against other big companies with more than 5000 employees. This makes our achievement even more rewarding."

Computer Weekly's Best Places to Work in IT

Britannia Building Society's computer department has been named as one of the best places to work in the UK.

The 230 strong team, based in Leek, won the Banking Category of Computer Weekly's Best Places to Work in IT Awards.

Mark Jacot, Head of IT at Britannia, said:

"We are delighted to have won the award and it is testament to the contribution of everyone within our IT department. It's also great to be recognised externally as a great place to work, grow and develop - a key part of Britannia's strategy."

Britannia beat off stiff competition from Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Citi to win the award. The judges were particularly impressed by the team's focus on staff retention and the opportunities for internal promotion, with one of the judges asking: "When can I start working there?"

This is the second time Britannia's IT department has been recognised by the Computer Weekly awards, having won the same category two years ago when they also won the Best of the Best Award.

N-Power - Business Volunteering Commitment Award

Britannia has won this award through the National Education Business Partnership Network, in recognition of the society's contribution to local schools and communities.

The award is for the Number Partners and Fit4Finance programmes, which are delivered by in excess of 100 employee volunteers. The programmes aim to improve the numeracy and financial capability of young people and have achieved great successes.

Claire Irons - Education Programme Co-ordinator said:

"As a society we are committed to making a difference in our local communities and our work in schools has provided us with a valuable chance to build meaningful and positive relationships with these communities, whilst at the same time provide a unique and rewarding development opportunity for our people. It is an honour to have our activities recognised by an external agency."

Human Capital Awards

Britannia won the Managing Change category of the Human Capital Awards, which recognises people-related initiatives resulting from significant business change.

Britannia won the award for the successful people journey the Society embarked on following its acquisition of Bristol & West's savings business and branch network in September 2005.

Alison Thompson, Business Leader at Britannia, explained:

"From the moment we entered negotiations about Bristol & West, we were committed to placing the emotional experience of our members and employees at the heart of our actions.
"We kept all of the promises we made when we embarked on this huge change programme and are very proud of our achievements. It is very rewarding that our success is recognised by others and we are absolutely thrilled to have won this award."

Moneyfacts Awards

This award recognises banks and building societies which have consistently provided customers with the best products over the previous 12 months. Britannia beat off lenders such as the Alliance & Leicester and Yorkshire Building Society to pick up the title of 'Best 3 year fixed rate mortgage provider without extended redemption tie-ins'.

The independent Moneyfacts awards judged Britannia to be the best provider of 3 year fixed rate mortgages (without extended redemption tie-ins), commenting that we:

"consistently offered the most competitive products, the highest levels of transparency and best overall deal taking into account fees and costs, not purely the interest rate."

The Opportunity Now Award

The Opportunity Now Awards, recognise outstanding best practice in gender equality, diversity and inclusion, with Britannia being named as overall winner in the Private Sector Award.

The judges were impressed by the huge impact Britannia's flexible working arrangements, known as Mutual Preferences, has had on employee satisfaction.

Neville Richardson, Group Chief Executive of Britannia, said:

"To win this award is a fantastic achievement and a real testament to the success of Mutual Preferences.
We launched the programme in 2004 to help our people achieve a better work life balance and to support our strategy of being a great place to work, grow and develop. The success of the programme was illustrated in our last employee satisfaction survey, when more than 91 per cent said they are happy with the balance between their work and home lives."

Mortgage Times Group Awards 2007

Platform, the intermediary lender of Britannia, has for the second consecutive time scooped the prestigious Best Overall Lender prize at the 2007 annual Mortgage Times Group Awards.This award, which recognised Platform's aim to be the intermediary's favourite lender, was voted for independently by a panel of intermediaries on behalf of the Mortgage Times Group.

Commenting on the company's success, Richard Beardshaw, Platform's Head of Sales said:

"This award is a welcome recognition of an outstanding team effort and to win such an important award twice from a company such as Mortgage Times, shows the level of consistency we have maintained in the last 24 months."

Environmental Business Award

At the Sentinel Business Awards, Britannia was successful in being awarded the Environmental Business Award, which recognises companies who show outstanding concern for the environment and who have taken tangible steps to reduce their environmental impact.
Commenting on the award the judges were impressed by the work that has taken place across the Group from changing business processes to save paper, to the commitment of the 'Green Team' in encouraging colleagues to make small changes in behaviour that make a real difference.

Financial Sector Technology Award

Britannia Building Society has been recognised for our integration of the former Bristol & West savings business and branch network. The 2gether programme, as we called it, won not only 'systems integration project of the year', but also the overall award for the best submission across all categories.

The FST Awards aim to recognise excellence and innovation in the field of information technology within the UK and European financial sector. In winning the overall award, we beat off competition from Lloyds TSB, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Nationwide, Abbey, RBS and Aviva (formerly Norwich Union).

Chief Executive, Neville Richardson said:

"This is a fantastic recognition of our achievements, of the way in which the programme built on our culture and talents, and of the hard work that everyone across the Group put in to make 2gether such a huge success."

100 Best Companies to Work For

Britannia Building Society has been recognised as one of the top 100 companies to work for in the UK by the Sunday Times in their annual listing.

Britannia aims to be known as Britain's best mutual and strong principles, corporate strategies, flexible working hours and inspiring leaders ensures it is on the right track.

