- Better for Customers
- Better Ethics & Understanding
- Better for Society
- Responsible Business
- Environment
How we’re doing: sustainability snapshot from 2025
Better for Customers
- 2.2 million customers became debt-free with Lowell in 2025.
- Consistently excellent customer satisfaction scores and reviews across all regions.
- Above-market NPS rates in DACH, Nordics and the UK.
- 4 Star + ratings for all major DACH brands on Google.
- 50,000 Trustpilot reviews, with 84% rated 4 or 5 Stars in the UK.
- 100% of DACH clients think we treat our customers in the right way (85%+ is 'excellent').
- Digital interactions have increased in all regions as we continue to develop our online offering with multi-channel options for all core services.
- In the UK:
- Customers using our benefits calculator have identified £2.4m of unclaimed benefits since launch in 2022.
- App consistently rated in the top 10 financial services apps.
- Customer panel membership reached nearly 5,400.
- Achieved Institute of Customers Services (ICS) ServiceMark – an industry first.
See the 2025 Sustainability Report
See the 2025 Performance Scorecard
See the 2025 SASB Index
See our Reporting Hub for earlier reports, scorecards, and indexes.
How are we better for customers?
The data we capture from helping millions of people pay off their Lowell debts has given us unrivalled insights into debt’s impact on mental health, family relationships, and daily life.
We combine these industry-leading insights with primary research, including our 5,400-strong UK Customer Panel, to build a comprehensive picture of each customer’s situation.
This helps us offer a more personalised service and digital journey and inspires a range of local and topical support content on our websites that reflects various topics of interest to our customers (living with inflation, navigating the rising cost of living, and so on).
It’s also a powerful resource that helps inform our customer and Client service offerings - making sure that we’re giving people what they need.
At the end of the day it all comes together. Our social aim of helping build customers’ financial understanding, rehabilitating them back into mainstream credit, goes hand-in-hand with our commercial objective of debt collection.
In the UK, we also provide online resources, signposting, an informative app, a benefits calculator, and free access to a credit score checker to help customers develop financial confidence.
We encourage and value customer feedback
When it comes to listening to customers, we’ve found that the better we understand our interaction, the stronger the connection we can build with them.
Customer feedback
We capture customer feedback through various voice and online channels across our regions.
In the UK, for example, we use the data and insights captured in our world-class customer feedback platform, Medallia Experience Cloud, to inform business decisions, client reporting, and employee training.
The visibility of the customer experience that the platform offers also helps colleagues appreciate the positive impact their support has on customers.
The UK Customer Panel
We combine industry-leading insights from multiple data sources, including our 4,800-strong UK Customer Panel, to build a comprehensive picture of each customer’s situation, which helps us offer personal support and agree a mutually acceptable financial solution.
Amongst other things, we use the Panel to build our understanding of the circumstances that lead people into debt and its impact on their mental and physical health, and to test both the user experience of our digital offering and the effectiveness of our written communications.
We’re proud that our customers make a real difference to how we work, and we’re humbled by their commitment and enthusiasm.
Our Trustpilot score reflects the trust we’ve built with our customers: 85% of all ratings in 2024 were 4 or 5 stars.
Helping people and encouraging them to get help is the biggest incentive to do this for me. Just being there to help others. It’s worth 20 minutes of my time – even if it was longer, it would be worth it.
We help customers on the road to financial wellbeing
Better financial understanding helps to build greater resilience, so we support our customers with a set of sector-leading tools and services that’ll help them build their financial knowledge.
We help people check what benefits they’re entitled to
Every year, £23 billion of benefits in the UK go unclaimed. Our benefits calculator helps people check if they’re missing out on money that could help them get out of debt. And if they need support making a claim, we can signpost them to more resources from third party organisations.
Since launching the calculator in July 2022, we have found £2.4 million of unclaimed benefits for UK customers, averaging over £226 per customer.
We help people better understand their financial situation
We find that people are often unaware of the impact their credit score has when it comes to trying to access credit in the future. We offer free access to credit scores to help customers understand their finances. Used together with our debt calculator and affordability tools, customers can see how changes to their repayments can affect affordability and access to credit.
We provide online support and FAQs for people to help themselves
Each region has its own local support articles, signposting, and FAQs based on common regional queries and call drivers.
The UK Customer Panel
In the UK, our 5,400-strong Customer Panel remains central to how we improve our digital services and overall customer experience.
