Chris Welham CBII is the Chief Executive Officer of the LTC (Licensed Trade Charity), which supports people and their families who are working, or who have worked, in the licensed hospitality sector.
It’s just over one year since Chris Welham CBII stepped into the role of CEO at the LTC. With more than 30 years’ experience in the trade, his goal is to ensure that more people than ever before know about the LTC, while increasing the number of those benefiting from its extensive range of free support and services. Here, Chris shares his aspirations for the Charity, setting out ambitious objectives to improve wellbeing and resilience in our industry.
The LTC was once described by an operator as the trade’s best kept secret, with many people unaware of its scope and impact. How do you see your role changing this?
To a large extent this is true in that awareness of the LTC needs to be significantly improved. Taking on the CEO role of the LTC is a genuine privilege. As well as setting the strategic direction of the Charity with my Exec team and our Trustees, I am very keen to reach more people, raise more funds and help more beneficiaries.
The Charity has a powerful and entrepreneurial heritage, established over 230 years ago by a group of enlightened publicans to support those in financial need or ill health. I think of our founders as intelligent risk-takers and visionaries. They were so creative in raising funds for people in need.
This included opening a school to educate the orphans of publicans in 1803. They were ahead of their time, establishing a school with indoor toilets and a swimming pool. Education has remained a key focus for the LTC and I have the responsibility to ensure the Charity remains successful for another 230 years. We need to grow the size and capability of the organisation and enable more people to access our services.
It’s my aspiration to ensure that within five years, one-in two people across our entire licensed trade industry will be fully aware of the Charity.
What is the impact of the Charity on the trade currently?
During 2024 we supported more than 40,000 people, awarding more than 1,000 financial grants. Our total investment in charitable giving last year was £2 million. Everyday circumstances affect every one of us and our families, and the LTC is here to help to build resilience and pick us up when it gets too much.
We provide three main pillars of support:
- Wellbeing. Our helpline on 0800 801 0550 provides someone to talk to 24/7, 365 days a year – professionals who can assist with mental health, including counselling. Our help extends to the families of licensed trade people, young and old, and covers relationships, bereavement, anxiety and trauma. We also encourage managers and employers to use our referral service for a colleague who is struggling. And our new wellbeing platform (www.LTCWellbeingPlatform.org.uk) is available, with over 6,500 useful support resources, including tips, podcasts, webinars, helpsheets and live chat with a trained professional
- Our financial support extends to short-term hardship grants, including help with rental deposits, priority debts, household essentials and educational grants. There is also access to financial wellbeing platform ‘nudge’, including financial budgeting and legal support. Our grants are means-tested against income, in line with the recommendations of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
- Practical advice, which covers help with housing, health, education and employment. It also offers people in management or supervisory roles access to our management support helpline, which effectively provides free management consultancy.
How is the Charity funded?
We own and operate three schools, LVS Ascot (an independent fee paying school), and two specialist education schools, LVS Oxford and LVS Hassocks, for pupils with a diagnosis of autism.
The surplus revenue from the schools and our legacy foundational assets provide sufficient income to cover our running costs, including the salaries of the Charity. This means all the money from donations or fundraising directly benefits people working in the trade. We also own a25% stake in the Morning Advertiser (MA), a newspaper our founders set up in 1794, as a way to raise money. A certain Julius Reuter, who went on to set up the Reuters News Agency, wrote for the paper.
In 1987, we sold our shares in Reuters to create funds to build our Ascot school. And in 2000, the LTC sold the majority share of the MA to publishers William Reed.
To this day, the LTC has been there for people in our trade in times of crisis.
Increasingly, we are able to provide preventative capability for people to strengthen their ability to cope with life’s speed bumps in the road. My aim is to upweight the level of grants and services we award to over £4 million per annum and raise more funds. Last year, thanks, in the main, to the fundraising efforts of Hospitality Rides and Pedalling To Pubs, we received £400,000, but to support that growth in awards, I would like to see annual fundraising of £1 million.
Tell us about the new partnership between the LTC and the BII?
Our industry continues to face economic, policy and societal challenges, and businesses and people need to be resilient to face those challenges and continue to thrive. There is a clear synergy between the Charity and the BII, and it makes sense to create a strategic partnership to leverage our strengths and the impact we make – with the BII focussed on business resilience and the LTC focussed on wellbeing and resilience for teams and people.
We are stronger together and it’s about highlighting how we can support people working in the industry, helping them remain on top form – feeling healthy, engaged and supported. Personal wellbeing is an essential element of success for any business and we want more pubs to see us as a virtual part of their team.
The BII’s Workforce platform is about helping to grow and develop people within the trade, and our wellbeing platform can build resilience and opportunities for people.
Our shared goal is to provide the tools and resources that help prevent situations reaching crisis point. And we are proud to be the BII’s wellbeing partner of choice.
We will also be developing training courses and industry bespoke resources for operations managers and their teams, focussed on wellbeing and support for those working in pubs.
As someone who has been an operator, I know how easy it is to be focussed on ticking things off the list and forgetting to ask the central questions, which are ‘how are you?’ and ‘how are your team?’. In this tough trading environment, where overheads are going through the roof and confidence is low, we can make those conversations around personal support a little easier – especially where someone doesn’t feel qualified or able to deal with certain issues. Licensees need to know that they are not alone: we can provide guidance, support and hope.
Our research shows that an estimated average of three working days are lost per employee each year. This costs the beer and pub industry at least £300 million annually, based on a calculation using an eight-hour shift and the minimum wage – without even considering lost revenue. People’s wellness is such an important issue: get it right and in addition to creating a more engaged and healthy team, it will reduce costs, increase staff retention and improve customer experience too.
What’s next?
I would like to grow our educational footprint and to see more children of people of the trade benefit from our fantastic schools. LVS Ascot, in particular, educates and cares for the children of 90 families working in the industry, either through our trade discount scheme, bursaries or scholarships, representing £1 million worth of investment. The school unleashes the potential of young people and transforms lives on a daily basis.
The LTC is here to make a positive contribution to our industry and to help people working at every level within it, as well as for their families.
Retirees too can benefit and can access all of our services and for those over 55 years of age, our partnership with Anchor Housing provides priority housing for licensed trade people.
My role is to spread the word and to support the continued growth of the Charity and to assist more people than ever before. That starts with us all talking more about what we do and how we can help, in the knowledge that every £1 raised will directly go to our beneficiaries.
