Research project: ‘The National Wealth Service’

The pandemic created a perfect storm for politicians to sell the lie that private healthcare companies help relieve pressure on the NHS, and we’re already witnessing the emergence of a two-tier health system. The British Medical Association warned that the government’s 2022 Health and Care Act would “do more harm than good”, making “it easier for private companies to win NHS contracts without proper scrutiny”. It contains a sweeping array of amendments designed to benefit multinational companies, private healthcare providers and insurers.

As we write, junior doctors are embarking on another strike to protest declining wages and worsening conditions. Significant NHS staff shortages are now the norm across the board and waiting lists are growing ever longer, in what has been described as a “death by 1,000 cuts”. Alongside this, concerns are growing over awards of multi-million pound NHS contracts to private corporate giants.

This research project aims to investigate and disseminate information on around 200 private companies (many of which are US-owned giants) that have existing NHS contracts and develop our hypothesis that far more has already been paid out to private companies than the UK public is aware of. We’ve recently investigated vast profits paid out to the subsidiaries of just five companies and the results are shocking. With the help of the new fellow, we can push our specialised research methods even further.

The aim is to create a directory outlining the activities, interests and financial track records of these corporate interests, alongside their role in the new NHS Integrated Care Systems (ICS).

The findings collected for the directory would then be used to create an interactive map enabling people to find out which companies are profiting from the NHS at both national and local level. The body of work as a whole will create a tool not only for campaign groups but also for UK residents to fully understand the extent of current NHS privatisation. This embodies our Corporate Watch ethos: to produce Information for Action.

Post Details

Job title: Research Fellow

Working hours: 28 hours per week max with flexible working hours. This post is for one year, with the potential to join as a Corporate Watch co-op member on completion of the fellowship.

Pay: You will receive a tax-free support grant of £20,400 via a monthly stipend from the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust.

Annual Leave: 5 weeks (pro rata) plus bank holidays

Location: Open to anyone able to work remotely and travel approximately every three months to Bristol or London.

Deadline for applications: 30, August 2023

Interviews: Date TBC

Start date: W/c 2 October 2023 (with the opportunity to join a Corporate Watch in person training on 30 September and 1 October, expenses paid)

Job Description

Research

Over the course of the year, you will be expected to research, analyse, write, and produce a range of short, informative outputs leading up to developing the directory and interactive map. You’ll work collaboratively with other co-op members and later take the lead on developing evidence, analysis and research outputs.

It is expected that research methods will include desk-based research as well as primary research which may include: data gathering and analysis, FOI requests, surveys, interviews, and liaising with campaign groups. Corporate Watch will provide training and mentoring to support building these and a wide range of other research methods.

This Fellowship is intended to provide an opportunity for the fellow to develop their research capability; we do not expect these skills to be fully developed from the outset and encourage those without academic experience to apply. We will offer training in our anti-capitalist research methods, supported by regular one-to-one mentoring.

External Communication, Social Media and Dissemination

The Research Fellow will be responsible for ensuring that information is communicated to a wide audience, with a particular emphasis on ensuring key information reaches those outside traditional academic and policy spaces.

This will include:

• Creating short, accessible written outputs to communicate key research outcomes.
• Drafting press releases and communicating research outcomes to mainstream media.
• Using social media to drive public engagement and understanding.
• We will support the fellow in presenting their research findings to campaign groups and they will have the opportunity shadow us in our workshops, as appropriate. These activities will enable the fellow to build confidence and experience in public speaking and training.

Person Specification

Knowledge: Essential

• Strong knowledge of the ethos behind challenging corporate power and the need for grassroots, anti-capitalist action.
• Strong knowledge of UK politics and political processes including a clear understanding (theoretical or experiential) of current issues relevant to the NHS crisis.

Experience: Essential

• Experience communicating complex ideas in an impactful and accessible manner to those outside of academia, for example through blogs, social media, or other digital communications.
• Experience of working within a social justice movement, for example as a volunteer or activist for a grass-roots campaign.

Attributes and Skills: Essential

• Will gain significant benefit from the opportunity offered by the fellowship.
• Demonstrable commitment to Corporate Watch’s work, aims and values and a clear passion for research.
• Willingness to learn about the research process and develop new skills.
• Demonstrable commitment to equality and diversity.
• Excellent research and analytical skills, including accuracy and attention to detail.
• Strong communication skills across different platforms.
• Self-organising and accountable, with proven organisational and time-management skills and the ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines.

We will base the shortlisting process on the essential criteria above but want to actively encourage people from marginalised communities and/or non-academic backgrounds to apply for this fellowship. We particularly welcome and encourage applications from those who are underrepresented in research and journalism including Black people, People of Colour, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) people, refugees, working class people, disabled people and ex-prisoners.

However, please do indicate if you also have any of the skills/experience listed below; they are genuinely desirable only and shouldn’t be considered a prerequisite or barrier to applying. If you feel you have additional qualities or experience not listed here, please also include reference to these in your application.

Knowledge: Desirable

• Some knowledge, of methods and approaches to corporate research for example, understanding company structures or reading accounts.

Experience: Desirable

• Experience of working within a co-op, small charity or NGO.
• Any experience of undertaking desk and field-based research in a related subject area.
• Any experience using qualitative research methods such as surveys, interviews, and focus groups.
• Any experience using quantitative research methods such as surveys and data gathering.
• Any experience of data-driven investigation.

 Attributes and Skills: Desirable

• Design and multimedia skills (designing infographics, producing short videos etc.).
• Technical ability in using digital tools such as WordPress, social media platforms etc.

To apply:

Please send the following to cwjobs at corporatewatch.org  by 30 August, 2023.

• A cover letter (2 pages max) telling us about yourself, your relevant experience, how you would benefit from the fellowship and outlining how you meet the person specification criteria.
• Your CV (2 pages max).

The post Research Fellowship – application pack appeared first on Corporate Watch.

About the Fellowship

This is a one-year, full-time post with a support grant of £20,400, paid by a monthly stipend from the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust. The fellow will work in collaboration with the Corporate Watch team.

