The Hygiene Bank

Who we are

The Hygiene Bank's story started with the film ‘I Daniel Blake' by Ken Loach, A moving and harrowing film that exposes the harsh realities of those in our society who fall through the cracks. It portrays a place in which empathy has little place and no allowance is made for the chaos of everyday life. One particular scene stuck in the mind of our founder Lizzy Hall. The scene is of Katie, a single mother of two (played by actress Hayley Squires) who is caught shoplifting and in her bag they find a pack of period pads, razors and a bottle of deodorant.

After watching the film Lizzy visited her local food bank who confirmed that toiletries were donated but only on an ad hoc basis. Friends who were teachers talked of girls improvising with loo roll or scrunched up socks in their pants as sanitary protection.

They talked about the impact of hygiene issues on social exclusion and how they and many of their colleagues resorted to buying pupils shampoo and deodorant or washing their uniform

Sadly, hygiene poverty comes with a social stigma that affects all areas of life, work, school and relationships We know that a lack of access to hygiene products impacts confidence, self-esteem and prospects in those who are most vulnerable. People miss out on employment and promotion opportunities. Women find themselves housebound because they can’t afford period products, children skip school because they don't have clean uniform or PE kit.

Hygiene poverty is humiliating and so galvanised to do something, Lizzy put out a plea for hygiene and personal care products to her friends on WhatsApp. Donations flooded in - the reaction was overwhelming and extremely moving and Lizzy realised she had tapped into people’s desire to help. All she had to do was find a way to facilitate this... within a few weeks The Hygiene Bank was born.

Our culture and values

Belief

Basic hygiene is not a privilege

Vision

That one day everyone living in the UK will have access to essential hygiene products

Mission

Bring communities, businesses and thought leaders together to tackle hygiene poverty by giving access to products and being a voice for change

Values

We challenge injustice: It’s not right that anyone should experience hygiene poverty. We take action by raising awareness to drive meaningful change.

We foster wellbeing: Everyone deserves to be able to care for themselves and their families. We know access to hygiene products is key to anyone's health and wellbeing.

We are compassionate: We stand alongside those in crisis. Our purpose is to ensure no one is held back from participating in society because of hygiene poverty.

We are community: We believe in building stronger, resilient communities by working together to shape a more just society.

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships.

Our remuneration policy

The charity is committed to ensuring our staff remuneration structure is appropriate and aligned to our values and commitment to EDI. We continue to ensure through our pay principles that we are a fair, equitable and competitive-paying organisation. The charity has structured pay bands and benchmarks new roles against other organisations in the sector. In 2023, we were accredited as a Living Wage employer. Proposed annual pay rises are discussed and agreed by the People Committee, a subcommittee of the Board.

We strive to support our employees’ wellbeing and mental health in accordance with our charitable aims. The key management personnel of the charity comprise the Trustees and the Chief Executive Officer. No Trustees received any remuneration or benefits in their role as Trustee.