People are a priority and the Sunday Times survey revealed 79 percent of staff are proud to work for the Britannia Group - which is made up of Britannia Building Society, Platform, Western Mortgage Services, Britannia International, Britannia Treasury Services and Britannia Commercial Lending.

Chief Executive, Neville Richardson said:

"Part of Britannia's Group strategy is that the Society is a great place to work, grow and develop.
The result was based mainly on feedback from Britannia employees and 1500 of our people were randomly selected to take part. It is that very feedback that has confirmed our place in this very prestigious group of companies.
I would like to thank my colleagues for their continued support in getting to this stage of our journey towards being known as Britain’s best mutual."

Best Stock-Market Linked Savings Product - Britannia International

Britannia International, our offshore subsidiary, has won the award for Best Stock-Market Linked Savings Product at the Investment International Awards for the second year running. Managing Director, Mark Beresford said:

"Following on from our success in 2005, we are delighted to once again win Best Stock-Market Linked Savings Product 2006 Award as voted by the readers of Investment International - it is always especially pleasing to receive such a vote of confidence from savers themselves."
"Our history in providing stock-market linked products goes back to the early 1990s and we have won many awards and accolades from the industry in recent years for innovation and value for money around these accounts."

2006 Green Business of the year award

Each year Staffordshire County Council are on the look-out to identify and reward Staffordshire's sustainability champions - organisations and businesses in our community who are determined to improve the environment we work and live in.

In addition to the awards for the broader environmental piece, the County Council also have the "TravelWise Award" which is specially dedicated to businesses who contribute to the reduction of congestion on our roads.

The '2006 Green Business of the Year' award from the Staffordshire arm of TravelWise went to Britannia for all our work on car sharing.

Best Intermediary Mortgage Lender - Platform

Platform, the intermediary lender of Britannia, has scooped the prestigious Best Intermediary Mortgage Lender prize at the 2006 annual Your Mortgage Awards. Beating off strong competition, they were also successful in landing the Highly Commended Non-Standard Mortgage Lender award.

In 2006, Platform has not only launched clickapplication, its highly successful online application tool, but has also made wide ranging improvements to its product range which included increasing income multiples and extending the LTV on Buy to Let to 90%.

Commenting on the company’s success David Tweedy, Managing Director of Platform said:

“To receive these highly acclaimed awards is a credit to everyone associated with Platform and reflects our commitment to offering competitive products underpinned by exemplary levels of service. 2006 saw the hugely successful launch of our clickapplication tool which, together with other initiatives launched over the course of the year, has allowed us to maintain our standing at the forefront of the specialist mortgage market. We are delighted with this success and look forward to an exciting year ahead.”

Award for Excellence - Britannia International

Britannia International has won the inaugural Award for Excellence for Community Impact and Contribution in the Isle of Man.

The high profile award, was given for Britannia International's outstanding work in the community including sponsorship, volunteering, charitable donations and mutual responsibility. Managing Director Mark Beresford said:

"This is a fantastic achievement for Britannia International and supports our given of being ethical, socially responsible and a model of compliance. I would like to thank everyone at Britannia International for getting involved - this award is an accolade of which we can all be proud".

Management Today - Unisys Customer Service Excellence Award - Financial Sector

We've scooped one of the UK's most prestigious customer services award - the Management Today-Unisys Customer Service Excellence Award for the financial sector.

Tim Franklin, Britannia's Managing Director of Member Business, said

"This achievement was fantastic news for the Society. This award is a great result but we can't become complacent about our achievements. We will do everything possible to continue improving and the Britannia Customer Experience will be key to this. Two of the building blocks underpinning Britannia's strategy to be known as Britain's best mutual, are 'being excellent at communications' and being 'a great place to grow, work and develop."

The awards are the UK's most highly respected customer service awards, covering all kinds of customer service, both in the public and private sector.

Times Award - Where Women Want To Work

We've been listed as one of the best places for women to work in the UK. The Times' list showcases 50 of Britain's most progressive organisations, Britannia was perceived to be particularly strong in the areas of equal pay, flexible working, employee satisfaction and its overall approach to diversity. The alphabetical list is based on ten categories including inspiring leaders, work-life balance, training and development and workforce diversity.

Sarah Emery, Britannia's Group Diversity Manager, explained,

"This is a fantastic achievement for Britannia and we are delighted to have been included in the list. Part of Britannia's strategy is to be a great place to work, grow and develop and this award demonstrates how we are striving to achieve this."

Computer Weekly National Award - Best Place to work in IT

Not only did Britannia win the Banking and Finance sector of the Computer Weekly National Awards for the best place to work in IT, but also scooped the overall best place to work in IT. Britannia won its accolade with an across the board attention to a wide range of factors contributory to being an outstanding IT employer.

Britannia has tailored career development schemes targeted at female staff (Springboard), male staff (Navigate), individually based sponsored external training (Horizon) and high-potential staff (Excellerate).

Open communication is considered crucial, with a broad range of activities designed to elicit views, feedback and self-knowledge.

Britannia being an outstanding place to work in IT is confirmed by the results of the Society's survey of its own staff, which consistently indicates that IT staff are happy to work there, and would recommend Britannia as an employer.

What particularly impressed the judges was the company's formal structure for demystifying the work of the IT organisation to the rest of the business.

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