The report provides the charity's annual opportunity to share the impact it is having and how donations are helping to make a difference to those in need.

The Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity provided a lifelife to 2,264 families in crisis, its Impact Report for 2020 has revealed.

The report also details the social value of its charitable services and how the work it does impacts on society as a whole.

Joint Chair of Trustees, Edward Naylor Lyndsey, said: "None of us could ever have predicted the impact that the pandemic would have on us as a charity and the construction community we support.

"But despite all the challenges we faced and in a year that saw three national lockdowns, we are proud to say that we were able to provide a lifeline to 2,264 families in crisis.

"The number of calls to our 24/7 helpline that needed multiple interventions due to their complexity increased by 70%. These cases were managed by our professional caseworkers, who provide an expert single point of contact and pull together all the resources and support available for our beneficiaries.

"They leveraged an amazing £564,000 from third party sources including benefit entitlements before releasing our charitable grants. This has enabled us to deliver more support, to a higher quality and at a lower cost per case.

Lyndsey revealed that the charity's ability to fundraise through events stopped overnight in March 2020 and to try and compensate for this shortfall, it launched its Crisis Appeal the following month and a staggering £503,799 was raised.

The Lighthouse Club never normally receives public funding, but last year’s extenuating circumstances saw it receive £100,000 from the Barclays Community Relief Programme and £80,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund.

Donations to its crisis appeal meant that the charity was able to increase and extend the support it could offer to those in need.

Working with its innovation partner, COINS, the charity was also able to develop its Construction Industry Helpline App. This included adding a geo locator to ensure that users can easily access support in their local area. Another new feature was the ability to access unbiased financial information and advice, vital at a time when financial support is so important.

In response to the restrictions on face to face training, the Lighthouse Club very quickly augmented all of its wellbeing courses so they could be delivered online.

These were made free of charge and over 1,500 people attended courses ranging from coping with stress through to resilience and mindfulness.

In addition to this, its CITB funded Mental Health First Aid Instructor Programme was only delayed for a short period while the courses were modified for online delivery. A further
49 instructors were trained bringing the total to 213 by the end of 2020.

These instructors then delivered courses to over 1,500 Mental Health First Aiders with over 1,400 people receiving Mental Health Awareness training.

One of the highlights of the year was the launch of a dedicated free phone helpline number for the construction community in the Republic of Ireland. With the support of the Construction Industry Federation, the charity is now reaching construction colleagues in Ireland ensuring they can access the same support as their counterparts in the UK.

Sadly, recent research commissioned by Lighthouse Club with Glasgow Caledonian University showed that suicides in construction were increasing even before the pandemic.

"We cannot stress enough that the focus has to be on pulling together collectively as an industry and investing in even more pro-active resources," said Lyndsey. "The findings of the research clearly show that we need different interventions for different occupational groups; what might work for office or managerial level staff may not be relevant for site based operatives.

"Throughout this report, you will see that our efforts are already having a significant positive impact on our construction community - often a life changing one."