Modern Slavery Statement
Working to bring about best fit social value from our activities within the community is Banner’s goal. This ranges from donations of employee time, products and finance via fundraising across the UK, through to provision of employment, apprenticeship and service contracts in the localities where we operate. We take pride in an inclusive and active engagement across the UK, wherever possible to support those who are less fortunate than ourselves.
Respect & Relationships: What we’re doing
During 2022, we were proud to have surpassed
our expectations, with our donations reaching over 725 deserving
organisations in the voluntary, charitable and social enterprise sector.
We continue to support InKind Direct’s mission to enable communities to thrive by reaching 237 organisations in the first
half of 2023 alone.
Donations have reached far and wide across the UK and Northern Ireland, across 18 VCSE sector types ranging from
Community Groups or Projects to Schools.
The real social value, of course, comes in the feedback from the charities and the difference our donations enable them to make.
“The gloves have been a real help to us. We always went through boxes of gloves in normal times, as our staff and volunteers use them when sorting through the bags and boxes of donations we get, but since COVID, it has been even more of an imperative for everyone here, and the cost has been fairly taxing as many of our normal suppliers were charging far more than they had been previously. To be able to get a few bulk boxes has saved us a fair bit of money and allowed us to build up a supply for the next few months.” Starter Packs Glasgow
For more information on the work of Inkind Direct, click here.
At Banner, we’re aiming to support 1000 charities and good causes by 2025. To achieve that means working strategically with partners who have many years of experience in the needs of the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector, whilst continuing to review and respond to requests for assistance from employees, customers and our local communities alike.
Banner facilitates and encourages support for charitable activities of employees. Our colleagues can volunteer a working day per year to a good cause of their choice; donate pennies over a round pound from their salary via ‘change for change’ or promote and support site based fundraisers from cakes sales to sponsored runs! All of this good work adds up to a huge contribution to the community. Celebrating the charitable activity of Our People is a key part of ensuring engagement and well-being at work. We look forward to bringing you news of our activities here.
Building upon a previously successful initiative with Stirling Council, Banner worked with The University of Dundee to source and donate “Warming Packs” to the homeless.
The pre-packed kits include essential products, such as blankets, sleeping bags, and thermal clothing that could provide a lifeline to those in need.
Our Banner Education team recently visited Rednock School in Gloucestershire to donate essential paper supplies to the facility.
Andy Wallis, Head of Art and Media commented, “The photo paper donation has made a massive difference to the art department and allowed us to print out many more photographs celebrating the skills of our students.”
Banner is working in partnership with Usel to offer work placements for students within our Newtownards Distribution Centre, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The learners, aged between 17 and 20, are completing a 3-year Skills for Life & Work programme, designed to support young people who face barriers within the labour market to secure full-time employment.
On Tuesday 6th December 2022, the DVLA held their 7th annual Code Challenge final, hosted by news presenter Sian Lloyd, and streamed live to children across Wales.
As one of the sponsors of the event, Banner donated £300 to be given as a prize for the participating schools.
The competition provides primary and secondary aged students from across Wales with the opportunity to win up to £2,000 worth of IT equipment for their schools, and showcase their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills.
To enter, pupils had to code their very own game. The Code Challenge enables students of all ages to develop their problem solving, teamworking skills and improve their knowledge of computer programming in a fun and innovative way.
Over 300 school children and teachers from across Wales joined the DVLA in-person for the live final, with even more taking part through a live stream.
Banner’s Studio Manager, Clive Andrews-Lewis, made good use of his annual Charity Day by taking on a double shift for Staffordshire, Shropshire, and Cheshire Blood Bikes (SSCBB).
Starting at 7am on Thursday 1st September 2022, and covering in excess of 300 miles over the next 12 hours, Clive carried blood tests & samples, fecal matter for treatment, and even loaned blood (of rare blood types) between Queens Hospital in Burton-On-Trent, two locations in Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham, Royal Worcester Hospital, George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton, and University Hospital Warwickshire.
The Operations Team are thrilled to have donated seven hundred and sixty-five pounds to the COVID-19 staff fund at Pinderfields Hospital in Yorkshire.
Over the course of a few weeks the team raised the money by selling and buying raffle tickets to win a range of prizes that were provided by the Banner Group. The winning tickets were drawn and prizes, such as a Fortnum and Mason luxury hamper, laptop bags and
boxes of chocolates, were given out.
Banner are pleased to have been able to support the Samaritans Wakefield branch. Banner were able to donate a variety of items including pens, toilet roll, biscuits and a range of other products thanks to Mark Normington and the NDC warehouse.
We have donated cardboard boxes and minigrip bags to Havercroft and Ryhill Community Centre in Yorkshire. They are working hard to support their local community, and we hope that this donation will help the team deliver food to the vulnerable during this challenging time. Banner donates cardboard boxes to Pinderfields Hospital
Katherine Walker, Havercroft and Ryhill Community Learning Centre said: “Your donation has greatly helped with the struggle of finding bags/boxes to make up the parcels. We now have a good stock pile easy to store and make up with the tape also donated with the pallet of boxes. The sandwich bags you donated are used every day as on average we put together around 20 grab bags providing children with a free lunch. Once again thank you for your kind donation, it is very much appreciated!”
Banner is working in partnership with Usel to offer work placements for students within our Newtownards Distribution Centre, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The learners, aged between 17 and 20, are completing a 3-year Skills for Life & Work programme, designed to support young people who face barriers within the labour market to secure full-time employment.