Throughout 2025, the Panel’s insight has helped us develop our understanding of payments and payment plan set ups, the links between debt and mental health, and the reasons digital customers choose to call us.
.webp)
How we're doing: sustainability snapshot from 2025
Better Ethics & Understanding
- We’ve continued to deepen our Client relationships, focusing on collaboration and trust: 10+year relationships in DACH and Nordics; 75% of UK deals in 2024 were ‘long-term’.
- Our ‘excellent’ Group Client Satisfaction score of 8.7 confirmed our status as a trusted partner (featuring DACH Clients in 2025).
- Employer Value Proposition supports strong Group Colleague Engagement scores of 71+ for four years running.
- 86% Group Colleague Engagement survey response rate.
- 8-year average colleague tenure.
- 100% of eligible employees completed our Group Code of Conduct and People Policy training.
- Our open engagement with regulators, active leadership in industry and trade bodies, and bold advocacy for change helps keep our voice loud and influential
- In the UK, we achieved the Institute of Customer Services (ICS) ServiceMark - an industry first
See the 2025 Sustainability Report
See the 2025 Performance Scorecard
See the 2025 SASB Index
See our Reporting Hub for earlier reports, scorecards, and indexes.
How are we promoting better ethics and understanding?
Lowell isn’t just another debt company, it’s an ethical company that strives to make credit work better for all.
Our research ability, advocacy, insights, and data are in line with those found in mature international financial services companies. This is a key strength relative to our peers. Naturally, we focus on retaining our own high standards, Colleague, customer, and Client relationships. We’re also a strong voice calling for improvements to debt collection standards more broadly. We’re determined to stamp out the stigma of debt. And we’re passionate about improving financial inclusion across society, helping to bring stability to the lives of the most financially vulnerable.
We stick to our Values and follow our Mission
Generating and keeping trust has always been vital in our industry. We earn it by aligning the way we work with our Mission and Values, and by delivering on our Employer Value Proposition (EVP).
Our Mission is written into a set of policies and operating procedures detailing how we run our business, engage with stakeholders, manage risk, and make decisions.
Our Values and EVP are a promise to our Colleagues, who bring our Values to life every day through their positive and professional approach. Their understanding of the complex and challenging issues caused by debt, helps us keep hold of the trust people put in us.
We stand out to Colleagues
Eighty six percent of Colleagues completed our 2025 Colleague survey. Our Colleague engagement score was 71. 85% of Colleagues confirmed that they understood how their work contributed to Lowell’s success and 71% said their work was meaningful to them.
Lowell UK featured in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work in 2025. Lowell Germany was recognised as Top Employer in Germany for the twentieth year running.
We stand out to Clients
We work closely with our Clients, going beyond regular business interactions to share our insights and improve understanding. The insights we gain from our Clients about our customers don’t just help us improve our own customer journeys and service; they also influence how our Clients treat their customers before they get into problem debt.
We also provide our Clients with regular access to our subject matter experts.
We have long-standing relationships with Clients across all regions, with our longest
standing Nordic Client relationship dating back to the 1980s. In the UK, 75% of our 2025 debt purchases were on long-term arrangements.
Respondents of our annual Client surveys repeatedly call out our clear communication, positivity around sharing best practice, flexible customer focus, industry knowledge, and experience as drivers of their strong likelihood to recommend Lowell.
Leadership presence on trade bodies and associations in every country we work in
As a purpose-driven organisation, we believe we have a responsibility to use our size, scale, and insights to raise sector standards, and shape regulation and public policy.
In 2025, we made real strides towards this goal. Alongside building open, collaborative relationships with our regulators, Lowell has continued to play a leading role in all major trade bodies and associations across the DACH region, Nordics, and the UK.
Our UK CEO, John Pears, has been part of the advisory panel for the Centre of Social Justice (CSJ) for more than three years. We also help fund their Debt Unit, working together on initiatives to support people struggling with problem debt and to help improve the state of the UK economy.
We’re an affiliate member and sponsor of the Federation of European National Collection Associations (FENCA). Our DACH COO, Anke Blietz-Weidmann, is the elected president of the Federal Association of German Debt Collection Companies (BDIU). We’re members of associations for Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish debt collection companies, and the Association of Trade Services in Norway. In the UK we are members of the Institute of Customer Services. Our UK Lowell Financial Managing Director, Kathryn Morgan, is a Board Director at the Credit Services Association (CSA).Our UK CEO, John Pears, sits on the advisory panel for the Centre of Social Justice (CSJ).
