The Transport Benevolent Fund CIO (TBF) has made additional monies available for some benefits to help those working in the public transport industry.
Later in 2020, the amount available for the two different types of complementary and alternative therapies that each TBF member, their partner and dependent children have access to in a rolling 12-month period will rise to £300.
However, following discovery of a series of attempted fraudulent claims for massage, TBF Trustees have made the very difficult decision that this benefit will no longer be available as of 1 September 2020.
The budget allocated to massage will be redistributed within that for sickness hardship grant and for other therapy treatments. TBF members with a massage benefit claim open at 1 September will continue to receive reimbursement until the full £250 allowance is exhausted.
Chiropractic and osteopathy treatments and physiotherapy will remain part of TBF’s offering, giving other options for treatment if it is needed.
TBF Chief Executive John Sheehy says: “Our principal concern is to ensure that beneficiaries who are on sick leave and experiencing hardship receive their grants on time. The increased workload created by having to double-check the validity of every single request for massage is no longer workable.”
He adds: “Even before we were dealing with the devastating effect of COVID-19, it is a sad fact that there are cases of need, hardship and distress among those working in the industry.
“The TBF team works tirelessly to help its members and their dependants who find themselves in situations of genuine need, to help improve members’ work-life balance and to reduce staff turnover for the employer.”
TBF currently has over 67,000 members and the Fund’s relevance is best illustrated by the fact that, during the past 12 months more than £2.8m has been awarded to members.
The Transport Benevolent Fund CIO, known as TBF, is a non-profit making membership charity registered in England and Wales, 1160901 and Scotland, SC047016.
