Minster Law shortlisted for Customer Service Excellence Awards ‘Giving it back to charity’

Minster Law, the leading personal injury law firm based in Yorkshire, was shortlisted for the ‘Giving it back to charity’ award at the 2019 Customer Service Excellence Awards.

Shirley Woolham, Chief Operating Officer said: “I am absolutely delighted that our charity work has received industry recognition. CSR is an integral part of our culture at Minster and our colleagues work hard to support our local community and causes close to their hearts. CSR is not just a tick-in-the-box exercise for Minster. Our strategy takes a bottom-up approach and our colleagues shape our activity, so as you can imagine their passion really shines through, everyone in the business is engaged and we make meaningful impact in our community”.

Our CSR strategy focuses on supporting local charities that do not have the funding and visibility of nationwide charities yet provide vital support to the region. We have established long-term partnerships to provide unique experiences and improve the lives of marginalised people in the community.

We’ve achieved a lot with our charity partners over the past year. Last year we started a long-term partnership with FareShare, a charity which redistributes surplus food to support more than 15,000 people each week. In the first year alone, our colleagues have volunteered over 170 hours of their time to dispatch over 212 tonnes of food to vital frontline projects. The food we have saved from waste has an estimated retail value of £338,624, all of which was repurposed to feed the most vulnerable in society.

We were also proud to support Wetwheels in launching its first specially-modified powerboat to Yorkshire, which allows less-abled people the opportunity to access the sea. We were delighted to see individuals like Dale Milne, a man who broke his neck as a boy, being able to fulfil a lifelong ambition and go sea fishing with his father. With the launch of the Wetwheels Yorkshire powerboat, the Wetwheels fleet combined will be able to take almost 6,000 participants onto the water each year.

Peter Richardson, Wetwheels Yorkshire Chairmain, said: “The team at Minster Law instantly recognised the unique opportunities Wetwheels afforded its participants and have supported us from the very start. We are delighted to be working with such a dynamic, caring organisation.”

Our CSR is continually evolving to make lasting impact. This year our strategy focuses on building skills in the local community. Our CEO, Shirley Woolham, has been working with Wakefield’s local MP to see how Minster can help the community. Wakefield has a growing economy but despite this the area still has unemployment rates of over 5% and education rates well below the national average. There is a lack of opportunities to develop skills and as one of the biggest companies in Wakefield; Minster is committing to change this through investing the value of £100,000 back into the community.

This will be done through a combination of traditional funding to vital charities and a number of initiatives, shaped by our colleagues, that will see Minster Law work closely with Wakefield District Council, local schools and small businesses. This will allow our colleagues to share their wealth of knowledge to benefit the local community and economy.

Mary Creagh, Wakefield’s local MP Mary said: “I am delighted Minster Law are making such a positive contribution to Wakefield, and I really like the idea of employees getting directly involved with schools and businesses through volunteering.”