An industry first: the ICS accreditation mark
Lowell UK was proud to receive the ServiceMark Accreditation from the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) - a prestigious national standard that independently recognises our
commitment to outstanding customer service and continuous improvement. We are the first in our industry to receive the ServiceMark, which the ICS awards based on two key pillars:
1. Consistent delivery of excellent customer service
2. Engaged Colleagues
We help fund free independent debt advice in the UK
We’re members of the Money Advice Trust’s Vulnerability Academy and the Collaboration Network, which help fund the UK’s free debt advice sector. In 2025, we contributed £4.3 million through Fair Share contribution, helping to make free independent debt support available to those in need.
Lowell UK’s Manifesto calls for ‘Fairer Debt, Fairer Society’
We believe pragmatic reforms to the financial sector could both help ease the pressures on families dealing with debt and lay the groundwork for a better financial future. This is the premise behind the three asks of our manifesto, launched in 2024.
Find out more about our three asks Lowell Manifesto 2024.
We run the UK’s first Financial Vulnerability Index
Since launching the innovative FVI in 2021, we’ve used it to measure and track financial resilience across the UK, nationally and locally. It brings together publicly available measures and Lowell’s proprietary data to paint a clear picture of financial vulnerability in the UK, giving users valuable insight into the financial health of people across the country.
The 2025 index found that financial vulnerability was on the rise - and it’s not just affecting low-income families.
For the second year running, the four most financially vulnerable regions were the North East, West Midlands, Wales, and the North West.
This lack of movement highlights a worrying truth: financial inequality isn’t just growing, it’s entrenched. Lowell will continue to work with its partners, including Centre for Social Justice, to share these insights and drive improvements.
Visit our dedicated FVI page for further insights and to subscribe to FVI updates.
We’re supporting better financial education for our colleagues
Financial education is relevant to everyone: our colleagues, customers, and for wider society.
Working alongside our charity partner MyBnk, we have incorporated financial education, mental health, and resilience into our UK Collections Level 2 Credit Controller Collections apprenticeship programme. This initiative not only benefits our new colleagues personally, it equips them with the skills and insight to support and empathise with our customers.
Lowell’s Nordic Manifesto calls for consistency in public policy
Our Nordic Manifesto argues that public policy should deliver the following outcomes consistently across all Nordic countries:
- a common national debt register (or a positive credit information register);
- include personal finance in the curriculum for secondary schools and better advice for the public in general;
- municipalities and welfare regions should not collect customer fees from those who are unable to pay;
- a voluntary blocking service for new consumer loans; and
- break the silence around financial distress.
Across the Nordic region, we continue to promote steps towards such outcomes with, for example, specific client support, simpler language in letters to customers about debt recovery, and an educational guide about the credit cycle for teachers in secondary schools.
How we’re doing: sustainability snapshot from 2025
Better for Society
- Shared insights from consumer research keeps the conversation going about debt.
- We’ve run targeted social media campaigns to tackle common misconceptions about debt and to present clear facts.
- Our colleague engagement survey score for being ‘happy’ at work is 73 for the third year running.
- 78% of colleagues believe everyone at Lowell has equal opportunity to succeed, regardless of their background.
- Our DEI was externally assessed as ‘Leading’ for the second year running
- 55% of senior roles have a female successor option lined up
- Around 400 colleagues used almost 2,000 paid volunteering hours to support causes in our local communities.
See the 2025 Sustainability Report
See the 2025 Performance Scorecard
See the 2025 SASB Index
See our Reporting Hub for earlier reports, scorecards, and indexes.
How are we better for society?
We’re not just determined to help people move out of debt, we want to use our position, insight, and influence to help create a stronger society. We believe that by promoting financial wellbeing, providing inclusive employment opportunities, and pitching in with our communities, we can help build a strong, resilient business and a fairer society.
We’re helping people better understand debt
We’re expanding awareness and understanding of debt within society, helping to grow people’s financial knowledge and skills.
Normalising the conversation about debt with a call to be proactive
We want to take the stigma out of the ‘D’ word. As well as bringing debt issues out into the open and championing financial education, we see an essential element of our role as ensuring that people struggling with debt know that they are not alone.
Prompted by research that found that nearly two-thirds of debt advice on social media is mis-leading, and knowing how popular TikTok, Reddit and Facebook are for our customers, we launched a ‘find the facts’ campaign in 2025. Our social media initiative tackled common debt misconceptions by presenting clear facts. This helped build trust, encouraged people to engage with Lowell, and drove more visitors to our dedicated landing page. It reached over seven million people.
