CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
PASSIONATE
ABOUT CORPORATE
RESPONSIBILITY
SUPPORTING OUR LOCAL COMMUNITIES
Our position Our stores provide employment for more than 27,000
At Specsavers, we are passionate about giving back local people, all of whom have access to regular training
to and working with our local communities, wherever and development, helping them to progress through
in the world we operate. We support many local, Specsavers on their chosen career path. The same is true
national and international causes, and are committed for the 4,000 people who are employed in our support
to supporting eyecare and hearing care projects in offices and manufacturing and distribution sites around
developing countries. In the past 12 months, we have the world.
donated more than £2.3m to charities and good
causes globally.
In line with our core values and our policies, we have been
reviewing the whole area of gender pay. We have looked
We recognise our responsibility to pay the amount of tax at genuine like-for-like roles to ensure we are gender-
legally due in the country in which that liability arises and neutral and that what we see reflects a true picture of the
to comply with the applicable rules and regulations in each business. Looking across all job bands, the numbers show a
of the countries in which we operate. Tax payments make a solid picture (ranging from -0.5 to 11.6%). However, we will
vital contribution to sustaining social welfare across all our continue to make sure that any decisions about pay (and all
markets, enabling governments to fund policies that help other aspects of working at Specsavers) are gender-neutral.
people avoid economic hardship. While these figures give an accurate picture, we will be
publishing the much broader overall gender pay figures
Last year, more than £78m of tax was paid on profits
generated by Specsavers businesses to the governments
by April 2018.
of the countries in which those businesses operated. In Our progress
addition, we generated and collected a number of other Across all our markets, we are involved in a vast number
taxes, such as employee and sales taxes. In 2016/17, of activities to raise money for local, regional and
the total amount contributed to tax authorities around national charities, helping to improve the lives of those
the world as a consequence of Specsavers’ commercial less fortunate than ourselves. Here are just some of the
activities exceeded £530m. highlights from 2016/17: