Liverpool cash plan provider Medicash has unveiled its plans to donate over £700,000 to local charities and community groups.

The unprecedented move to give away the full technical account surplus from 2017 was announced at Medicash’s Freedom of the City ceremony last night. (Thursday 11th October)

The event held in Liverpool Town Hall saw Medicash officially receive the award from the City in recognition of its longstanding contribution to healthcare and commitment to charitable giving since 1871.

Medicash chief executive Sue Weir made the announcement. She said: “We are extremely proud of being awarded Freedom of the City. This comes on the back of achieving our most successful trading results ever in 2017. On the back of our commercial success we’re excited to be able to support even more organisations performing vital, often lifesaving work across our region who rely entirely on donations for survival.”

The move was kickstarted on the night with a donation of £50,000 split across ten local hospices.

Frank Field the MP for Birkenhead is Chair of Medicash. He has championed Feeding Birkenhead – a project aimed at tackling food poverty which received a donation from Medicash last year. Addressing the 150 guests he said: “There are still parts of our region where hunger and poverty are crippling families.

“In addition to supporting the Feeding Birkenhead initiative, the Medicash charitable trust has already had a significant positive impact on a wide number of organisations doing critical work in our communities. This money will provide a welcome boost to them.”

Charities and community groups based on Merseyside can now apply for a grant from the Medicash charitable trust. The focus is on those providing services around the health and wellbeing of adults and/or children. Anyone wanting to find out more can visit www.medicash.org/charity

Over the last ten years Medicash has donated over £1 million to health-related charities. Those that have benefitted recently include Samaritans, the Firefighters Charity and The Children’s Air Ambulance.

Freedom of the City is the highest nomination that can be bestowed to an organisation that has rendered significant and valuable service to the City of Liverpool and its citizens.

Lord Mayor, Cllr Christine Banks said: “Medicash’s distinguished record of philanthropy and work in healthcare means the organisation is thoroughly deserving of this award. Giving away such a large amount of money to local causes is a magnificent gesture and we were delighted to hear this announcement last night.”

Medicash employs over 80 staff from its head office in Liverpool. Many local people remember the organisation as ‘Penny in the Pound’ where workers contributed one penny for every pound they earned to help fund local hospitals who relied on funding and donations before the NHS.

150 guests attended the Freedom of the City Ceremony. They comprised business and community leaders as well as representatives from charities from across the region.