Over in the Nordics, we used findings from our Payment Indicator research as talking points in our Over-Indebtedness podcast (rated 4.8 stars on Spotify). Special guests joined us to cover a wide range of topics, and to share tips to help reduce financial distress and create a more secure economy:
• Anders Stenkrona, PhD in Behavioural Economics and personal financier at Nordea, spoke about how psychological drivers affect personal finances.
• Ametist Azordegan, music journalist, social entrepreneur, and author shared her experiences living in a debt-laden household and supporting young people (because the right knowledge can change lives).
• Andreas Andreasson explored consumers’ legal rights when it comes to debt, and strategies that can help people regain control over their finances.
• Davor Vuleta, analyst and personal finance spokesperson at the Swedish Enforcement Authority shared some of the reasons behind the current economic situation in Sweden - over 400,000 Swedes stuck in debt, with over 138 billion kronor (around 12.5 billion Euros) now unpaid - and ideas about how to solve it.
Enduring partnership with the Centre of Social Injustice
Our partnership with the Centre for Justice (CSJ) continues with UK CEO, John Pears, sitting on their Advisory Panel.
Throughout our four-year relationship - based on n alignment of organisational priorities and policies - we have helped to fund their Debt Unit. We work together on various initiatives, including helping people with problem debt and improving the state of the UK economy.
Research with the CSJ fuel our Fairer Debt, Fairer Society manifesto asks in relation to local authority debt collection.
Financial education packs for schools in the Nordics
Our Nordic Manifesto advocated public policy and action on a common national debt register, personal finance in the curriculum for secondary schools, and better advice for the public in general. We continue to provide printed education packs and teacher support guides for schools in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, alongside digital versions and ‘train the teacher’ sessions.
All systems go for development and wellbeing
We believe that offering a great place to work, where Colleagues feel valued and can thrive, isn’t just a good thing in itself: it’s the best way to attract people with the right skills and cultural fit.We continue to invest in the development of our team, something we know improves job satisfaction, happiness, and overall engagement. We complement on-the-job coaching and support with a structured approach to development that nurtures talent, strengthens succession planning, and helps Colleagues achieve their ambitions.
Activities in 2025 included:
- Learning & Development Hub – a one-stop-shop for information on our colleague offering.
- Apprenticeships – we have over 85 active apprenticeships across the Group. We also share our UK apprenticeship levy across our supply chain to support under-represented talent.
- People managers – people manager programmes across all regions combine practical management skills with self-awareness and reflection.
- The ‘Grow’ programme – self-serve career development programme combining workshops, drop-in sessions, podcasts, and seminars to help Colleagues take control of their own development.
- Talent programme – focused on identifying and supporting top talent to reach their full potential.
- Talent Takeover – online sessions on topics from coaching through to Origami, something for everyone looking to build a new professional or personal skill.
- Wellbeing – wellbeing remains a priority across all regions. In DACH we ran sessions on managing stress and healthy habits. In the Nordics, our partnerships with Cuckoo and Auntie Apps continued and our Wellbeing Partner ran resilience masterclasses and webinars. In the UK our Mental Health Masterclasses continued, supported by our Little Book of Wellbeing, Wellbeing Hub, and 14 mental health first aiders.
We’re building a welcoming, inclusive, and diverse community
We invest both time and money in our mature DEI agenda, based on the belief that diversity of thought is essential to our success and to driving engagement.
In 2025,78% of Colleagues believed that, regardless of background, everyone at Lowell has an equal opportunity to succeed.
We continued to benchmark our DEI we partnered with external advisors to assess our DE&I maturity. We scored 28.5 percentage points above the benchmark for Financial Services companies, which placed us in the ‘Leading’ maturity category.
We believe that - to build an inclusive organisation – we must be able to easily hear Colleagues. Our DEI networks have continued to evolve, with the remit to support those who identify with the network, help us to identify bias or discrimination that might prevent progression or inclusion, champion change, and support the roll out of initiatives, which in 2025 included:
- Celebrating days across the spectrum of characteristics, including Pride, Cultural Diversity, World Mental Health Day, and religious festival celebrations.
- Development of inclusive standards for all mandatory training packages to make sure they are accessible to all
In DACH:
- Ongoing partnership with the Workeer job platform for refugees and newcomers to the region.
