Barclays has announced a new three-year partnership with Samaritans, a charity which provides emotional support to anyone struggling to cope.
Samaritans is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with 201 branches across the UK and Ireland. The three-year strategic partnership will enable Samaritans to meet demand for its services and help reach those most at risk.
Samaritans is there for anyone who is struggling to cope with how they are feeling, offering non-judgemental emotional support, through a listening service, including by phone, email, letter, face to face (currently suspended due to Coronavirus) and through our Welsh language service.
The partnership is part of Barclays’ £100m Covid-19 Community Aid Package, which the bank launched in April in response to the pandemic. Barclays will support Samaritans’ response to Coronavirus, helping the charity to be there for those most at risk, both now and in the future.
Samaritans’ volunteers have provided emotional support over a million times (via phone, email and letters) since lockdown and almost a quarter of those calls for help have been about coronavirus with people feeling concerned about isolation, mental health and illness, as well as family and finance.
The strategic partnership will see Barclays help grow and expand Samaritans’ emotional support service, through a range of new and existing programmes of work including new digital and volunteering initiatives. Barclays staff will have the opportunity to volunteer with Samaritans as part of the partnership, either by providing emotional support as listening volunteers or by contributing as support volunteers.
With Barclays’ support, Samaritans will continue to respond to anyone struggling to cope in the UK and Ireland via telephone, email, letter and face-to-face (currently suspended due to Coronavirus).
Nigel Higgins, Barclays Chairman, says:
“COVID-19 has created an unprecedented social and economic impact in the UK, with many experiencing greater hardship due to the crisis. Incredible charities such as Samaritans have been playing a vital role in the UK’s response to the pandemic, ensuring urgent help reaches those most in need of support.
As a bank we have been doing all we can for our customers, clients and colleagues, and we hope that by partnering with Samaritans and many other charities across the UK, collectively we can ensure that as many people as possible in the communities in which we live and work are supported through this crisis.”
Gareth Germer, Chief Operating Officer at Samaritans says:
“We know that the Coronavirus pandemic is affecting the way many of us live our lives. It’s vital that Samaritans can continue to be there for anyone struggling to cope. Barclays’ support will help us to reach those most at risk and support our response to the Coronavirus crisis.
Our strategic three-year partnership with Barclays will help us to meet demand for our services, increase our capacity to support people who contact us, and help us recruit more volunteers to deliver our life-saving services. It’s thanks to the support of partners like Barclays that we’re able to continue to be there, every day and night.”
