The People’s Health Trust is an independent registered charity which works to support 51 Community Interest Companies and their respective local society lotteries to distribute their good causes funds across England, Scotland and Wales. It is governed by a board of trustees and regulated by the Charity Commission and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.
The People’s Health Trust works very closely with each local community interest company. Each has unique needs and therefore each requires a strategy to ensure that the good causes money is put to greatest effect. People’s Health Trust specialises in health inequalities and works with the local society lotteries and their communities to ensure that there is good local engagement, that local programmes are created which address health inequalities and that that all applicant organisations undergo a thorough assessment and evaluation process.
The People’s Health Trust operates independently of The Health Lottery brand. The Health Lottery scheme manages 51 society lotteries that operate in rotation and each represents a different geographical region of Great Britain. Each lottery is promoted by a Community Interest Company (CIC) which holds a large society lottery licence. Each week one or more different society lotteries representing different geographical areas will benefit from the money raised through The Health Lottery which is run by The Health Lottery External Lottery Manager (ELM), owned by Northern & Shell. 20 pence out of every pound raised by the society lotteries will be distributed to health good causes within the relevant society lottery geographical region which aim to give people longer healthier live via an independent charity, the People’s Health Trust.
The Trust is governed by a board of trustees and is chaired by Professor Jennie Popay. The day-to-day running of the charity is overseen by Chief Executive, John Hume.
There are 51 Community Interest Companies (CICs) covering Great Britain. The objective of each CIC is to benefit the community it exists to serve, by tackling health inequalities in that community. Each does this primarily through funds raised by the local society lottery it runs across the year, working alongside all the other CICs under the common brand of The Health Lottery.
The ultimate responsibility for where the money is allocated lies with the Trustees of People’s Health Trust. The process is, however, more collaborative. The CICs agree a strategy for funding in their local area with People’s Health Trust and decisions are taken in accordance with the strategy. Local people will shortly be a big part of making recommendations on local funding priorities and where local money raised through their society lottery is best spent in their local area.
Only projects which tackle health inequalities across England, Scotland and Wales will be funded. This means targeting funds in each local community interest company area towards work that supports groups or communities that experience or are likely to experience poorer than average health or wellbeing and shorter than average life expectancy. The aim is to fund projects which give people longer healthier lives.
All trustees were recruited through a formal recruitment process. The Board is chaired by Professor Jennie Popay. The other members of the Board include: Razia Shariff, Sue Hawkett OBE, Dr Eva Elliott, David Black, Deborah Peake and Nigel Turner, the deputy chair.
The funding priorities will be determined after engaging with the community of each local community interest company to see what they need. A small grants programme runs in each local society lottery area and is aimed at very local community groups to apply for funding. The programmes open and close at different times in line with the opening and closing of the society lotteries.
An over-arching priority for all our funding partner CICs and their society lotteries is the reduction of health inequalities and funding projects that help people live longer healthier lives within their areas. Criteria for priorities will be determined locally within the local society lottery area. We will never fund an organisation to deliver work which forms part of statutory requirements e.g. NHS work.
These may vary according to the programme and according to what each CIC says they want to see in their community.
There is a robust grant monitoring procedure based on standard good practice across the funding sector.
Each week one or more different society lotteries take part in the lottery draw. They then donate money raised through their lottery to health good causes within their respective communities, working with them to prioritise needs. Running things this way means every single part of Great Britain gets a share of the monies raised. No matter where you live, you will be able to see the society lotteries making a difference.
The Health Lottery scheme manages 51 society lotteries that operate in rotation and each represents a different geographical region of Great Britain. Each week one or more different society lotteries take part in the lottery draw. They then donate money raised through their lottery to health good causes within their respective communities, working with them to prioritise needs. Running things this way means every single part of Great Britain benefits from the monies raised. No matter where you live, you will be able to see the society lotteries making a difference. Each ticket sold will have details of the local society lottery which will benefit that specific week. Information on this can also be obtained from the Health Lottery website, via the helpline and from the retail outlets
Currently, the Society Lottery Legislation under which The Health Lottery operates differs in Northern Ireland which means that Health Lottery tickets are not able to sell tickets there. As a result this means that we as a Trust are unable to fund activity in Northern Ireland. We’re aware that The Health Lottery is keen to operate in Northern Ireland in the future. If that happens we as a Trust would look forward to awarding funding to charities and local groups in Northern Ireland.
