Beacons of activity

Our impact is felt throughout the UK - with beacons of activity around our office hubs where the majority of colleagues are located. We are proud that our impact is spread through both national partners and through the smallest of organisations at a local level.

Strategic Partners and Nationwide: Our impact extends across the UK through major partnerships including Depaul UK, operating Nightstop services nationally and Down Syndrome Swimming GB. We also support a range of other national causes, including Spread a Smile, and Endometriosis UK.

• Kent: Centred around our Chatham and Maidstone hubs, support balances heritage with healthcare. Key beneficiaries include Medway Street Angels for homelessness support and Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust for education. There is a strong concentration of support for local hospices, including Demelza, Heart of Kent, and Ellenor Hospice, alongside environmental work at Fort Amherst Heritage Trust.
• The Midlands: In Wolverhampton, our support is dominated by 'social safety net' charities. The Good Shepherd and Friends of Di’s Kitchen appear repeatedly in volunteering logs, alongside Black Country Women’s Aid. We also maintain a strong regional educational link through the Coventry Rugby Foundation.
• The South: This region has had a huge impact on our environmental aims. Volunteering is dominated by the South Downs National Park and animal welfare organisations like Brent Lodge Wildlife Hospital in Fareham. Support also extends to Rowans Hospice in Hampshire and Encore Youth Theatre in Winchester.
• London: London focuses on high-impact partnerships, serving as the hub for our Depaul UK activity and urban greening projects with Kensington & Chelsea Food Bank and local allotments. We also support social mobility through Carney’s Community in Battersea.
• Wales & Borders Pen Y Bryn Outdoor Learning in North Wales serves as a major beneficiary for our environment and wellbeing objectives, and a popular destination for cross-departmental fundraising hikes.
• Others: Our remote workforce ensures our impact reaches beyond our office footprints, stretching from educational outreach at Tobermory High School on the Isle of Mull, to wellbeing support for the Lowestoft Deaf Centre in Suffolk.

Community impact report

Find out more about our Community impact report.

Good causes fund

Our Good Causes Fund welcomes applications from our employees for a charity, a cause, or local community initiative to receive a donation of up to £500. In 2025, the Fund supported 169 local community organisations through donations totalling £84,194.

Match funding

We match all money raised by our employees on a pound for pound basis (up to a maximum of £1,000) for events that support our corporate charity partner, and match up to £250 per event per individual that raises funds for other UK charities and good causes. In 2025, our employees raised over £90,000, and the Group matched employee fund raising with additional donations totalling £33,865.

Our charity partners

UK charity partner 2025 – Depaul UK

Depaul is one of the largest youth homelessness charities in the UK, supporting around 5,000 young people every year who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness.

They deliver activity programmes that equip and empower young people to manage mental health problems, build healthy relationships and access education, employment and training.

As we bring our three-year partnership Depaul UK to an end, in 2025 we contributed £20,000 of match funding to Depaul’s Winter Appeal. Our injection helped drive an incredible 189% overall increase in public donations, raising a total of £185,634.

Sponsorship

The Group operates partnerships, supplying charities and organisations with more than monetary donations - we share skills and experience too, and encourage each partner to support one another so they can increase the power and reach of the messaging. And we do this by working together, amplifying the impact across our separate channels.

We use sponsorship, delivered through our OSB Group, Kent Reliance and Charter Savings Bank brands, to connect with local communities, and support those who are underserved, underprivileged and overlooked in society.

We think of these sponsorships as partnerships where we work together to bring the most value to our communities, our colleagues who volunteer their time, and to our customers who recognise the value in saving or borrowing with an ethical company.

Our partnerships include:

Down Syndrome Swimming Team GB - the squad of elite British swimmers with Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome) or Mosaic Down Syndrome who compete internationally, representing Great Britain at events like the World and European Down Syndrome Swimming Championships. Run by the volunteer-led charity Down Syndrome Swimming Great Britain (DSS-GB), the team provides swimmers with the opportunity to achieve their potential and shine on a global stage.

Cyclopark Charity: located near Gravesend in Kent, it is a large, purpose-built, multi-activity venue set in parkland, which offers first-class facilities for cycling, running, and extreme sports. Operated by a charity, it features a 2.9km traffic-free road circuit, 6km of mountain bike trails, a BMX track, a skate park, a play park, and fitness studios, making it a hub for community sport and national-level events.

Pen Y Bryn Outdoor Learning: a Community Interest Company (CIC) and not-for-profit social enterprise based in Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park, North Wales. They are dedicated to breaking down financial, physical, and social barriers to outdoor adventure by using its profits from commercial bookings to provide free or low-cost outdoor experiences to disadvantaged individuals and groups referred through partner charities.

The South Downs National Park: England's newest National Park, stretching over 1600 square kilometres of chalk hills and wooded valleys. We support them through three key projects:

• Trees for the Downs: provides the trees (saplings), as well as the canes and guards needed to enable landowners, farmers, and community groups to plant a mix of native and disease-resistant tree species to create new woodlands and hedgerows.
• Building Pollinator Corridors (Beelines): creates wildflower corridors (pollinator super-highways) to connect fragments of chalk grassland, working with landowners to plant native and locally sourced flowering plant seeds and restoring chalk grassland habitat, which is vital for pollinators like bees and butterflies.
• Outdoor Learning Grant: offers financial assistance for school pupils to cover transport costs and fees, removing financial barriers and allowing thousands of children, particularly those from disadvantaged or urban areas, to take fully-facilitated day trips or residential stays to experience the National Park. 

Kent FA: an award-winning monthly YouTube programme that serves as the ultimate hub for the county's grassroots football community.

Alvechurch and Hopwood Cricket Club: a long-established, inclusive grassroots club located in North Worcestershire, just south of Birmingham, welcoming players of all ages and abilities. The club runs a diverse range of teams, including league sides for adults, a thriving youth section, and a dedicated ladies' section, all fostering a strong sense of camaraderie and sportsmanship.

SEFA Women: a female football academy based in Kent with the mission to develop young female footballers and provide a pathway into the professional game, delivering the same level of training, coaching and support as male teams receive.

Local UK community partners

Demelza Hospice Care for Children (supported by Kent Reliance through our Children’s Savings Accounts) provides clinical care, therapies, specialised activities and practical support across Kent, South East London and East Sussex. They benefited by each year through donations linked to our children’s savings account and other employee fundraising initiatives.

Coventry Rugby Foundation in the West Midlands is a key partner with the Group supporting their Project:500 camps held during school holidays, where disadvantaged children attend a 3-day event to play sports and learn about nutrition and wellness. At the end of the camp, they are provided with enough fresh food and vegetables to feed their families for a week during the school holidays. The Group is also the lead sponsor for their Rugby & Reading programme, exercising both body and mind for primary school children across the region.

Wolves Play Cafe in Wolverhampton is a community organisation delivering ‘stay and play’ sessions to children under 7, and has been supported by the Group with donations to pay for new uniforms, provide safeguarding training and purchasing vital online technology. In addition, kitchen furniture and a range of volunteers have helped transform their gardens and allotments for the use of their service users.

Volunteering

Our commitment to giving back is strongly demonstrated by our colleagues, who actively support local charities and organisations by putting their annual 14 hours of paid volunteering time to excellent use.

In 2025 alone, 61% of the UK workforce actively participated in our various community impact activities. Through volunteering, their dedication supported 140 organisations providing 7,385 hours of invaluable volunteered time, making a tangible difference in our local communities.