The pandemic created a perfect storm for politicians to sell the lie that private healthcare companies help relieve pressure on the NHS, and we’re already witnessing the emergence of a two-tier health system. At the time of writing, junior doctors are out on strike again, staff shortages are rising, and the morale of dedicated NHS workers is at rock bottom. Against this backdrop, private companies are scooping up billions in lucrative contracts. The successful applicant will conduct research into the extent of NHS privatisation both now and in recent history and identify which corporations are profiting most.

The findings will be communicated through a variety of media, aiming to ensure information reaches our target audiences. You will be supported in your work by members of the Corporate Watch team, as well as an extensive network of campaigners, and researchers.

The aim of the project is to build the fellow’s research skills and experience, whilst enhancing Corporate Watch’s capacity to carry out strategic investigations in support of struggles for social justice.

The post:

• Income: You will receive a tax-free support grant of £20,400 via a monthly stipend from the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust.
• Support: This fellowship is intended as an opportunity for you to develop your research skills and we actively encourage applicants from those without an academic background. You will be supported by members of the Corporate Watch team throughout.
• Location: This role is open to anyone able to work remotely and travel approximately every three months to Bristol or London.
• Hours: 28 hours/week with fully flexible working arrangements.

About you:

• You want to develop strong research skills and already have some knowledge of key issues and legislation related to the NHS crisis and the impact this will have on us all, and for vulnerable/marginalised communities in particular.
• You will have excellent written communication skills, including experience producing online communications, campaigning or on fundraising equivalent topics.
• You understand the importance of solidarity, and the value of collaboration within a radical workers’ co-op.
• You are self-motivated and able to work autonomously as well as collaboratively with colleagues.
• You are able to multitask, be flexible, diligent and respond to shifting demands and fast-moving events.
• You are committed to Corporate Watch’s anti-capitalist aims and values.

About Us

Corporate Watch is a research group established in 1996 that helps people stand up against corporations and capitalism. Our motto is ‘information for action’: we know that people can fight and win, even against powerful enemies like corporations and governments. Good information helps people to understand the forces we’re up against, spot their weaknesses, and to campaign strategically and effectively. We provide rigorous, reliable, and strategically useful research and analysis to support groups organising against corporate power and aim to demystify how capitalism and specific industries work to the wider public.

We are a small workers’ cooperative and maintain our independence by never taking money from state or corporate institutions.

We are a rarity in being a research group that is firmly rooted in – and at the service of – grassroots social movements. We work collaboratively with campaigns for much of our research, with most projects starting as a request from such groups. At times our research has played a pivotal role in the success of campaigns – from providing financial information to unions negotiating for pay rises, to exposing airlines involved in the deportation machine.

We particularly welcome and encourage applications from those who are underrepresented in research and journalism including Black people, People of Colour, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) people, refugees, working-class people, disabled people and ex-prisoners.

To apply:

Please click here to read the full research project brief, job description and person specification before applying.

Please send the following to cwjobs [at]  corporatewatch.org by 30th August 2023.

• A cover letter (2 pages max) telling us about yourself, your relevant experience, how you would benefit from the fellowship and outlining how you meet the person specification criteria.
• Your CV (2 pages max).

The post Research Fellowship: The National Wealth Service appeared first on Corporate Watch.

A Corporate Watch investigation revealed Choose Love’s relationship with an organisation called Prism the Gift Fund. Prism runs “collective funds” for charities like Choose Love and takes 2% of their income for doing so. Prism also manages donation funds for rich people, who want to give to charity without the trouble of setting up their own private foundations (while still maintaining the “tax benefits” from charitable giving, naturally).

The last available financial report (2020) showed Choose Love raised £11.8 million and spent £9.7 million. Just over £1 million went on programmes in France, with more than £5 million in Greece, £1 million in the UK, £617,000 in Syria, and smaller amounts in another 13 locations around the world.

A year later concerns about the charity highlighted in our investigation haven’t gone away. Former Choose Love employees recently contacted us with this open letter documenting their experiences.

Dear Choose Love

None of us feel safe signing this letter, and we ask you to respect our anonymity. Whether it’s our references ruined, projects we are associated with no longer receiving funding, or your readiness to involve aggressive lawyers. Some ex-staff felt too fearful to be involved, even anonymously, as they feel they’ve been gagged. But believe us when we say that the feeling of disappointment and sadness about your lack of love is shared by large numbers of people.

For the good of the organisation, and most critically, for the good of the people it exists to serve, real change must start with the leadership team.

Now is the time for genuine, meaningful change at Choose Love – and we mean more than just opaque independent reviews with outcomes no staff are allowed to see (this has happened twice already).

We want to see a commitment to proper accountability and transparency in all aspects of the organisation, support for the team to unionise – and a genuine apology for everyone who has been ground down, burnt out and treated as disposable. It’s the absolute minimum we should expect, and yet we still don’t actually expect to see it. We hope we’re wrong.

With a new, kinder, more experienced leadership team, it is time the organisation truly earned its name.

Signed,
12 former Choose Love team members.

IF YOU WANT TO SEND MONEY TO NORTHERN FRANCE:

Image by @LouisWitter via @calaisolidarity

Calais Migrant Solidarity / Watch the Channel:

The Calais Migrant Solidarity network has been active in Calais since 2009, practising solidarity not charity. Watch the Channel shares sea safety information and monitors the UK and French authorities “to ensure that the coastguards fulfil their duties under international maritime law to rescue people in distress.” It doesn’t have its own bank account but donations can be sent via CMS.

www.calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/donate

Calais Appeal:

Calais Appeal is a group of eight humanitarian aid organisations working in Calais: Calais Food Collective, Collective Aid, Human Rights Observers, Refugee Community Kitchen, Refugee Women’s Centre, Refugee Info Bus, Woodyard and Project Play. They set up this joint emergency appeal fund after having their funding cut by Choose Love, they still need support for their ongoing work.

www.calaisappeal.co.uk

 

The post Choose Truth: former Choose Love employees speak out appeared first on Corporate Watch.

We ask: who is profiting from supplying our energy? How much are the bosses getting paid? and how have these companies been cosying up to government?

We hope that our research can be a useful resource for those organising towards a mass non-payment of energy bills.

