The social arm of The Big Issue has invested £1.5 million in a lottery business that supports the hospice and wider charity sector across the UK.

Big Issue Invest (BII) made the investment into St Helena Hospice, which runs a successful lottery business on behalf of 13 other hospices and seven charities across the UK.

Your Hospice Lottery (YHL) was launched in 2011 and has so far raised over £9 million for hospice care. This new investment will enable the hospice to grow its lottery business and generate further money to support hospice services.

Currently the lottery achieves an annual gross income of just over £4 million and makes around £1 million profit for St Helena, additionally contributing over £1 million to other hospices and charities.

Brian Bolt, Director of Finance at St Helena, said:

With this investment, we have the opportunity to work on attracting new partners and new lottery players, which will raise the profile of St Helena and its charitable partners and provide more jobs as the lottery grows.

The Big Issue name is well recognised and helps organisations like ours to look after themselves and be here for our communities in the long term. We are delighted it is keen to support the work we do by helping us become more self-sustainable and more self-sufficient.

St Helena Hospice provides care and support for people in North Essex with an incurable illness, as well as supporting the family around them. All services are free for users and available for local people. St Helena supported 3,869 patients and families last year and has to raise £6.2m of the £8.9m needed every year to provide its services.

Photo: St Helena Hospice