We're a proud partner of Rainy Day Trust, the only charity dedicated to the wellbeing of workers across the home improvement, DIY, and trade sectors.
Our partnership supports Rainy Day Trust's mission to move beyond crisis response and build a strong, engaging, year-round safety net for the industry, including campaigns helping people right across our sector champion positive wellbeing.
A history rooted in 1843.
In 1843, a group of people in the ironmongery and hardware trade made a simple decision: no one in their industry should face hardship alone. They called it the Ironmongery and Hardware Trades Benevolent Institution. We call it the beginning.
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What started as a pension fund for workers in the steel and metal trade has grown, over more than 180 years, into something far broader and stronger. The grants came first, then financial advice, then counselling, then the workplace wellbeing programmes that help people before they ever reach crisis point. The name changed. The sector changed. The world changed. But that original belief that people in our industry deserve someone in their corner, never has.
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Today, we’re here for everyone from the apprentice just finding their feet to the experienced worker facing the hardest moment of their life. Independent traders. National retailers. Warehouse teams. Drivers. People who rarely ask for help, and who deserve to find it when they do.
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We’ve been showing up for this sector for over 180 years. We’re not stopping now.
50%
50p of £1 goes straight to crisis support
85%
of our industry felt support would help but hadn’t used it
£450
the average grant that gets someone through a crisis
5%
less than 5p in every £1 spent on fundraising
