Our leadership and governance

Our charitable purpose, as prescribed by our Charter and Byelaws, is to promote the art and science of the management and development of people for the public benefit. For us, our members and our wider community, this means championing better work and working lives for all.

Discover how our structure, leadership and governance arrangements help us work responsibly, as a charity and an organisation.

Our structure

The CIPD (The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) is incorporated by a Royal Charter and is a registered charity in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

Operating globally, we comply with local legislation, follow appropriate codes and learn from good practice in other sectors. Good governance is the cornerstone of our organisation.

The CIPD has four subsidiaries:

CIPD Enterprises Ltd, a wholly owned trading company, which is registered in England and Wales. Its board of directors include Tony Osude, Louise Fisher and Angela Attah.
CIPD Middle East FZ LLZ, which is wholly owned by CIPD Enterprises Ltd and registered in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Its board of directors include Tony Osude, Jenny Gowans and Angela Attah.
CIPD Asia Ltd, which is a not-for-profit wholly owned subsidiary, limited by guarantee and registered in Singapore. Its board of directors include Tony Osude, Belina Lim and Angela Attah.
CIPD Ireland's board of directors include Alison Hodgson, Joyce Rigby Jones and Angela Attah.

All our subsidiaries offer professional recognition and membership. They provide training and support for our members. They uphold and implement our Code of Professional Conduct. And they work with local governments, employers and partners to make the case for better work.

Our charitable activities include education, research and support for our members. The CIPD Trust extends this impact to individuals and communities. It harnesses the knowledge, expertise and talents of our community to support more people to improve their skills, raise their confidence and reach their potential.

Through our commercial activities we work directly with employers to provide specific training programmes, advisory services and events. We carry out these activities in support of our charitable purpose – to champion better work and working lives – and we invest surplus funds in our charitable activities.

Our leadership and governance

Our Royal Charter and charity status empowers us to champion better work and working lives. This privilege comes with clear responsibilities for our leadership and governance.

"The people profession should be at the forefront of shaping the business response to environmental, social and governance goals."

Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, CBE, President of the CIPD

Our commitments as a responsible business

We invest in the changes that we advocate to others. And we go beyond legal compliance to develop and share sustainable practice. We do it because it’s right – work should and can be a force for good – and because it delivers the right results for our members, our people and our business.

We share our commitments through our annual reports, policies, business principles and statements.

Our annual report

Growing our reach, growing our impact

CIPD gender and ethnicity pay gap reports

Creating a fairer and more inclusive workplace at the CIPD

Our commitment to sustainability

What we’re doing to become more sustainable and have a greater positive impact on individuals, organisations, communities and wider society.

Modern slavery statement

We will not work with any business or organisation which is involved in modern slavery

Our business principles

Our business principles set out our expectations of ourselves and all suppliers, partners and clients we work with. We have identified areas which matter most to us in supporting our purpose of championing better work and working lives. We are starting to assess ourselves against these principles to see where we fall short, where we meet them and where we believe we can exceed them. By setting the same expectations for businesses we work with, it is our hope that we will help influence environmental, social and governance standards in how businesses operate more broadly.

Our business principles are that companies should:

comply with all legislation, regulations and directives applicable to their business and the countries in which they operate
not be sanctioned by the UK government or involve the CIPD in countries sanctioned by the UK government
agree to or aspire to the Principles of the UN Global Compact, that businesses should:

support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights
make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses
uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining
uphold the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour
uphold the effective abolition of child labour
uphold the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation
support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges
undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility
encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies
work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

Our risk appetite statement

We are committed to championing better work and working lives.

We operate within a low overall risk range and our lowest risk appetite relates to compliance and the welfare and wellbeing of people. We accept a marginally higher risk appetite for finance, delivery and technology risks. Our highest risk appetite relates to achieving our strategic objectives and increasing our reach and impact. For these, we are willing to accept measured risk in undertaking new business development opportunities globally and in speaking out on topics relating to the world of work.

Our statement of investment principles

The CIPD Staff Retirement Scheme is a defined benefit pension scheme for employees and former employees that closed to new entrants in 2010. It continues to be managed by independent trustees for the benefit of its members. By law the scheme must publish its Statement of Investment Principles, which details the policies that control how the pension scheme invests and sets out the principles governing how decisions about investments are made, and an Implementation Statement.

Shaping responsible organisations

Good governance is the cornerstone of every well-run organisation

As a profession we take a central role in shaping responsible organisations. Explore the guidance we share with organisations and our community of people professionals.

Factsheets

Corporate responsibility: An introduction

This factsheet explores corporate responsibility and putting it into action in the workplace

Topics

Corporate Governance resources

Discover the benefits of good organisational governance.

Factsheets

Pay fairness and pay reporting

Find out what's meant by fair pay, what pay information UK employers must disclose by law and the opportunities pay narratives bring.