BRITANNIA Rescue is driving ahead to support local good causes. The fourth-largest road rescue organisation in the UK employs 130 people at its offices at Folly Hall Mills in Huddersfield.

As part of the LV= insurance group, Britannia Rescue in Huddersfield has a budget of £15,000 to support community initiatives in 2012 – £5,000 of this sum set aside for donations to local charities.

The charities to benefit are selected from a shortlist submitted at the end of the previous year by the employees in Huddersfield. At the end of each quarter, employees have the chance to vote for the charity they would like to support. The first-placed charity gets a donation of £600 with the second-placed receiving £400 and the third-placed getting £250.

The remaining £1,000 is allocated to supporting local projects and causes. Britannia Rescue has two "community champions" in Huddersfield who work to find contacts and good causes in the community and talk to them about possible support for the work they do.

To help decide how the budget is spent, a 12-strong community committee is drawn up from employees in various parts of the business, which meets monthly to discuss requests for support.

So far this year, Britannia Rescue has supported various charities and projects, including regular fun days in the office to raise more than £730 for causes including Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Take Heart and Brake; providing specialist printing equipment so residents of the Mirfield-based Hollybank Trust can print onto items such as mugs and T-shirts to sell to raise more cash; and helping to create an accessible gardening area at the trust.

Britannia Rescue has also supported Kirklees Music School, Overgate Hospice at Elland, Mirfield Parish Cavaliers Cricket Club, Sure Start in Dewsbury, Howden Clough Under-6s football team and the National Children’s Centre in Huddersfield – the last by providing workshops and mock interviews for 16 to 19-year-olds who need help to get back into education or employment.

Management co-ordinator Kelly Blagbrough said: "We also actively encourage our employees to get involved with voluntary work, both in their own time and through voluntary activities organised by the company.

"So far this year, our employees have spent a total of 85 hours working on voluntary projects and as we build longer-term partnerships with local causes, we plan to increase these hours."