- We have tackled the difficult topic of racism with a range of awareness articles, a Q&A panel, and promotion of the benefits of the democratic process.
- Our DEI fact-of-the-month campaign is a key awareness-raising tactic.
- We developed a Parent & Child workspace in response to Colleague demand: this provides a room with child-friendly equipment so carers can bring their children to work in exceptional situations, such as closure of daycare centres.
In the Nordics:
- We continued to run a wide range of awareness and training campaigns.
- New for 2025, we were delighted to welcome Urban Björn, Founder of Business as Equals and known for his commitment to DEI, to run an inclusive leadership workshop for our Operational leaders in Sweden.
In the UK:
- Our Colleague ‘Involve’ sub-groups Spark (Disability and Neurodiversity), Rise (Gender), Culture and Pride have gone from strength-to-strength, continuing to raise awareness and drive change.
- Our Beyond Culture series saw Colleagues talk about their backgrounds and workplace experiences
- Our Neurodiversity Awareness Webinar collaboration with the Brain Charity helped us learn about neurodiversity, the strengths and challenges of different conditions, and practical ways to offer support.
The gender pay gap
The gender pay gap is the difference between the average hourly pay for all the men and women working at the same organisation. It’s not a measure of equal pay, which is about the pay a man and a woman receive for doing the same or similar job.
We have a pay and grading structure for all employees, and we use market-benchmarked rates for all roles. We also have robust processes to make sure we review pay fairly for all employees. Our annual ‘Gender Pay Gap in the UK’ report explores our progress towards a more balanced distribution of men and women across all levels of Lowell UK.
See our UK Gender Pay Gap 2025 Report.
Giving back to the community
We believe we have a responsibility to the communities we serve.
Our Colleagues have a keen sense of wanting to do good. For many of us, working for Lowell isn’t just a job, it’s a way we can do something important – to help make life better for people going through a tough time.
We also contribute to the wellbeing of our communities
We encourage and support volunteering wherever possible, giving our Colleagues across the UK, DACH, and the Nordics regions an annual (paid) Volunteering Day when they can support the causes they care about. Around 400 Colleagues used their day in 2025, giving almost 2,000 hours. It’s all part of our mission: to make credit work better for all. As a business, we also donate to various charities, including matching funds raised by Colleagues.
We also contribute to the wellbeing of our communities
We encourage and support volunteering wherever possible, giving our Colleagues across the UK, DACH, and the Nordics regions an annual (paid) Volunteering Day when they can support the causes they care about. Around 400 Colleagues used their day in 2025, giving almost 2,000 hours. It’s all part of our mission: to make credit work better for all. As a business, we also donate to various charities, including matching funds raised by Colleagues.
These include organisations that:
- Supply financial education services.
- Help people get out of poverty.
- Care for the homeless.
- Provide food parcels.
- Support people with mental health issues.
.png?width=314&height=262&name=TLA%20Lowell%20House%20(1).png)
How we’re doing: sustainability snapshot from 2025
Responsible Business
- Board-level oversight of key topics including Remuneration, Risk, Audit and Sustainability.
- 100% of Colleagues completed training on data security, protection, and privacy.
- 100% of Colleagues completed training on anti-bribery and corruption policies and procedures.
- Our Executive and senior leadership Colleagues each have a performance objective, linked to remuneration, to support our Sustainability and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion agenda.
- We completed our first Group-wide climate risk analysis and human rights assessment, checks that we will repeat as part of our annual risk and control assessments.
- We’re among just 2,500 organisations worldwide to have a net zero target validated by the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi). We’ve updated our net zero roadmap and Environment policy.
- We’ve set new Sustainability goals across 16 metrics, all designed to meet external benchmarks for ‘excellence’ by 2030.
See the 2025 Sustainability Report
See the 2025 Performance Scorecard
See the 2025 SASB Index
See our Reporting Hub for earlier reports, scorecards, and indexes.
How are we a responsible business?
As you would expect from Europe’s leading credit management company, we uphold the highest standards of risk management, corporate governance, and ethical conduct. We’re at the forefront of a highly regulated industry.
Governance
You’ll find our full governance framework and descriptions of all our Board Committees on our Governance page along with information about our approach to risk management, data protection, and other policies and procedures.
Sustainability Development Group
The SDG is responsible for all aspects of our Sustainability strategy, from recommendations for the strategy and its development, through to delivering, embedding, and communicating it. Our Group Head of Sustainability chairs the SDG. The SDG reports to the Group Executive Committee.