We will be releasing our alternative company profiles of the Big Six energy suppliers in reverse order over the coming weeks. You can see our profiles on Scottish Power, EDF and Octopus Energy here. Next up?

OVO Energy; the UK’s 3rd largest supplier

Bristol-based OVO is the third biggest UK energy supplier. The company is majority owned by its billionaire founder, and major Tory donor Stephen Fitzpatrick – who has the dubious honour of being dubbed ‘Britain’s Elon Musk’. 

The company sparked anger earlier this year when customers of OVO-owned SSE Energy Services were sent an email recommending that they cuddle pets and eat porridge to save on heating bills.

OVO seem to be taking the threat of an energy bill strike seriously, with Fitzpatrick taking the time to complain to the Daily Mail that the call for collective action on energy bills isn’t “the British way”. 

What is it?

OVO Energy supplies electricity and gas to customers in the UK through its SSE branded division, and Boost, for its prepayment customers. Corgi HomePlan – owned by OVO Finance, provides boiler cover. OVO purchased Spark Energy in 2018, which specialises in supplying energy to landlords and letting agencies. Group subsidiary Kaluza provides software platforms for utilities. 

However, OVO’s income comes overwhelmingly from gas and electricity supply, accounting for a massive £4.2 billion of its £4.5 billion revenue in 2021.

OVO sponsors the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland’s largest entertainment venue.

Where is it active?

OVO Energy has 3.12 million domestic electricity customers and 2.24 million domestic gas customers.

2019 figures, the latest available, show that OVO’s Boost prepayment business had over 350,000 households on its books.

OVO Group also has subsidiaries in several other countries, including a domestic supply company in Spain. However, revenue generated outside the UK came to only £20 million in 2021, out of a total of £4.5 billion.

Who owns it?

Privately owned, OVO’s founder and ultimate owner is Stephen Fitzpatrick, who owns 68% of OVO Energy’s parent company, OVO Group Limited, via his holding company Imagination Industries Ltd. Mitsubishi Corporation owns 21% and Mayfair Olympic Holdco Limited owns 11%.

Fitzpatrick is also CEO of a ‘vertical aircraft’ business – marketing ‘flying electric taxis’ – with his stake valued at around $1 billion last year. The company is US-listed and based in the Cayman Islands, a tax haven.

The billionaire launched a cynical PR offensive at the start of September,  outlining a ten-point action plan for the energy crisis. Fitzpatrick’s suggestions made it look like he was on the side of the poor, but his company profits are the real bottom line, as the government bailout measures later announced by Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng will – as well as putting a temporary cap on what consumers can be charged for energy – ensure the profits of private companies like OVO by guaranteeing that the state will cover any shortfall faced by companies.

Dodgy Finances

OVO Group’s accounting is creative, to say the least, which isn’t surprising for a company whose founder is a CEO of a business in the Cayman Islands. For example, OVO has come under criticism for the high fees it pays for ‘branding rights’ to Fitzpatrick’s holding company Imagination Industries Ltd. – £21 million last year. 

Fitzpatrick has previously been quizzed by MPs over inter-company loans – including a £5.6 million loan from his holding company Imagination Industries, OVO’s parent company, to his ‘flying taxi’ company Vertical Aerospace, with a massive interest rate of 30%. 

Similarly, questions have also been asked about loans within the group. OVO Group received £7 million in interest from Group companies in 2021 and provided £17 million of loans to OVO Holdings Ltd, an intermediary between the parent and its subsidiary OVO Energy. Interest on the loans is paid at 7% or higher.

Finally, The OVO Group has made £1.5 million in tax-deductible donations to the ‘Ovo Charitable Foundation’.

A broke, sad woman feeling cold at home and working with her laptop by candlelight in order to save money on utility bills

What other criticisms have been made of the company?

OVO was told to pay £8.9 million to customers in 2020 after overcharging. Inaccurate statements had been sent to more than half a million customers. Then last year the company was told to pay £2.8 million in compensation after failing to safeguard customers’ tariff prices when they switched energy suppliers.

OVO also received criticism for wrongly claiming that a customer owed £44,000 after the company had made an error reading her meter.

How much is it making?

The company reported a pre-tax profit of £370 million in 2021 (compared to a £176 million loss the previous year) however, this was largely due to a £372 million revaluation of energy derivative contracts. The underlying business made a £2 million loss, compared to a £66 million loss in 2020. It cut 1,700 jobs in January, in addition to 2,600 already lost in 2020. However, the company recently hired 500 workers in the face of a sharp rise in calls from customers. It received £17 million in furlough payments in 2020.

The company has £2.3 billion in assets. As of 31 December 2021, OVO had £300,000 of loans outstanding to directors, 

Bailed out by the state

Recently published accounts suggested that until the government announced support for energy bills, the company had been concerned that it would breach financial requirements this year, putting the company’s future in doubt. It blamed households being unable to pay their bills, leading to an increase in “bad debt” as a factor. However, when the accounts were released publicly at the end of September the company said it did not expect to breach any covenants in the next 12 months, adding that the auditors had raised concerns in June over the impact of “market uncertainties” but government and regulatory action had created “more certainty”.

Who runs it?

CEO and owner Stephen Fitzpatrick donated £185,000 to the Conservative Party in the first quarter of 2019, making him one of the largest donors in the period running up to Boris Johnson’s re-election that December, at a time when Labour’s policy was to nationalise energy. Most of the donation was paid via his company Imagination Industries Incubator, whose parent Imagination Industries Ltd. receives payments for branding rights from OVO.

OVO Group’s highest-paid director in 2021 received £558,000.

The CEO of OVO’s Retail arm, Raman Bhatia, was previously the Head of Digital Bank for HSBC Retail Banking and Wealth Management in the UK and Europe, serving on the Executive Committee where he led on risk management. HSBC has been fined billions for a variety of breaches including money laundering regulations. Earlier in his career, he worked as a management consultant at Bain, an investment firm that has been accused of ‘vampire capitalism’ for its asset-stripping activities. Bhatia has previously spoken at a panel at the Conservative Party conference.

Stephen Murphy, Chairman of the OVO Group board, was previously CEO of the Virgin Group from 2005 to 2011.

