The Police Service of Northern Ireland was awarded best overall payroll giving campaign at the National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards 2010.

The service, which employs 10,060 staff and increased its payroll giving take up, while reducing staff numbers, was also awarded best campaign by a public sector employer.

Other winners included: TNT Post for the best launch of a new scheme; Online fashion retailer Asos.com for best re-launch of an existing scheme; Invesment manager Aspect Capital for best SME campaign; Zurich for best campaign by a large employer; and Homes for Haringey for best campaign by a third sector employer.

The awards, which are funded by HM Government, organised in conjunction with the Institute of Fundraising and administered by the Payroll Giving Centre, are designed to showcase the UK's best payroll giving schemes.

Nick Hurd, minister for civil society and presenter of the awards, said: “'It is thanks to the efforts of employers such as these that payroll giving income has risen by 2% in the last year.

“This is a great achievement in the current economic climate and really demonstrates our nation’s generous nature and willingness to give. The government is committed to building a culture in the UK where giving becomes the norm.

“In this context, payroll giving has a huge role to play, and we hope that it will go from strength to strength in the months and years ahead.”

Paul Amadi, chair of the Institute of Fundraising, added: “I would like to congratulate and thank all of the winners of this year’s awards for their ongoing commitment to the sector and the causes that their employees care about.

“Payroll giving is invaluable in providing a stable income stream for charities, particularly in such difficult economic circumstances. The fact that there was a record number of entries to this year’s awards is remarkable and all applicants to the awards deserve to be applauded for sticking with payroll giving through the recession.”

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