Almost 200 disadvantaged children across the UK will woke up to gifts on Christmas morning 2020 thanks to the generosity of Provident Financial Group colleagues.

Colleagues throughout the Group donated 187 toys to children via our Gift Giving Appeal in partnership with School-Home Support.

Social Impact Programme Manager Cathy Prior said, "We've had some great feedback. Everyone is very grateful for the gifts and this year they were needed even more than ever."

 “As a School Home Support Practitioner working in a secondary school in Bradford I see the added pressure of Christmas impacts the families I work with. Christmas is not always a happy time for families and even more this year. I am working with young people and their families who have had significant bereavements, parents who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic, living in poverty and suffering from poor mental health. I am finding Christmas can cause families to go into debt or further into debt because they feel the social pressure of providing their children with the best examples matching the expensive gifts their peers might receive.

The Amazon Gift list has been an amazing idea and I would like to thank  the thoughtful and kind people who have donated and bought gifts through Amazon Wish list. This means that the families who I feel will get nothing or very little this Christmas will now receive a [present on Christmas day. The gifts will make  a big difference and take some of the pressures off parents / carers feel at this time of year. THANK YOU” – Zoe Dempsey, SHS Practitioner

 “Thank you for my present. I am very grateful for it and looking forward to opening it on Christmas day – Emily (student)