Group Sustainability Committee and goal review process
The GSC is a stand-out instrument of governance in our sector. Chaired by a Non-Executive Director, it gives strategic advice, leadership, and challenge to the Board about Lowell’s sustainability agenda and combines external oversight with internal expertise. The committee reviews our external reporting, future strategy, and plans each year while considering how new regulations could affect us.
Members also took an active role in reviewing and setting new Sustainability goals to take us from 2026-2030. When setting these goals, we looked at our progress since 2020 and external developments in best practice. And we benchmarked our performance against other financial services and Sustainability leaders.
We discussed initial proposals with subject matter experts from all three of our regions and with the Sustainability Development Group, before seeking approval from the Group Executive Committee and the GSC. The very existence of this committee demonstrates the importance Lowell places on Sustainability, alongside other topics with Board-level oversight, remuneration, risk, and audit.
Reviews of regulation and reporting
We continuously monitor regulations to stay compliant. In2025, this included:
- A thematic review of upcoming regulations including Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, and EU Taxonomy.
- Completion of our annual climate risk analysis and human rights due diligence.
- Completing energy audits in our DACH offices, aligned to the EU Energy Efficiency Directive requirements.
- Paying due regard to the FCA’s current Sustainability Development Requirements and Anti-Greenwashing rule and the now voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standards.
From a reporting perspective, we continue to align our reporting to the SASB framework, which we chose based on investor feedback and its sector focus. We also align our efforts with five UN SDGs (1, 5, 8, 13, and 17). As signatories of the United Nations Global Compact since 2022, we submitted our first Communication of Progress in 2024.
Our approach to risk
Our Group Risk Framework and Risk Appetite guide everything we do. We use our Risk Library to identify, understand, and manage risks. Every year, risk owners review their risks and check that the controls work. The Group Risk Committee reviews this monitoring.
We also carry out themed risk assessments each year. These cover areas like money laundering, Consumer Duty, and operational resilience. We share the results with the Group Risk Committee.
To make sure we align to our Group Risk Framework and our appetite for risk, we organise our risk management using the Three Lines model. Each line has clearly defined roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities.
Download more information about our approach to risk. More details of how we manage risks is included on page 30 and 31 of our 2025 Sustainability Report.
Our policy suite
We have 20 core Group policies that set out what’s expected, supported by regional guidance, training, and processes. These include:
- Group Code of Conduct
- Group Risk Framework
- Group Reward policy
- Group Human Rights policy
- Group Environment policy
- Group Business Travel and Expenses policy
- Group Procurement policy
- Group Supplier Code of Conduct
Mandatory training
We make sure Colleagues complete training that matters. It covers what regulation requires and what’s vital to good business conduct. Colleagues must complete mandatory training to qualify for our bonus scheme.
In 2025, we had 100% completion across the Group for the following training packages:
- Code of Conduct
- Data and information security, privacy, and protection
- Financial crime
We see risk as a connected system across our business, our customers, our partners and the wider world – we’re striving to build a resilient business while addressing broader challenges such as social vulnerability and climate change.
Speaking up
We want Colleagues to feel safe to speak up. It’s key to improving how we work. People can raise concerns through formal and informal channels and be confident that we’ll listen. Our whistleblowing policies are on the intranet, and we run regular campaigns to keep them front of mind. In 2025, Colleagues raised seven matters through whistleblowing channels. We resolved them through our complaint, grievance, or disciplinary processes.
Working with suppliers
Responsibility for supplier management oversight sits within our regions, with subject matter experts handling individual relationships. We manage relationships in line with our Supplier Code of Conduct and supplier contracts.
Group Supplier Code of Conduct
Our Supplier Code of Conduct forms part of our Terms and Conditions, which all Lowell suppliers must agree to before working with us. Guided by regulation, we have a steady focus on human rights issues in our own organisation and within our supply chain.
Anyone who wishes to raise any concerns about human rights or environmental protection within Lowell or our supply chain can follow our complaints procedure.
Respecting human rights
Treating people fairly is part of who we are.
Our Group-wide Human Rights Policy sets out how we promote and respect human rights within Lowell and across our business activities. It reflects regulatory requirements, best practice, and international human rights standards.
