TopicUk Business Magazine

Barclays launches £100m Covid-19 community aid package

The Editor -

Barclays is committed to helping its customers, clients, colleagues, and the wider community deal with the current unprecedented medical and economic crisis caused by COVID-19, and in preparing for recovery in its aftermath. Among other measures, the bank has already made available free everyday banking and overdrafts to 650,000 small businesses, waived overdraft and other fees for customers, and is helping to implement the UK Government’s support schemes.

We will be setting out further programmes to assist businesses and households in the coming days and weeks.

Today the company is announcing the establishment of The Barclays Foundation, initially to provide a COVID-19 Community Aid Package of £100 million to charities working to support vulnerable people impacted by COVID-19, and to alleviate the associated social and economic hardship caused by the crisis.

The package is made up of two components.

First, a corporate contribution of £50 million, which will be donated to, and deployed via, a variety of charities working to support vulnerable people impacted by COVID-19, and in alleviating the associated social and economic hardship caused by the crisis. The money will be disbursed principally in the UK, but also in Barclays’ international markets, including the USA and India.

Second, is a £50 million commitment by Barclays to match personal donations made by our employees to charities of their choice, local to them, and which are working to support communities impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. In total this initiative represents a corporate commitment overall of £100 million by Barclays, and potentially translates to up to £150 million of aid provided to hard hit communities through the additional individual donations of Barclays’ employees.

In order to kickstart that programme, and further encourage colleagues who can give something to do so, Barclays PLC Chairman, Nigel Higgins, Group CEO, Jes Staley, and the Group Finance Director, Tushar Morzaria, have each decided to donate a third (33%) of their fixed pay for the next 6 months to charities engaged in supporting vulnerable people impacted by COVID-19. Their donations will be matched in full by the company under the matched donation programme.

Commenting on the launch of the package, Barclays Group CEO, Jes Staley, said:“We have been doing all we can to look after our customers, clients, and colleagues through this crisis, made possible by tens of thousands of amazing and dedicated Barclays people around the world who have been doing their utmost to keep our services running, and support the economy.

“We want to do more to back the communities in which we live and work, and to provide help to those who have been hardest hit by the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

“That’s why we’ve launched this community aid package, which we hope will make a positive difference, working with charity partners here in the UK and around the world to deliver help where it’s needed most.”

Programme Details

Component 1 - Charity Partners Programme

  • A £50 million fund
  • Disbursed principally in the UK, but also in some of our international markets such as the US and India, in part reflecting where our most significant colleague population centres are.
  • Funding deployed via partnerships with trusted charities who can have a direct and immediate impact on the communities we wish to help in those geographies.
  • Funding to be targeted at programmes as local to our major locations as possible – the places where our colleagues live and work, and where they can potentially help directly.
  • The money will be used to help disadvantaged people (those suffering from social and economic deprivation as a consequence of COVID-19), the elderly and vulnerable communities most at risk from COVID-19, and to support NHS staff and other keyworker communities.

Component 2 – Employee Matched Donations Programme

  • A £50 million commitment
  • Barclays will match an individual colleague’s donations to charities working to support vulnerable people impacted by COVID-19, and in alleviating the associated social and economic hardship caused by the crisis.
  • A colleague may select a charity of his or her choice for their donation and matching programme, provided the charity is officially registered, and is engaged in supporting communities impacted by COVID-19.
  • Un-utilised corporate funds (any balance of the £50 million) at the end of 12 months would be deployed to the Charity Partners Programme so that Barclays meets its overall public commitment of a £100 million contribution to COVID-19 Community Aid.