LUC has reported a strong set of results for the year ended 31 December 2021.

Despite the pandemic continuing to affect business trends, turnover increased by 16% to £11.8m and the profit pool totalled £0.75m (up 67% on 2019). LUC has continued to invest a significant portion of this in ICT infrastructure, hybrid working and the digitalisation of its services.

On 1 January 2021, LUC launched a new company strategy establishing its three-year vision. The strategy places LUC’s response to the climate and ecological crises at the centre of the business. It also states a central priority to perform better in terms of diversity and inclusivity.

Over 2021, LUC continued to develop its portfolio of work in Ireland. The company also opened an office in Cardiff in August 2021, to service its growing number of energy projects in Wales.

By the end of 2021, LUC had 220 employees working for the Company (up 30 during the year). Staff turnover was 14%, broadly consistent with the last 10 years. The median gender pay gap for 2021 was 9.5% (down from 18.8% in 2017). LUC calculated the median ethnicity pay gap for the first time and will continue to do this (11.5% in 2021).

Jon Grantham, Managing Director of LUC, said: “I am delighted to report these solid financial figures for the second year we navigated the pandemic’s challenges.

“Alongside continuing to deliver quality results for our clients, diversity and inclusivity remained a central priority. Implementing our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy includes unconscious bias training invaluable for those most closely involved in recruitment. I am pleased our policies and practices continue to close the gap and expect to see further progress towards fully balanced gender and ethnicity representation over time.

LUC is owned by all its employees via an Employee-Owned Trust, and we encourage employee participation in the running of the Company. As an Employee-Owned Trust, we seek to generate profits, not maximise them, and share those profits equally among employees.

In practice this means we do not pursue profit at all costs, preferring instead to balance this against our wider social, environment and economic priorities.

The 2021 profit will be distributed equally among all staff on a percentage of salary formula. It remains our policy to redistribute 50% of our profits to employees, while retaining the balance for investment in the business.”