Last year OVO Energy’s highest-paid director, then believed to be Adrian Letts, whose tenure as Chief Executive ended early this year, received £644,000 including pension contributions. In the previous year, the highest-paid director received £327,000. 

In total OVO’s directors were paid over £2.4 million in 2021, taking into account pensions and other payments this totalled over £3 million.

Does OVO have a close relationship with government?

According to Transparency International, OVO has taken part in 38 meetings with UK government ministers since 2012. A great many of these meetings were with Kwasi Kwarteng, who – during his brief stint as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Autumn 2022 – worked on the Tory energy bailout package. OVO had a private meeting with Kwarteng to discuss energy retail issues in June 2022. 

Jonson Cox, a director at OVO Finance, OVO’s immediate parent company, chaired UK water regulator Ofwat from 2012-2020. Previously he had held senior positions at two water companies.

Address:

HQ: 1 Rivergate, Temple Quay Bristol, BS1 6ED

The post Heat the Rich? Part four: OVO appeared first on Corporate Watch.

We ask: who is profiting from supplying our energy? How much are the bosses getting paid? and how have these companies been cosying up to government?

We hope that our research can be a useful resource for those organising towards a mass non-payment of energy bills.

We will be releasing our alternative company profiles of the Big Six energy suppliers in reverse order over the coming weeks. You can see our profiles on Scottish Power and EDF here. Next up? 

No.4 Octopus Energy

Octopus Energy Ltd is the fourth biggest energy supplier in the UK currently controlling around 11% of the energy supply market. It is the newest supplier in the big six, trendy enough to be reviewed by Vogue and posed as a ‘solution’ to “a broken, inefficient market”.

Originally launched in the UK in 2016, Octopus Energy Group Ltd now operates in 13 other countries with 23 million customer accounts. Its model is supposedly a “cheap green energy system” funded by “high sums of investment”.

But the Octopus name is not limited to the energy market. In 2018, it was listed as managing over £7 billion in assets with over 50,000 investors, Since then, it’s continued to grow, Octopus now operates eight distinct businesses: Octopus Energy, Octopus Investments, Octopus Healthcare, Octopus Ventures, Octopus Real Estate, Octopus Moneycoach, Octopus Renewables, Seccl and Octopus Wealth.

According to co-founder Christopher Hulatt, the group takes a holistic approach: “by building companies with one purpose – the relentless pursuit of ‘better’.” But better for who? Better for the pockets of Hulatt and wealth investors or for energy customers…Suffice to say, this isn’t covered in the Octopus Energy Ltd podcast on the Energy Crisis.

How many UK energy customers does Octopus Energy have?

Electricity (excluding pre-payment): 3.1 million

Gas (excluding pre-payment): 2.7 million

Who owns it? 

Touted as an “independent supplier” by Forbes. Octopus Energy is in fact part of a group, that is ultimately owned by OE Holdco Ltd. 

At the start of the tax year in April 2022, OE Holdco Ltd, a UK-based holding company, was owned by the co-founder of Octopus Energy, Christopher Hulatt. But mysteriously, since the end of September OE Holdco Ltd has no listed owner. Hulatt and Octopus co founder Simon Rogers remains two of the three directors of OE Holdco Ltd, the third directorship is held by Octopus Company Secretarial Services Ltd.

OE Holdco Ltd was formed back in March, at the same time as families around the UK were plunged further into the cost of living crisis. Already by September, it has become the ultimate parent company of the Octopus Group. It’s certainly one to keep eye on when annual accounts are due.

Is Octopus Energy suffering as a result of the cost of living crisis? 

It doesn’t seem so, in fact, Octopus Energy appears to be going from strength to strength. According to the company’s accounts from 2021, it recorded record revenues of £1.9 billion in 2021 with profits at £25 million. Bouncing back from a loss of £47 million in 2020. 

The Octopus Group, with its fingers in many pies, celebrated a revenue of £2 billion in 2021,  £800 million more than in 2020, a 62% increase.

Whilst the ultimate parent company OE Holdco Ltd is too new to file accounts, the Octopus Capital Ltd’s accounts for 2021 show that energy supply is the key moneymaker for the group, accounting for 85% of the total turnover. The group is also expanding internationally through acquisitions in Japan and the USA. The cherry on the cake is that the Group paid dividends of £17.7 million in 2021 in comparison to £3 million in 2020 highlighting that right now business is booming for the Octopus Group, despite the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Who runs it?

Legend has it that Octopus was started in Chris Hulatt’s bedroom, when Hulatt, Simon Rogerson, and Guy Myles founded the company in 2000. Hulatt and Rogerson remain at the top, while Myles left in 2014 to set up a financial investment company.  

Day to day, Hulatt specialises in two things: hunting for investments for Octopus worldwide and cosying up to the UK government through meetings with politicians and ministers. A Cambridge graduate, Hulatt owns over 75% shares of Octopus Group Holdings Ltd and is the director of 30 companies on Companies House including Octopus Energy Ltd. With no official position apart from ‘co-founder’ Hulatt’s salary from Octopus businesses is difficult to measure. But what remains certain, is that Hulatt is not feeling the bite from the energy crisis: with a net worth of £276 million. Outside of the Octopus business, Hulatt is the Chairperson of Enthuse, a digital donation tech company, and the non-executive director of ClearlySo an investment bank. 

Simon Rogerson is the chairperson of Octopus Investments, the CEO of both the Octopus Group and OE Holdco Ltd. He is listed as the director of 26 companies and was educated at the University of St Andrews. Rogerson is likely to have taken home at least £663,000 in 2021 as the highest-paid director of Octopus Capital Ltd. But Rogerson’s pockets go a lot deeper than one remuneration. According to business information databases, Rogerson owns 11% of shares at his workplace, making him the biggest single shareholder of the Octopus Group. Rogerson’s net worth is as high as £229 million. 

Greg Jackson is the CEO and founder of Octopus Energy Group. Jackson is likely to be earning a salary upward of £169,000 as the highest-paid director of Octopus Energy Group Ltd. Celebrated in iNews, Jackson was seen as a bit of an angel after he gave up £150,000 in autumn 2021 “when the energy crisis began to bite”. But despite a relatively low salary he’s well-placed to make such a “selfless act” because Jackson’s 6% stake in the renewables branch of Octopus means he’s estimated to be worth around $300 million (over £265m).

