History Of The Charity

The history of the charity goes back over a hundred years. It was originally a discretionary benevolent fund, called the Civil Service Widows and Orphan’s Fund, providing extra financial support exclusively to the dependants of deceased policyholders of the Civil Service Insurance Society (CSIS).

The origins of the Civil Service Insurance Society can be traced back to papers written in October1889, when the proposal was first made in the War Office to set up some sort of provident fund to provide life insurance for civil servants. At the time, the civil service pension scheme did not provide dependants’ benefits and although the Civil Service Benevolent Fund existed to help those in very severe hardship, that was not felt to be enough.

The Society was duly set up with the assistance and support of one of the major life assurance companies, and it proved possible to offer policies at significantly discounted rates. The business flourished and it has continued to trade ever since, diversifying into household, motor and travel insurance. It is now a small, but highly successful insurance intermediary, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

The Civil Service Widows and Orphans Fund was set up in 1906 to receive the profits from the sale of the life assurance policies and use them to provide extra support for the widows and orphans of deceased policyholders. The policies were generally purchased by the more poorly paid junior ranks of the civil service, and at that time when a husband died, his civil service pension died with him, often leaving the widow in severe financial hardship, even after the insurance policy payout.

The activities of the charity were expanded when it was first became a registered charity in 1979 and it began making substantial donations to other civil and public service charities, including the Civil Service Benevolent Fund, the Rowland Hill Fund, the BT Benevolent Fund and the Civil Service Retirement Fellowship. Further development was hampered, however, by an obsolete governance structure and Objects which were hard to interpret.

In 2007, following a governance review by the former Trustees, the Charity Commission agreed that the activities and assets of the charity could be transferred into a new charitable company, retaining its existing name but with an up-to-date constitution and much clearer Objects which would allow the charity to be far more flexible and innovative in the way it could operate, and in the work it could do.

The charitable company was incorporated on 31 October 2007 and the funds were transferred on 1 January 2008. The Objects of the charity are:

“The relief of need, hardship and distress, including (but not exclusively) by the provision of financial and other assistance to serving, former and retired civil and public servants and their dependants either directly or by making grants to other organisations which can provide financial or other support to them.”

The name of the Charity was changed to CSIS Charity Fund in July 2009 to reflect its wider role and make clearer its link with the Insurance Society.