This year we worked with a specialist to assess our management of human rights, as defined by standards including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, ILO Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Data security, protection, and privacy
We store, manage, and safely process the data of over 15m customers, 3,200 Colleagues and 2,000 Clients. We earn the trust of stakeholders through our everyday actions and our transparency. People can get a sense of this through the privacy assurances that we publish on our websites.
Each region has its own Data Protection Officers responsible for making sure we meet our data protection obligations. They report to the regional Chief Risk Officer as part of the second line in our governance model.
We have comprehensive policies covering data governance, protection, retention, and cyber security. During 2025, all eligible Colleagues completed our annual mandatory training on data security, protection, and privacy (100%).
Read more about our data protection and information security.
Cyber security
Cyber-attacks are a constant threat. Regional cyber-threat experts manage this, overseen by the Regional Chief Risk Officers with a member of the Executive Management team leading the strategy.
We handle cyber and tech risks through our Information Security Management System (ISMS), with policies regularly reviewed by senior management. Regular reports on cyber risk management are shared with Risk Committees and Group Exec for review and approval.
In the UK, our Information Security Management is accredited to ISO27001.
How we’re doing: sustainability snapshot from 2025
Environmental impact
- We’re among just 2,500 organisations worldwide to have a net zero target validated by the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi).
- We partnered with an external environmental specialist to complete a climate risk assessment
- We’ve enhanced our climate transition plans to align to the SBTi-validated goals
- Progress to our original goals:
o We’ve cut Scope 1 and 2 and business travel emissions by 79% since 2019, surpassing our target of 65% reduction by 2025.
o All the sites where we control electricity supply are on renewable electricity tariffs – this accounted for 88% of total electricity in 2025.
o In the UK, we do not send any waste to landfill.
See the 2025 Sustainability Report
See the 2025 Performance Scorecard
See the 2025 SASB Index
See our Reporting Hub for earlier reports, scorecards, and indexes.
How are we managing our impact on the environment?
The following greenhouse gas reduction goals were validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in June 2025. These will replace all previous climate goals from 2025:
Near-term targets (2030): Reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 83.7% by 2030 from a 2019 base year. Reduce absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions 42% by 2030 from a 2024 base year.
Long-term targets (2040): Reduce absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions 90% by 2040 from a 2024 base year.
You can keep up to speed with our progress in our annual Sustainability Report.
Our net zero overview
What do we mean by Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions?
These are the standard categories of emissions that companies create in their own operations and through their value chain.
- Scope 1: this covers all the emissions that a company makes directly, like those from company cars and emissions from manufacturing processes.
- Scope 2: indirect emissions like heating and electricity, which the company doesn’t produce itself.
- Scope 3: the emissions that a company is indirectly responsible for, like the goods and services we buy, Colleagues commuting to the office, and so on throughout the value chain.
How we will achieve our SBTi goals
Scope 1 and 2 reductions
We exceeded our near-term reduction target in 2025. We need to cut our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by a further 146 tCO2e to meet our long-term target. We will do this by:
- Ensuring all the tariffs we control are 100% renewable electricity
- Finding new ways to save energy
- Reviewing our office spaces to fit our hybrid working model
- Incorporating green credentials into all new site requirements
Scope 3 reductions
We need to cut our Scope 3 emissions by 15,864 tCO2e to meet our near-term target (2030). As at end 2025 emissions are down by just over 10,300, a 28% reduction. This is mainly driven by a reduced overall spend year-on-year. We will achieve further reductions by:
- Requesting actual data from our largest suppliers, to replace our current spend-based method.
- Asking public sector Clients, such as Courts, that contribute more than 1% of our total spend on goods and services, to confirm that they’ll align with the Nationally Determined Contributions of their operating country.
- Supporting smaller suppliers by signposting resources such as the SME climate hub.
- Looking closely at our five largest spending categories to find more opportunities. For example, in 2025, 20% of our category 1 and 4 emissions were related to letters (postage, printing and shipping). While sending letters will always be important, more customers now prefer digital communication. We’ll continue to push to modernise the 1974 Consumer Credit Act to reduce the volume of mandatory printed communications and allow us to reach customers in the ways they prefer.
Engaging Colleagues on environmental issues
Formed in June 2022, our Environmental Involve Group (EIG) consists of Colleague volunteers who want to put their personal passion for environmental topics to good use in helping the planet.
The EIG’s remit is to be a critical friend for our environmental work, helping to shape our corporate agenda and to generate interesting and informative content to help Colleagues make more informed choices in their personal life.