Aside from Octopus, Jackson is the chairperson of Consultant Connect UK, a private tech business profiting from NHS privatisation through referral management.  

The Octopus add-on? Kraken Technology 

In addition to cashing in on supplying energy, the Octopus Energy Group has another trick up its sleeve: Kraken Technology – which is part of the Octopus Energy Group

Kraken Technology provides data services to manage energy usage. Kraken’s platform manages “billing, payments, meter data management, CRM, customer communications, digital self-service, contact centre telephony, industry and market connections (and more)”. It appears that through Kraken Technology services Octopus has made a name for itself in the playground of the Big Six, even convincing its competitors like EDF and e.on to buy up its license. Now, 40% of the British market is licensed to Kraken.

Does the company avoid paying taxes? 

Octopus Energy seems to be in the clear. But it’s one to look out for, as OE Holdco is yet to publish its first set of accounts, and has no publicly registered owner.

Moreover, the majority of companies owned by Octopus Investments Ltd are registered as LLPs, which fall under a different tax system in that the LLP itself is not taxable, untaxed profits are distributed to members who then pay tax through a self-assessment tax return.

The Octopus Group certainly doesn’t shy away from speaking about business tax to the government. In May 2022, Octopus Group attended a meeting on business taxation at the HM Treasury with Lucy Frazer MP alongside Uber and BP amongst others.

Political donations in the UK 

In 2018 Octopus Investments Ltd donated £12,500 to the central Conservative party. Co-founder, Christopher Hulatt, donated a further £2,500 to the party’s local branch Hitchin & Harpenden (Hulatt’s home constituency) in 2019. 

Hulatt’s donation was questioned after Open Democracy revealed Octopus Investments was selected to manage the HM Treasury-owned UK Infrastructure Bank’s new £100m “sustainable infrastructure fund”. 

Does the company have close relationships with the government? 

Yes. As Octopus co-founder Christopher Hulatt put it: “I spend most of my time focusing on…maintaining strong relationships with the UK government and MPs”. 

In October 2020, Rishi Sunak alongside Boris Johnson appear to have done PR for Octopus Energy, promoting the company in an official 10 Downing Street video at the Octopus Energy HQ. Between 2020-2022 Octopus had four meetings with former UK prime minister Boris Johnson. This included one solo meeting to discuss energy technology and sustainability in October 2020 as well as a further 125 meetings with ministers to discuss energy: retail, innovation, efficiency and security. 

In 2018, Hulatt spoke at the Conservative party conference as part of an event on ‘Boosting Consumer Capitalism’ organised by the right-wing Adam Smith Institute. Fellow speakers included Hulatt’s local Conservative MP, Bim Afolami, and Conservative MP John Penrose.

In 2020, Hulatt was part of the Unlock Britain Commission set up by the aforementioned Bim Afolami to produce a report for the Social Market Foundation to design “10 transformative policies for Britain after the Coronavirus crisis”. Other advisors included top figures from ASOS Plc and PwC. 

In 2021, Hulatt led a training on “How to build a nation of entrepreneurs” with Conservative MP and Minister of State for Local Government and Building Safety, Paul Scully as part of The Entrepreneurs Network (TEN). 

Last but by no means least, at the end of September when Octopus changed things up, Stuart Quickenden was brought on board as a director for the Octopus Group. Quickenden was a board member for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) between 2017 to 2020. So no doubt he will have some useful contacts to make Octopus Energy’s relationship with government even cosier. 

Company addresses

Octopus Energy Ltd, UK House, 5th floor, 164-182 Oxford Street, London, W1D 1NN

Ultimate parent company: OE HOLDCO LTD,  6th Floor 33, Holborn, London, England, EC1N 2HT 

Correction 12/12/22: The original article implied Rishi Sunak had involvement in the selection of Octopus Investments to manage the sustainable infrastructure fund. This was inaccurate and has now been corrected.

The post Heat the Rich? Part three: Octopus Energy appeared first on Corporate Watch.

High Speed Two (HS2) is a 343-mile, high-speed cross-country railway line. HS2 would pick up from HS1, which connects the Channel Tunnel to London, snaking to Leeds & Manchester via Birmingham. Plans for the project have been in the pipeline since 2009, and the final stages are not expected to be completed until 2040.

The initial budget for the work was £33 billion, but the expected cost has since spiralled to over £100 billion. The project is being overseen by High Speed Two Ltd, a state-owned company.

At the 2022 Earth First! gathering, Corporate Watch spoke to Liz and Nancy, two activists who’ve been challenging HS2 for several years; from living in camps on route, to taking direct action in tunnels and structures. We spoke to them about how this eco-defence movement stood up to corporate power and the impact of increasingly draconian government legislation on environmental protest.

“HS2 encompasses so many injustices”

Liz explained that the proposed route “goes through 108 Ancient woodlands, which are going to be decimated by the project. And it’s going to create – instead of a green corridor – a cement corridor all the way up the country… It’s splitting the country in half with this huge slab of concrete”.

“HS2 encompasses so many injustices,’ Nancy said ‘wherever you sit on the political spectrum or whatever issues you really care about”. 

Whether it’s ecological issues, or the social issues of people being displaced from their homes, and then being treated completely unfairly by the compulsory purchase scheme. And whether it’s the economic factors of building HS2 or, the way that governments are mandating these kinds of things and calling it ‘the political will of the people’.

Nancy and Liz said that in the early stages, local communities along the proposed route set up “really strong groups” to oppose HS2. But the government approved plans in 2017:

I think a lot of those people felt very disenfranchised. And about three and a half years ago the direct action campaign started with one woman called Sarah Green. She was at Greenham Common, and lives in Hillingdon, which is one of the first areas where they started building. It’s just outside of London in the Colne Valley, which is a really beautiful area. She had a business showing people around the canals – HS2 completely decimated that business, made it completely unviable, because people had come to see a beautiful area. And now all they were seeing was HS2.

So she started the direct action campaign by climbing under a digger and staying under there for, I think, a couple of days and then people started setting up roadside camps.

