YORK-based Family Fund Business Services has enjoyed a record year following the success of its unique business model.

The Family Fund charity's trading subsidiary, FFBS, has raised £1.18 million to support families raising disabled children in 2019/20 - the highest amount since the company was launched in 2013.

Family Fund is the UK's largest charity providing grants for families on low incomes raising disabled or seriously-ill children.

It provides essential grant support for items, such as kitchen appliances, beds, family breaks, clothing, computers and sensory toys.

The record amount is due to the company’s unique business model - all profits are donated to the Family Fund as unrestricted funds, enabling the charity to support even more UK families.

FFBS managing director Jill Wheeler said: “This has been an incredibly busy and challenging year for FFBS and our partners, many of whom have seen unprecedented need for support.

"Firstly following the floods that devastated so many homes across the country earlier this year, and then the Coronavirus outbreak, which has seen many people requiring urgent help to just get by. I am proud of the whole team for their hard work to ensure we have continued to provide our partners with the service they need to help their beneficiaries with fast, practical support.

"We use the combined purchasing power of our customers to secure the best possible prices and support packages with suppliers so, by partnering with FFBS, organisations can access a well-established network of trusted retailers to quickly and efficiently deliver thousands of essential items to those in need.

“When FFBS was launched in 2013, the ambition was always to both share social value by providing an ethical fulfilment service, and to provide vital funding to Family Fund.

"To have broken the £1 million barrier is a considerable achievement and I know it will make a big difference to the support Family Fund is able to provide to families raising disabled children.”

Since the Coronavirus outbreak, FFBS has been supporting its local authority, social housing and charity customers to deliver more services than usual, including food and clothing vouchers, fridges, cookers and energy vouchers. FFBS has also helped organisations set up hardship funds to get help to those who need it the most.

It has seen a significant increase in spend across two of its main services since the start of March with a 95 per cent increase in cash and energy voucher awards overall and a 3,800 per cent increase in food vouchers, reflecting the way in which FFBS is helping customers support even more people during the pandemic.

The need for extra support is expected to continue for some weeks.