Purpose-led sustainability

Because our health and happiness rely on the health of our planet and communities

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We want everyone to take control of their health in a sustainable way.


At Simplyhealth, we have been walking this path to do good in the world for decades.

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Through our positive impact on the environment

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In the way we contribute to society and social change

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By governing ourselves in a responsible way

It may not have been called ESG (‘Environmental, Social and Governance’) back in 1872 when we were created, but our intent throughout this time has remained the same. To us, ESG and sustainability is about more than just being ‘green’, it’s about using business as a force for good in the world, always driven by our purpose.

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In 2022 we were certified as the UK’s first B Corp Health Insurer and became proud members of the UK B Corp community and global movement.

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We're building a sustainable business that helps our customers, communities and colleagues to thrive.

No organisation is perfect, and we certainly don’t claim to be. Instead, we’re constantly looking inside our organisation to ensure that every working day, every decision we make, and every action – big or small – not only helps improve the health of our customers, communities and colleagues, but also the health of everyone and everything we hold dear.

Our stakeholders – our responsibility

We’re constantly looking outwards too, beyond our organisation, to the world around us. We do this because we believe we have a duty and responsibility to our:

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Customers

  • To improve health outcomes for our customers

  • To help customers to manage and find solutions to the (healthcare) challenges they face

Why? Because we believe a predictive and preventative approach to healthcare is better than cure. We’re creating quick and easy ways for millions of people to live healthier lives.

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Communities

  • To improve health outcomes for our communities

  • To help those locally, nationally and globally, who need our support and stewardship

Why? Because our future health as humans relies on the health of our communities, businesses and our planet. We’re all citizens of a global community, so we’re here for everyone.

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Colleagues

  • To improve health outcomes for our colleagues and help them live their best lives

  • To help colleagues cope and adapt to our changing environments, to better meet our customers’ needs

Why? Because the health and happiness of our workforce is important to us. When our colleagues feel great, they pass it on.

Our stakeholders are important to us – they are the reason we exist. We regularly reflect on the issues that are important to them. Engagement with our stakeholders helps us to understand our impact across our value chain and helps us to innovate, developing new propositions and products for the future.

Our sustainability strategy

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A dedicated Environmental Social Governance (ESG) team to embed sustainability and B Corp into our everyday.

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Round-the-clock virtual health services at our customers' fingertips.

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Helping our customers, colleagues and communities during the cost of living crisis.

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Through our Simplyhealth Ventures business, we're investing millions in exciting start-ups to improve health outcomes.


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£1 million of our profits donated to health-related charities and community causes every year.

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Independently appraised and certified as a CO2e Assessed Organisation, CO2e Reducing Company, Carbon Neutral and a Carbon Neutral Plus Organisation (based on 2021 and 2022 GHG emissions).


As part of our sustainability strategy we:

Support the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Are active members of the UK B Corp Community

Are active members of the Business in the Community (BitC) network

Undertake training and gather best practice from the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership (CISL)

Are independently assessed as a Carbon Neutral Plus business by Carbon Footprint Ltd

Support the Taskforce for Climate-related Disclosures (see page 50 of our 2022 Annual Report)

Continue to maintain our Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) accreditation

Pledge to support those who have served in the armed forces and their families

Are committed to paying colleagues above the London Living Wage

2023 sustainability highlights in numbers

100% of colleagues have accessed training via SimplyLearn, our learning platform

Over 600 nominations for our LOVE (Living Our Values Everyday) Awards

£500 cost of living payment gifted to colleagues earning below £45k (benefiting over 600 colleagues)

31 Mental Health First Aiders

Over £1.05m donated to local and national charities and charitable causes

Over 1500 working hours gifted to volunteering in local communities

£81.3k fundraised between Simplyhealth and our colleagues

71.4% customer satisfaction

68% of consumer claims online

97% of corporate claims online

76,844 conversations with customers to help them make the move from paper to digital communications and claims

73.8% reduction in our operational waste (since 2019)

100%* of our company cars were hybrid or electric vehicles

57.3% reduction of our Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions (since 2019)

11.38%** reduction of our Scope 3 GHG emissions (since 2019)


* Excludes investments.
**Excludes 2 x diesel events vans. Sustainable alternatives are being explored during 2024.

NB: GHG emissions cover Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions excluding investments, purchased goods and services, capital goods, transportation and distribution, investments and employee commuting. Please see our latest Annual Report for data tables.

Our sustainability timeline

Take a look at our progress over the past three years and some of our more recent steps towards greater sustainability.

Want to find out more?

To learn more about Simplyhealth’s approach to sustainability and progress so far, please take a read of our 2023 Annual Report. You can follow us on our social channels for all the latest updates, stories and news.