“Obstructing the destruction”

Shortly after this, activists “started setting up woodland camps” along the proposed route as opposition against HS2 grew in solidarity with local communities. In the summer of 2020, when the pandemic hit, resistance expanded further. Liz explained that lockdown:

Created a moment where a lot of people were suddenly either furloughed or not going to uni. There were no employment prospects – it created a space for people to go and try something new. That’s when I went to the camps. At that point, there were about seven camps along the line, all set up at different points that were strategically important to HS2, mainly because it was on the land that [the company] wanted, or that they needed to build the train line. 

That’s not a new tactic, protest camps have been going for quite a while. They have to send people in to remove people from the site, which isn’t so easy when there are activists 60 foot up in the trees, or underground in tunnels. So that was a big tactic – to occupy land – but the camps also created a space we could do outreach to involve the local community and sort of reinvigorate those groups creating a base from which people can do direct action, obstructing the destruction.

Digging for victory

Liz feels that by 2021 the “campaign felt really strong” with camps along the London to Birmingham route. The year started with the eviction of a tunnel system under Euston Square Gardens. Liz explained that the gardens “right outside the HS2 head office were one of the only green spaces in that area, sitting on one of the most polluted roads in London”. It was also one of the few places homeless people in the area found to sleep. The gardens were due for destruction initially to make way for a “temporary taxi rank” but activists found out that, “a luxury hotel” to serve wealthy HS2 customers was eventually due for construction on the site. They continued:

It was an important space. So they [activists] decided to dig the first HS2 tunnel. The activists lasted in there for 31 days. It was an amazing event and it certainly inspired me. I saw that you can take big, powerful action against government and HS2 and be very disruptive. It was the start of a set of tunnel protests. There were quite a few major evictions in a row after this. I think each eviction costs around three or four million pounds. So it was quite successful, I think, as a protest.

Liz told Corporate Watch that activists saw HS2 workers deforesting large sections of the proposed route “as fast as they could”. Time and time again, they saw trees cut down in front of their eyes and Liz explained that this led to further questions about areas cleared that didn’t seem connected to route maps. Since HS2 is allegedly “meant to be a public infrastructure project, they’re not allowed to be seen to be profiting from the wood that they’re chopping down”.  But protesters still have questions about where “tonnes and tonnes of wood” from these trees went.

Desolation and displacement 

The recent injunctions are simply the latest in an ongoing wave of legislation pushed through by the government to build HS2. Although anti-Hs2 campaigners celebrated when the government scrapped the East Midlands-Leeds stretch of the route, this was only a partial victory. In 2017, it passed a Phase One Hybrid Bill to push ahead with the London to West Midlands section of the route. Phase Two a (West Midlands to Crewe) passed in January 2021 and Phase 2b (Crewe to Manchester) is currently going through parliament. Hybrid bills blend public legislation (which affects everyone) with private (impacting specific individuals or groups). Although used rarely, they create sneaky ways for governments to legally embed corporate destruction because they authorise compulsory purchasing, destruction of conservation areas or changing rights of way as part of major infrastructure projects.

Activists like Liz and Nancy, have seen first-hand the implication of these hybrid bills enabling corporations to benefit from a tax-payer-funded project, and the devastating impact of this legislation for home and land owners along the route. As Liz explained:

The hybrid bill is legislation that gives effectively gives HS2 their own set of laws regarding the construction of this huge mega project. It gives them the sort of ‘legal right’ to get the funding from the taxpayer and to circumvent certain practices (like ecological practices) that other companies or private citizens would have to abide by to get something done. 

A normal construction company would have to go by the rulebook, but the hybrid bill effectively gives them an excuse saying ‘they need to make this train line’ so anything that they want to do to make that happen, they can do.

Nancy continued:

And the other thing that the bill gives the right to do is compulsory purchase land. So this affects anyone unfortunate enough to live on the HS2 route or very close to it. And that’s another important thing to explain about HS2 – it’s such a massive construction project. Some people might think ‘oh, it’s just a train line – that doesn’t sound that bad’. But it’s huge. It’s got to be a certain width – I think about the width of Parliament Square at it’s narrowest.

Then along with all that they’ve got to build all the access roads, they’ve got to build compounds to store all their machinery, they’ve got to reroute other bits of road. And they’ve also got to build several factories, bentonite factories are one of the main ones. It’s not just little country train line, it’s massive. It also needs to be fairly flat. So in places where the land is high, they’ve got to make massive cuttings into hillsides. In places where the ground is lower, they’ve got to build viaducts for the trains to go along. You really, really feel how vast it is when driving around the Chilterns or Oxford areas. Because every road you go down, there are signs, traffic lights, compounds – its desolate.

A lot of people are now displaced. Some people have just had to move out of their houses. Some people have had little bits of their land taken off them… I’ve heard of someone who has a farm and HS2 now owns both of the access roads to it.

And then there are also houses in what’s known as ‘blight’. So if HS2 makes your house completely worthless, they have to buy it but then often end up renting that barn back out [to the previous owner] until it’s time to demolish it. Some people are just sort of left right on the fringes where they’re not in blight, but it’s certainly enough to ruin where they live, with no chance of any financial payment to compensate.

Tax-payer funded destruction

In terms of challenging corporate power, Liz told us that HS2 presented some unique challenges because it’s “a limited company which technically should mean it’s a private company. Mark Thurston [HS2 CEO] earns over half a million pounds a year… so it sounds like a private company but it’s fully funded by the government”. In fact, Thurston is also the UK’s highest-paid public sector employee.

Liz continued:

Essentially, the people that work in the top ranks of it are all civil servants but they don’t have the same accountability processes that an actual civil servant would.

Some of the companies that build HS2 are involved in many other big projects in the UK today. And four huge companies were merged to do some of the building contracts. Those are Eiffage, Kier, Bam Nuttall and Ferrovial. 

Liz said that activists have started to look towards other business ventures these companies engage in. “Kier,’ for example, ‘don’t only build terrible cheap housing, they build vivisection labs. And they are also involved heavily in the construction of the mega prisons planned in the next few years”. As Liz also pointed out, the scope for corporate profit from HS2 is vast and extends far beyond construction.

