Lidl GB has launched a new Better Futures commitment to support five million people across Great Britain by 2030, bringing its community initiatives together under a single measurable target.
The commitment will focus on four areas: tackling food insecurity, supporting local communities, improving children’s health and helping people access employment.
Lidl said the programme will combine its national scale with local insight to provide targeted support based on the needs of individual communities.
Under its food security pillar, Lidl will continue working with Olio and Neighbourly through its Feed it Back initiative to redistribute surplus food to local communities.
The Lidl Community Fund provides £1m a year to local causes through Neighbourly, with customers and colleagues voting on where funding should be allocated.
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The retailer’s Lidl Foodies programme provides nutritional education and is now taught in one in four primary schools in Britain, while its partnership with the NSPCC and Childline raised £2.5m last year to fund counselling sessions.
Lidl is also working with Standing Tall to help people experiencing homelessness access stable employment, alongside paid initiatives, youth programmes and recruitment support designed to remove barriers to work.
The target was announced at Lidl’s latest Lidl in Dialogue event, bringing together charities, industry organisations and suppliers to discuss community deprivation and locally focused solutions.
Lidl corporate affairs director Georgina Hall said: “At Lidl, we sit at the heart of communities across the length and breadth of Great Britain. Serving three in five households with more than 1,015 stores, we see the pressures faced first-hand. For us, supporting communities is not separate from our business strategy, it is central to how we operate.”
She added: “Our new ‘Better Futures’ target to support five million people across Great Britain by 2030 represents our commitment to scaling our impact.”
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