How you can help Railway Benefit Fund support the railway family
Horizon’s Jasmin Collier sat down with Jo Kaye, Railway Benefit Fund CEO, to talk about how the charity supports railway people and how your organisation can help them do more of this fantastic work.
Jo Kaye came to Railway Benefit Fund as CEO a little over a year ago. In this interview, she speaks with us about the modern challenges railway people face, the work the charity does to support them, and how organisations like yours can get involved in the fantastic work it delivers.
Tell us about Railway Benefit Fund. What is its core mission?
Railway Benefit Fund (RBF) is the UK’s charity in rail, and our core mission is to support railway people, which we do in a number of ways.
We provide financial support to people who are struggling to make ends meet—which is more common than you might think, even in the rail industry. We also run retired community events to bring people together, as well as a ‘Check in and Chat’ service. This service pairs a retired railway worker with a ‘befriender’, or a volunteer who currently works in rail. Our befrienders offer a friendly voice and a listening ear, ensuring our retired rail workers feel valued and connected.
We remain fully committed to supporting current, former, and retired railway workers to make life a little bit easier when unexpected events come along.
After 25 years in mainly operational and strategic management roles, what brought you to RBF last year?
During my career, I met many fantastic people really dedicated to making the railway work—in difficult circumstances, sometimes. So, this is a real opportunity for me to do a job that mixes charitable endeavours and the industry that I love. The railway was very kind to me, and now, I have the opportunity to help people who have given a lot to the industry and to make a big impact on a personal level.
Since RBF was founded in 1858, the risk profile and dangers of the railway have shifted dramatically thanks to ongoing safety improvements. What modern challenges do railway workers and their families face?
RBF’s original purpose was to support the families
of those killed or injured while either building or working on the railway. Now—through the work of a lot of people, including those at RSSB—those risks have reduced dramatically. But other things are now at the forefront of people’s concerns.
A key area in which we work is financial well-being. People work really hard but are often just about managing, so it only takes one unexpected bill to turn a situation that was manageable into something that isn’t anymore.
We should remember that things going on in wider society affect the railway in the same way. We’ve all been through Covid-19, the energy crisis, and cost of living increases. Those things affect people in the rail industry as much as they do everybody else.
Why is it so important, to this day, to have a charity dedicated to supporting railway families?
Lots of people will tell you that the railway is ‘one big family’, and I absolutely believe that to be true. It has a great ethos of helping those in need. The industry, as an employer, has lots in place for people to be able to speak about mental and physical health issues. But it’s still the case that people feel uncomfortable discussing matters of financial well-being with their employer.
RBF provides confidential help to those who may not have anywhere else to turn. We provide a confidential, impartial service that gives people a space to discuss those things in a way they might find difficult to do through channels at work.
Is there anything that TOCs, FOCs, and other rail organisations can do within their companies to improve conditions and prospects for RBF beneficiaries?
If we could be as open as we are about mental and physical health in the space of financial well-being, we may be able to help people before it becomes a crisis. Lots of people come to us quite late on, so we’re often helping them in a crisis situation, but it would be great to be able to start supporting them earlier. We would welcome the opportunity to be involved in organisations’ onboarding journeys and internal initiatives.
Rail organisations may also wish to support us financially. We’re not a membership organisation; we’re entirely reliant on contributions from individuals or organisations to keep doing the work we do. Non-financial help would also be great. As a small staff team, we always need volunteers to help with our fundraising and community events.
In the time since Pete Waterman OBE became RBF president, almost £2 million has been raised in donations. Can you tell us about Pete’s recent, very special recognition?
Pete is a fantastic president, and we wanted to recognise the contribution he’s made to RBF and the wider rail industry. So, he was recently recognised by having a Freightliner locomotive named after him. Pete’s been a big part of helping us build RBF’s profile, so it was a really fitting tribute.
Can you share a couple more RBF stand-out success stories from the past year?
We took the ‘Bucket and Spade’ charter train to Scarborough. We also had a very successful golf day and an auction of experiences, where industry colleagues provide us with the sorts of things that money can’t buy, and we auction those off. Those things helped us raise about £90,000 towards our activities for the year.
There have been some great individual stories, as well. For example, one of the guys I met recently had to leave his railway role to enable him to fulfil his caring responsibilities. It’s a real shame because he really loved what he was doing. But thankfully, RBF was able to support him with some of the issues he had and provide a comfortable home for him and his children. That’s taken a big part of his stress away.
And as a non-membership charity reliant on fundraising, what activities do you have in store for 2025?
Like many others, we’ll have Railway 200 celebrations going on throughout 2025. That’s an opportunity for us at RBF to work with other partners in the charity sector and to partner with the industry to highlight the fantastic history and future of the railway and the work we all do in supporting people who work in it.
Also, we’re launching our ‘Hardships Can Be Invisible’ campaign, which highlights the often-hidden struggles faced by many railway workers.
We’re looking for support from people on an individual level to give us a small amount of money on a regular basis. Even just giving the price of a cup of coffee each week would really help us manage our income better and continue to support people.
We also have our own yearly fundraising events, so we’ll be having another auction. There’ll be another golf day, too, and we’ll also take part in the Big Rail Diversity Challenge and plenty of other things.
Finally, what can our rail leader readers do this festive season to get their organisations involved and support the good you’re doing?
Why not visit our Christmas shop? This features a selection of rail-themed items, including a limited-edition commemorative calendar celebrating 200 years of rail. All sales from the Christmas shop will go directly towards supporting railway workers and their families across the UK. There’s also the opportunity in our Christmas shop to support the children of workers we’ve helped throughout the year by buying vouchers for them. It’s your opportunity to be a proper Secret Santa.
Ultimately, I’d like people to speak with us about how we could collaborate in some way, either financially or not financially, through some other activities to help us reach as many people as we can.
And if anybody would like to have a New Year’s Resolution for 2025, giving regularly to RBF would also be something I’d heartily recommend.
RSSB has been a proud supporter of Railway Benefit Fund this year.
Through fundraising activities like raffles, bake sales, and more, we’ve raised over £3,000 for this wonderful cause in 2024.
Notably, six of our people participated in the Station to Station Challenge back in spring, covering 2,000 virtual miles between them and raising hundreds of pounds for the charity.
People are at the heart of our mission, and we’re pleased to have played a role in supporting current, former, and retired railway workers with RBF this year.
Want to learn more?
Senior leaders have a key role to play in improving workforce mental health. Read our article on RSSB’s ‘Achieving Change’ project for tips on overcoming obstacles in this space.
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