There’s one [company] called Fusion Fencing, which does all the enabling works for HS2. So whenever a site gets taken, or a compound is built, they’ll come and do all the fencing. The fencing contract is massive. I mean, along 107 miles of train line, that’s a huge, huge contract for fencing for the next 30 years, or something like that. 

And then there are the companies profiting from security. 

Another big contract is for Control Risks Group – the people that essentially supply security services for HS2. You’d wonder why a mega project that has been written into our history as part of the democratic will of parliament needs a security system? That’s something I’ve questioned, but they are running to the tune of about £140 million so far, which is quite an expensive security detail for a train line. Control Risks Group is essentially staffed by a lot of ex-military people.

As early as 2017, Control Risks Group secured contracts worth at least £64 million. The tender contract stated the work required involved “proactive area patrolling, close personal protection and management of locked on protesters”. It also stated the contractor was “expected to be insight led with gathering of insight forming a significant part of the contract”.

Nancy continued:

When you’re on the protest camps, you get to know the different security groups because they have slightly different uniforms. I don’t know exactly who employs specific people, but the lowest level security are ‘fondly’ known as the carrots, because they wear just orange. Then there’s the Black Onyx, they’re very ex-military, and they’re there to add more muscle and are more intimidating. And then you have the IRT who are sent in supposedly for the ‘hairy moments’. They show up where there are protesters, or even when [contractors] do something that they anticipate they will get protesters at – they’re there to forcibly remove people. And they wear all black.

 “A special place to be”

Despite exhaustion from continuous evictions and surviving onsite through all seasons, Liz and Nancy shared insights about the power of activist communities. “For me’ Liz said, ‘the camps acted like a huge flashpoint for so many things that weren’t necessarily just about HS2”.

I encountered conversations around patriarchy and conversations around trans rights, pronouns and land rights – things I’d not really discussed before in my ‘previous life’. It was a real melting point, a melting pot of ideas and ideologies and people in a special place. I met a group of nature defenders with such solidarity for what they were doing and for the campaign.

HS2 was a good follow on from the fracking campaigns. It was the next big culturally important set of camps and activist protests against big government infrastructure and big government plans.

Injunction, Injunction, Injunction

Following news of the injunctions, Corporate Watch caught up with Liz to see how HS2 activists felt:

It’s devastating. It’s completely devastating. They’ve got everything they wanted now, stated in proper case law. They already had legal standing through the hybrid bills and now the judge has given them complete impunity to basically create their own mini-state.

It’s worrying because this affects every campaign from now on. If parliament has decided something should ahead it’ll get the green light like the Rwanda policy or, new coal fields or, North Sea oil or, anything that doesn’t relate to net zero promises or the Paris Climate Agreement. There’s no scope for protesting against them because there’ll be deemed as in the public interest. 

The new injunction potentially threatens using Articles 10 and 11 in the European Convention on Human Rights (EHCR) (which protect the rights of assembly and free speech) as legal defences for protest. Essentially, injunctions like this strengthen Article 1 (A1P1) in the EHCR which protects rights to enjoy “property peacefully” because it prioritises HS2’s ownership of land on the proposed route. This is particularly offensive given how the property rights of the former owners have been destroyed by compulsory purchase orders.

As Liz noted, under this legislation “even slow walking has been completely made illegal. So something that was a tried and tested tactic is impossible to undertake” anywhere near the HS2 route. Liz added:

It seems that the judges dealing with this are not really not in our favour because they assume that parliament is acting in the best interest of all the people in the country. So it’s an uphill struggle to get legal systems to listen.

But Corporate Watch suggested that in some ways, the injunction is also proof that years of protest had a powerful impact – almost a backhanded compliment – to the campaign’s success. Liz laughed saying:

Well, that’s true! We know the reason that this injunction was granted was to stop an imminent threat of nuisance and disruption to the HS2 project. They were worried. The ‘endless guerrilla tactics’ is something that’s cited many times in the ruling. They thought we shouldn’t have the right to endlessly apply guerrilla tactics to HS2 and also that Articles 10 and 11 shouldn’t be limitless. But because of the way we behave, moving from site to site, because of how effective we’ve been disrupting and delaying, yeah, that’s why this has happened really: because it’s been working.

“Never gonna stop”

Looking to the future, now the site-wide injunction is in place, Liz said:

We have to find ways that we can feel good about the way that we move through the world. We’re never gonna stop doing the things that we think are important. I’m never gonna stop doing the things that I feel make a difference.

We just have to find new sneakier ways to go around and circumvent all these draconian rules that are being imposed on us.

 

Images courtesy of Screw You HS2 and Stop HS2

The post Tax-payer funded destruction: Activist reflections on HS2 appeared first on Corporate Watch.

We ask: who is profiting from supplying our energy? how much are the bosses getting paid? and how have these companies been cosying up to government?

We hope that our research can be a useful resource for those organising towards a mass non-payment of energy bills.

We will be releasing our alternative company profiles of Big Six energy suppliers in reverse order over the coming weeks. You can see our first profile on Scottish Power here. Next up? 

NO. 5 EDF

EDF is the fifth biggest energy supplier in the UK currently controlling over 10% of the market. The French multinational is best known for “leading the UK’s nuclear renaissance” operating all eight of the UK’s nuclear power stations. 

EDF is owned by Electricity of France S.A. (Électricité de France, EDF). A multinational energy producer and supplier primarily (and soon to be solely) owned by the French government. It is one of the world’s top five utility companies. 

Created in 1946 by the French government, EDF was set up with the intention of rebuilding France’s power grid following World War Two. Now, 70 years on, EDF has branched out a lot further than France, cashing in on energy users from the USA to India. The group is now made up of 144 subsidiaries.

Despite its name, EDF isn’t just in the energy business. EDF is also involved in the data software, vehicle traceability, investment, and real estate sectors, to name just a few. 

EDF uses strategic partnership deals to build its brand, for example, the company is a Premium Partner (and official energy supplier) for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris in 2024. 

How many UK energy customers does EDF have?

Electricity (excluding pre-payment): 3 million

Gas (excluding pre-payment): 2.1 million

Who owns it? 