We are proud to see our employees maximising the potential of their annual charity day to support causes of their choice.
Jules Weaver, Key Account Manager, used one of her annual charity days to support Child Bereavement UK by helping to raise vital funds.
Banner is delighted to be Supporting Sal’s Shoes Charity Toe to Toe school campaign again, in 2023.
Since 2016, Sal’s Shoes has distributed over 4,000,000 pairs of pre-loved children’s shoes in 59 countries around the world, including within the UK, to support families who would otherwise be unable to afford them
We’re pleased to have supported the Parsons Green Health Centre by donating 300 pairs of gloves. This equipment was sent to Parsons Green by the MedSupplyDrive UK; who are an organisation that aims to redirect PPE equipment to front line NHS workers who need it the most.
The Banner Health Team made this donation to support a customer who has been volunteering for MedSupplyDrive UK.
In the last few weeks, EVO has organised donations across all of its sites in the UK. The result has been staggering, with some incredible work carried out by our amazing team.
Our site in NDC collected a fantastic volume of aid which caused Michelle Green, Senior HR Advisor at Banner, to have to find logistical 
alternatives to our initial plan. After coming across the fantastic ‘UK Rail for Ukraine’ freight train service supported by the UK Government, EVO’s donations were delivered to Ukraine and neighbouring countries.
A special mention to Mark Payton, Regional Transport Manager, who volunteered his expertise to help coordinate and support the movement of essential aid donated by colleagues. In total, Mark ensured that eight pallets were collected from our NDC, Sheffield and Bradford sites, which he then took to meet the freight train in Barking and load the goods in time for the departure.
Alongside Mark, staff in the NDC warehouse provided wonderful support throughout the whole process, packing, wrapping and storing items. A big thanks you to Angie Davies, Assistant Warehouse Supervisor, for coordinating the donations within the warehouse and Martin Sinar, Transport Operations Manager, who drove the loaded truck to the drop-off point.
Volunteers from our Truline and Banner teams in Basingstoke travelled to Ukraine to deliver donations directly to the Red Cross using their own transportation. Further donations were loaded into a van by Andrzej Augustyn, Stuart Shipley and Daryl Parsons and driven to the Foundation in Slough.
A big thank you to all Banner and EVO colleagues who have collected and donated items for this appeal. Our efforts have proved that our family at EVO know how to pull together to support a worth while cause and these items will be truly appreciated by those in need.
This year we’re pleased to support the charity Stripey Stork with its Santa Stork Christmas Campaign.
Santa Stork provides gifts to those who really need a helping hand at this difficult time of year. The aim is to buy Christmas presents for every child and parent referred to the charity, and this year it is scaling up to respond to 5,000 children and 2,500 parents/carers gift requests.
Nicola Dawes, Founder & Chief Executive of Stripey Stork said
“Our Christmas campaign is always the busiest time of year for us and we are expecting a much bigger demand this year. So many more families are struggling as a result of the end of furlough/drop of Universal Credit uplift/increase in fuel and heating costs. Receiving this support, and being able to divert more of our project funds to new presents for local children, makes such a difference.”
Banner is pleased to have played a small part in helping the charity to provide gifts that, in some cases, will be the main or only presents the families will receive this Christmas.
Over the past couple of weeks, the Banner Healthcare team have enlisted the help of our Bradford office and remote colleagues to collect for a local food bank.
Donations foodbankHere are a few photos of only
some of the wonderful donations collected, including non-perishable goods, hygiene products, and some festive goodies, which have been delivered to Drighlington Foodbank, part of the Trussell Trust Network.
At Banner, we’re very proud and supportive of our colleagues’ actions within the community, and encourage all to help out wherever they can. A BIG thank you to all who contributed, it’s a great achievement, and will be hugely appreciated by the local community.
Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) can happen to anyone, of any age, and using a defibrillator can help save their life!
Thanks to a kind donation from Aero Healthcare, Banner ran a giveaway on our LinkedIn channel, giving businesses the opportunity to secure themselves a Heartsine 500P defibrillator.
Defib handover Iain Lawrence, from Aero Healthcare, recently visited the giveaway winners, Duckworth Overland Ltd, to deliver the defibrillator, which was gratefully received by the owners & founders, Tom Duckworth and Michael Gerrard.
Did you know that more than 7 million people suffer from sudden cardiac arrest every year, with only a 5-10% survival rate. With a defibrillator the survival rate increases to 75% – making this life saving device an essential on every site!
The Banner teams, across all our office locations, regularly take part in the world’s biggest coffee morning, to help raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. Macmillan help thousands of people who are suffering with Cancer every day to feel supported both physically, financially and emotionally. In 2019, Banner and Evo Group were able to raise a fantastic £1,505.27, through bake sales across all of our branches.
Ryan Sewell, Jessica Ellis, Robyn Masterman and Paige Fox, decided to take the plunge and completed a charity skydive for the NSPCC. A mixture of bad weather conditions and COVID postponed the group by nearly 11 months but they managed to accomplish their jump.
The team raised close to £2,000 for the cause and had a great day. This money will go to funding an NSPCC Schools Visit or supporting Childline and the incredible services they offer.
Brian, our regional sales director based in Northern Ireland, has raised a fantastic £457 for Assisi Animal Sanctuary in Bangor! Brian created and sold ‘pallet gardens’ made from disused pallets from one of Banner’s warehouses.
Banner offer ‘Charity Days’ to encourage colleagues to get involved in charity efforts, and Brian took this opportunity to finish making the last few pallet gardens in early August 2021. 🌼💐Great work Brian!