The Lighthouse Club, the construction industry charity, rose to the challenges presented in 2020 and once again ameliorated the misery and suffering of thousands of construction workers and their families.
The Lighthouse Club spent £1,287,818 on charitable services in 2020; its 24/7 helpline supported 2,264 families in crisis; 1,254 complex cases required multiple interventions by case workers.
The most common underlying reasons cited for contacting the helpline were mental health issues (40%) and Covid emergencies (22%). For 11% it was cancer, while 5% had had an accident at work, 5% had respiratory or heart disease and 2% had suffered a death in the family.
The pandemic and the national lockdown scuppered the charity’s event fundraising plans for 2020, leaving the charity faced with a £1m shortfall. An industry wide charity appeal was rapidly organised, raising £503,799 – half the shortfall.
After the first lockdown arrived, between March and June 2020 the helpline saw a significant increase in calls and in the majority of cases, families were struggling and facing poverty due to loss of income; many were suffering stress, anxiety and depression. The charity increased the number of case workers to respond.
This initiative not only enabled the Lighthouse Club to provide more support, the case workers had knowledge of, and access to, other support systems, to get more than £500,000 of support from outside sources, including other specialist charities, thus making up the other 50% of the anticipated shortfall.
Chief executive Bill Hill said: “Last year was unprecedented and I am proud to say that we were able to support our construction community when they needed it the most. Not only were we able to make our charity’s money work harder and smarter, we were able to deliver more charitable services than ever before.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank every single person and company that has supported us, especially during these difficult and uncertain times. With your support we have been able to provide life changing support and you have helped us take another step towards our mission to ensure that no construction worker or their family is alone in a crisis.”
In the Lighthouse Club 2020 Impact Report he said: “Despite significant interventions and initiatives by the industry and our charity, the number of suicides in construction increased in the four years to 2019 and there is no change in the fact that those in the construction industry are three times more likely to take their own life compared to other sectors. Over 80% of all suicides in the UK are male, 87% of the workforce in construction are male so the suicide rates in our industry are always going to be negatively impacted.
“However, the findings also showed differences between certain occupational groups. Those working in non-manual occupations, such as managers and professionals, have seen an overall drop in suicide rates, but there was a marked increase in suicides within the trades, machine operators and our unskilled labour force. Over 50% of this workforce are either self-employed, agency workers or on zero hour contracts and are often part of the subcontracted labour force on our construction sites. This suggests that communication about the support services available are simply not getting through to these workers and they are the ones that need us.”
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