EDF Energy (UK) Ltd is ultimately owned by EDF SA, a French company which is majority owned (84%) by the French government and listed on Euronext, the French stock exchange.

In July 2022, the French government announced it would buy out the outstanding 16% of EDF’s shares, reversing the partial privatisation of the company in 2005. But it hit a brick wall when investors threatened to sue the government for losses. The French state started finalising their buyout of 100% shares in EDF in September. But at what price? The other shareholders are demanding a fortune, with the government set to pay a total of 9.7 billion euros (£8.7 billion) of French taxpayers’ money. It’s worth noting that the shareholders set to cash in from this nationalisation are investment giants Blackrock and Vanguard Group. 

Is EDF suffering as a result of the cost of living crisis? 

On the face of it, it does seem like EDF profits have nose-dived in recent years. According to EDF Energy (UK) Ltd’s 2021 accounts, EDF operated a €4.8 billion (£4.2 billion) loss compared to €268 million (£239 million) in 2020. No dividends were paid by EDF Energy (UK) Ltd. in 2021 nor in 2020. However, another UK subsidiary, EDF Energy Holdings Ltd did pay dividends of £1 million in 2021, and £60 million in 2020. 

Despite these losses, at the end of 2021 EDF Energy (UK) Ltd still had net assets of €17.9 billion (£16 billion).

Regardless of the UK subsidiary’s accounts, the EDF Group achieved all its financial targets in 2021. Group sales for the year amounted to £8,720m, an increase of 8%. The Group reaped profits of €360 million (£324 million) in 2021, a total reverse in performance from 2020 when the Group made a loss of €2.6 billion (£2.3 billion).

But what about the future? EDF is predicted to stack up 100 billion Euros (£87.8 billion) in debt this year and the French government already pumped €3 billion (£2.6 billion) into the company in Spring. But as you’ll see below, no matter how bad things are there’s always room to give the CEO a pay rise.

Who runs EDF?

Jean-Bernard Lévy, the current CEO of the Group, is due to leave six months early after a fallout at the top between Lévy and French president, Emmanuel Macron, over nuclear energy. Lévy is – however – unlikely to be out of a job after EDF. He was formerly CEO of weapons company Thales, and media company Vivendi, and even did a stint as a technical adviser to a government ministry. In 2020, Lévy was listed as the 9th highest-paid CEO in the utility sector worldwide taking home a salary of €450,000 (£389,500) and €3,660 (£3,150) in benefits. 

Moreover, Lévy’s probable successor, Luc Remont, cherrypicked by Macron (whose appointment is just waiting for parliamentary approval), will start on on a lucrative footing after the French Government announced that it would like to increase the new EDF CEO’s salary to attract more candidates. The company CEO’s salary is currently capped at €450,000 (£389,500). Whilst no figure has been publicly stated, the EDF Group is known to pay high salaries. In 2013 it was revealed that former UK CEO, Vincent de Rivaz, received a pay package of £1 million annually in remuneration. 

Simone Rossi has been at EDF since 2004, Rossi switched roles from Head of the International Division to UK CEO in 2017. But Rossi’s influence goes far beyond the British Isles. As a member of the Executive Committee, Rossi is at the very top of the EDF Group. At first it appears Rossi accepted a big pay cut, with a 2017 payment package capped at just over £100,000. A modest salary in comparison to his predecessor, de Rivaz, who was on £1 million a year. But it is highly probable that Rossi’s remuneration is now identical to de Rivaz at £1 million, as the highest-paid director in EDF Energy Holdings Ltd. 

Workers’ struggle within EDF

It’s not just customers at the receiving end of EDF’s profit-led strategy. Kashmir Singh, a Prospect trade union organiser, has been fighting against workplace racism and discrimination for half a century. Singh was presented with a 50-year long-service award in 2021 by Simone Rossi. But Singh’s union released a statement explaining how, during his career, he had been subject to two grievance and disciplinary proceedings for daring to raise EDF’s failure to hire and promote staff from Asian or Black Ethnic (ABLE) backgrounds. 

Subsidiaries in tax havens

EDF Energy (UK) Ltd owns EDF Energy Holdings Ltd, the top holding company for EDF’s UK subsidiaries. Whilst EDF Energy (UK)’s accounts from 2021 detail tax payments of €‎905m (£780m) of corporation tax in 2021, some of its subsidiaries are registered in notorious tax havens including a holdings company registered in Hong Kong and an insurance company in Guernsey. 

Political donations in the UK 

Over the last two decades, EDF has funded the Conservative party to the tune of £38,499.

Most recently, last October EDF Energy Renewables Ltd donated £4,999 to the Conservative Tees Valley Mayor, Ben Houchen. And like clockwork, by March 2022, EDF announced its plan to construct a new hydrogen production centre near the former Redcar steelworks in Teeside. The centre is called Tees Green Hydrogen.

EDF also made two £6,000 in donations to the Labour Party in October 2003 and September 2005. The timing of these donations coincided with Labour PM Tony Blair’s announcement in November 2005 that the government was looking into new nuclear for the UK’s future energy supplies. This set the ball rolling for EDF’s £18 billion government contract for the construction of Hinkley Point C power station. 

Does the company have close relationships with the government? 

Over the last decade, EDF has been getting cosier and cosier with the government. The company has had at least five independent opportunities to promote its agenda in meetings with UK prime ministers, once with David Cameron and four times with Boris Johnson. Company representatives even had an intimate one-to-one with Johnson in January 2022 to chat about the UK’s nuclear energy supply, which EDF holds the monopoly over. 

Since 2012, company representatives have also attended at least 151 meetings with government ministers, including 24 solo meetings with the former Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, who is now the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the person in charge of UK economic policy.

And the cosiness isn’t set to end anytime soon, EDF stands in good stead under Liz Truss. The new PM nominated former EDF lobbyist Michael Stott as Downing Street’s new business liaison. Stott, who is also an ex-Tory press officer, is expected to lead the government’s new-build nuclear programme.

Company addresses 

UK HQ address: 90 Whitfield Street, London, England, W1T 4EZ

EDF Group HQ address: 22/30 avenue Wagram 75368 Paris

The post Heat the Rich? Part two: EDF appeared first on Corporate Watch.