Lawsons Group is marking Fair Tax week as the first ever building materials merchant to be awarded the Fair Tax Mark.
Fair Tax Week (8–15 June 2025) is an opportunity for businesses to step forward and say what they pay in tax with pride, and for UK councils to declare their support for the economic contribution this makes locally.
Over the last decade the success of Lawsons has contributed £14.9 million in Corporation Tax payments, £18.9 million in employer's National Insurance contribution, and £62.5 million in VAT.
Earlier this year, the business become the first merchant to be awarded the Fair Tax Mark by the Fair Tax Foundation, which also spearhead the week.
The Fair Tax Foundation is a not-for-profit social enterprise based in Manchester. It was launched in 2014 by a team of tax justice, corporate responsibility and ethical consumer experts. Its Fair Tax Mark is, according to the Foundation's website, "the world’s first certification for responsible tax conduct", and is "widely regarded as being the gold standard for business worldwide".
For the duration of Fair Tax week, Lawsons is offering customer 5% off online purchases via its website.
Chris Harrison, Group Finance Director at Lawsons, said: “As a significant player in the builders' merchant sector, which is a key sector for the UK economy, it is only right that we should publicly demonstrate our approach to paying our fair share of tax in full and at the right time.
"We were delighted to be the first builders’ merchant to be recognised in this space; which is important given the corporation tax, employment tax and VAT contributions the sector makes to the Treasury. We have a culture of transparency across our entire business, whether in our dealings with customers, suppliers or our people.
"Tax funds the huge array of public services from education, health and social care, to flood defence, roads, policing and defence. We are active in the communities we serve and see all of those much-needed public services in action.
"It is another way at Lawsons we demonstrate our community values and best practices. We also believe that this inspires confidence and trust in our goods and services and I would not be surprised to see this accreditation becoming a mandatory requirement for all public construction contracts in the coming years given that funding decisions for those contracts are funded wholly or partially by UK tax revenues.”
