Greene King, the UK’s leading managed pub company and brewer, has announced the launch of a support fund in partnership with the Licensed Trade Charity to help team members affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
The Team Member Support Fund will be set-up with an initial donation of £300,000 from Greene King. The funds have been raised from a combination of voluntary salary sacrifices from the Executive Board and directors at the company and a company donation. Greene King Team Members can also donate to the fund via a Gofund page.
Subject to meeting certain criteria, all 38,000 Greene King team members will be eligible to access the fund with grants of up to £400 for those most in need of financial support during this unprecedented time.
To help manage the process, Greene King has partnered with the Licensed Trade Charity, who have been supporting workers from pubs, bars and breweries with practical advice, emotional support and financial grants since 1793.
By working with the charity, Greene King has been able to accelerate the introduction of the programme and enable team members to start accessing the fund from this week.
Nick Mackenzie, Greene King CEO, (pictured), said, “I am incredibly proud of the way our team members have handled this situation. But I know it has not been easy and in some cases our team members are facing real financial difficulties, through no fault of their own.
“The Team Member Support Fund aims to ease some of the burden our people are experiencing right now, we are all in this together and we are directing the funds to help those who need it most.
'And thanks to the help of the Licensed Trade Charity, who have done an amazing job for over 200 years supporting people in our industry who hit on hard times, we’ve been able to get the programme ready to access in a very short amount of time.”
Jim Brewster, CEO of the Licensed Trade Charity, said, “Licensed trade people are balancing huge practical, emotional and financial pressures at the moment and we are very pleased to work with Greene King to add to the support we are able to offer at this incredibly difficult time.”