The Police Children's Charity

When was it established?

Supporting the children of our Police Forces goes back many years to when the Northern Police Orphanage first opened in 1898. It was founded by Catherine Gurney for the care and welfare of Northern Police Force children who had lost one or both parents.

In 1954, on the closure of the orphanage, two trusts were formed - the St George's Fund and the Northern Police Orphans Trust - both designed to provide financial grants to the children of eligible Police donors.

In 2006, the two charities merged, creating the St George's Police Trust. Both the Fund and Trust had shared similar aims and so merging enabled the beneficiary base to be widened and for the costs to be reduced, and then in 2012 was renamed to St George's Police Children's Trust.

In 2021, in a new and significant step forward for the Charity, the Trustees took the decision to introduce two new grants to support the mental health and well-being of the children of eligible Police roles who are current donors to the Charity.

In early 2022, the Charity went through a rebrand and changed its name to The Police Children's Charity to better represent the work that we do.

Who is it for?

The Police Children's Charity is a registered charity which aims to support Police families by helping to ease the financial pressures of bringing up children in the face of life-changing circumstances.

These circumstances could involve the death of the Police donor parent or their partner, or where the Police donor takes early medical retirement. This applies to both on and off duty incidents or issues.

The Charity also offers financial assistance to support the mental health and well-being of the children of serving eligible donors.

No amount of money can replace a parent, but the financial support from The Police Children's Charity can provide a degree of financial certainty in difficult times.

We now also offer a one week's free respite stay each year at our holiday home in Harrogate for all beneficiaries and/or subsequent visits at discounted rates. Our holiday home aims to provide an opportunity for families to come together and escape the stresses they may be facing at home.

For a small donation of 35p per week, beneficiaries can access financial support which may range from a weekly allowance for each child in the family, support through further and higher education, driving lesson grants, support for child counselling, and ex-gratia grants for necessary activities or items.