Doing business that does more.
School partnerships
We regularly work with local schools to deliver careers talks, skills sessions, employability workshops, and work experience placements. Schools we’ve partnered with include Grace Academy, Coleshill High School, and Priestley Smith School – a specialist school for young people with visual impairments, which has become one of our most longstanding community relationships.
We’ve welcomed students from Priestley Smith into our offices, supported their sports day, donated equipment, and attended school events. It’s one of those partnerships where the impact is felt both ways.
Birmingham Metropolitan College (BMET)
Crimson’s CEO sits on the BMET employer board, attending four times a year and contributing to strategic discussions about how colleges prepare young people for employment. He’s also participated in Ofsted evaluations as an employer representative – a level of engagement that goes well beyond writing a cheque.
The whole point of an employer board is to close the gap between what colleges teach and what the real world demands. That’s something we care about.
The Crimson Academy
Our apprenticeship programme has been running since 2019. Each year, we recruit a cohort of apprentices from school leavers, graduates and career changers – giving them a structured path into a career in technology. The programme combines technical training with personal development, including business awareness sessions and mentoring.
We actively promote the Academy with a focus on gender diversity in tech, and use the government apprenticeship portal to ensure applications are as accessible and wide-reaching as possible.
Small actions, genuine impact
Beyond education, our people get involved in community activity that doesn’t make a press release – it’s just what we do.
We’ve donated to and attended events for Hope Food, a community food bank supporting people in the Erdington area. We sponsor grassroots community initiatives – football kits for local youth teams, fundraising for causes that matter to our people. When employees come to us and ask for support with a cause they care about, the answer is almost always yes.
We recognise that the measure of a company has shifted over the years – and we welcome this. From simply doing good business to making a difference in the communities we work in and alongside. That’s not a slogan. It’s a change in how we think about what we’re for.
Holding ourselves to account
We hold ourselves to high standards in how we operate – for our people, our clients, and the wider environment.
We submit annual carbon footprint reports and have introduced practical measures to reduce our environmental impact: motion-activated lighting in our offices, reduced printing, and an electric-vehicle scheme for employees. We’re also actively developing our knowledge around AI and sustainability – because if we’re helping clients adopt AI at scale, we need to understand what that means for energy use and responsible practice.
We maintain recognised external quality standards and keep our Health & Safety and Environmental policies under regular review.
We can help you evidence social value too
For our clients in higher education, local government and housing, social value is increasingly a formal part of procurement and commissioning decisions.
We can provide evidence of our social value activity to support procurement processes where required. If you’d like to discuss our social value credentials or explore how a Crimson partnership could help meet your social value obligations, get in touch.