Santander staff choose Age UK as charity partners

Age UK and Barnardo's chosen by Santander staff as the bank's new 3-year charity partners

Barnardo's and Age UK have won a staff vote to become Santander's charity partners for the next three years.

The joint partnership will see Age UK and Barnardo's benefit from a combined fundraising and grant programme, which aims to provide funding of up to £1.5 million for each charity.

The charities have been chosen as part of Santander's new flagship community programme ‘The Discovery Project' to help support the most vulnerable people in society. Santander will work with Age UK and Barnardo's in a collaborative partnership to support people in early and later life.

Age UK - Ambitions for Later Life

With the funds raised, Age UK will develop a new initiative to support older people in gaining insight and knowledge to prepare for the future called Ambitions for Later Life. The programme will see one-on-one sessions with older people take place providing support such as helping to prepare for retirement or finding out how to live independently at home for as long as possible. Funds raised will also help Age UK provide vital companionship, advice and support to thousands of older people, a key lifeline for so many.

Barnardo's - On Track

The money raised will also help young people through On Track, Barnardo's tailored support programme for long-term unemployed young people. The programme will consist of one-to-one coaching to help marginalised young people develop the skills and tools they need to get into work, training or education.

Santander's staff will also have opportunities to volunteer for the charities, for example through Age UK's national telephone friendship service, Call in Time, which matches corporate volunteers with lonely or isolated older people and through supporting Barnardo's UK-wide network of charity shops.

Javed Khan, Chief Executive of Barnardo's said: 'With so many young people in the UK unemployed, the support of Santander will help more of them develop the skills to get into work. This partnership will allow us to help the most marginalised young people achieve their goals and take control of their future.'

'We're delighted to have been chosen alongside Barnardo's as one of Santander's charity beneficiaries for the next three years' said Tom Wright, Chief Executive of Age UK. 'This partnership will allow us to launch an exciting new programme that will give older people support at crucial moments in later life, and help thousands more by providing guidance and help when it's needed the most. We're looking forward to working with Barnardo's and Santander on this fantastic partnership.'

Nathan Bostock, CEO, Santander UK, said: 'Our purpose is to help people and businesses prosper, and we recognise that in a rapidly changing world for many the pace of change can be difficult to navigate.'

'The Discovery Project has been created to help people make the most of the incredible opportunities society has to offer. We are very excited about the potential for our partnership with Age UK and Barnardo's to help some of the most vulnerable people in our communities succeed for the future.'

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Notes to editors

For more information please contact:

 Age UK - Marilena Luxmoore on 020 3033 1204 or email Marilena.Luxmoore@ageuk.org.uk

Barnardo's - Becky Beling on 0208 498 7393 or email becky.beling@barnardos.org.uk

Santander - Sarah Webster on 0207 7565533 or email sarah.webster@santander.co.uk

Age UK

We work with our national partners, Age Scotland, Age Cymru and Age NI and our local Age UK partners in England (together the Age UK Family). We also work internationally for people in later life as a member of the DEC and with our sister charity Help Age International.

Age UK believes that everyone should have the opportunity to make the most of later life, whatever their circumstances. We provide free information, advice and support to over six million people; commercial products and services to over one million customers; and research and campaign on the issues that matter to people in later life. Our work focuses on five key areas: money matters, health and well-being, home and care, work and training and leisure and lifestyle.

Age UK is a charitable company limited by guarantee and registered in England (registered charity number 1128267 and company number 6825798). Age Concern England and Help the Aged (both registered charities), and their trading and other associated companies merged on the 1st April 2009. Together they have formed the Age UK Group ('we'). Charitable services are offered through Age UK and commercial products are offered by the Charity's trading companies, which donate their net profits to Age UK (the Charity).

Barnardo's

Barnardo's is marking its 150th anniversary in 2016. Thomas Barnardo's vision was for no child to be turned away from the help they need. During its 150 year history the charity has helped transform the lives of millions of disadvantaged children in the UK, and continues to help families to build a better future.

Last year 240,000 children, young people and families were supported by Barnardo's through more than 960 services across the UK, such as young carers, care leavers, foster carers and adoptive parents, training and skills or parenting classes.

Santander UK

Santander UK is a financial services provider that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought competition to the UK through its 1|2|3 products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. As at 30 June 2015, Santander UK was the most switched to bank, attracting 1 in 4 new retail customers. The bank serves more than 14 million active customers with c. 20,000 employees and operates through 840 branches and 68 regional Corporate Business Centres.

The Discovery Project is Santander's new flagship community programme that aims to benefit 1 million people in the UK over the next 5 years. The initiative is designed to inspire people to have confidence in the future by giving them the skills, knowledge and support to explore the opportunities today's fast-changing world has to offer through three core programmes:

Explorer - helping people learn about the world around them
Transformer - guiding people through work focussed support and training
Changemaker - supporting social innovation and projects that help society.