Transport Benevolent Fund (CIO)

The Transport Benevolent Fund (CIO), known as TBF, is a UK charity established over 95 years ago in the aftermath of World War I and formalized as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in 2015. Its core mission is to relieve need, hardship, or distress among individuals in Great Britain's public transport industry—primarily rail, bus, coach, and tram workers—and their dependants, through a membership-based model of mutual aid, financial grants, welfare support, and practical assistance. Rooted in values of compassion, dignity, solidarity, and self-help, TBF fosters resilience, wellbeing, and staff retention in the sector via comprehensive services including medical consultations, scans, prescription aid, convalescence, bereavement grants, legal/debt advice, and alternative therapies for over 60,000 members UK-wide.

TBF exclusively supports individual contributing members (or those nominated by Transport for London via a separate fund) and their live-in partners or dependent children, with eligibility limited to those employed or formerly employed in public transport across Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales). It does not fund organisations, charities, or unsolicited applications; prospective beneficiaries must join via online form, post, or advisor contact at £1.25 per week before requesting aid.

Grants are tailored to individual needs within flexible guidelines, awarded at trustee discretion on a rolling basis with no deadlines or fixed amounts published. Exclusions include dental/optical/operation costs, short-term absences under two weeks, funerals, and standard insurance-covered losses. Distinctively, TBF stands alone in the UK for its industry-specific, intergenerational mutual support model, blending membership contributions with responsive, non-organisational welfare for transport workers facing adversity.