Frequently Asked Questions regarding the UNISON Lottery
Q. What is the UNISON Lottery?
A. You can support UNISON’s charity, There for You, by signing up as an individual or a UNISON branch to purchase tickets for the UNISON Lottery. Win or lose, players are still supporting UNISON members.
Q. Will the money raised still go to support UNISON There for You?
A. Rest assured that after prize money has been paid out along with the cost of running the lottery, all proceeds will continue to go to the charity.
Q. How much does UNISON make from the lottery?
A. Unison receives a minimum of 58% of all proceeds from the lottery, which is spent on our good cause work. 31% of lottery proceeds is spent on prizes and 11% on expenses.*
- *Figures based on average for 2021
Q. What are the odds of winning a prize in the UNISON lottery?
A. There is a 1 in 208 chance of winning a prize in the Unison Lottery every week.**
- ** Accurate as of August 2022
Q. Why have a lottery?
A. 2022, There for You awarded over £1million in grants to UNISON members facing financial hardship. As well as grants, donations and other fundraising initiatives; the lottery is a valuable way of raising income for the charity.
Q. Who can play the UNISON Lottery?
A. Anyone can play, however you must be over 16.
Q. Could branches support UNISON’s charity by joining the lottery?
A. Yes absolutely! Imagine this ... if every branch signed up for 20 tickets a month, this would raise more than £100,000 a year for the charity. This would have a huge impact on what the charity was able to do to help members each year.
Also, whilst there’s a maximum £10 monthly limit for individual members who play, there’s no upper limit for branches.
Any examples of what branches have done with their winnings?
Here’s some to be getting on with but, you may have an even better suggestion. If so, do let us know:
- Branch A – used their winnings to help fund organising and recruitment activities
- Branch B – always donate their winnings back to UNISON There for You
- Branch C – put their winnings towards purchasing branch promotional items
- Branch D – don’t have a huge amount of money in reserve so any winnings go into a float for their branch welfare officer to buy small gifts for members who may be seriously ill or on long-term sick.
Q. What prizes will be on offer?
A. A guaranteed top prize of £1,000 plus a range of other prizes will be paid out each month. It doesn’t stop there though because the more people who play, the greater the prize fund so, with your support, don’t be surprised to see the prize list increase.
Q. How do members play the UNISON Lottery?
A. Members have the option of either joining online or completing an application form. Members can either visit https://unison.charitylotteries.co.uk/play to download and print an application form or call UNISON direct on 0800 0857 857 and one will be posted to them.
Q, What happens after I’ve joined?
A. Once you have filled out an application form and direct debit instruction, you’ll be sent your unique numbers which will be entered into each monthly draw. It’s easy to take part as payment for your lottery entries is simply collected automatically from your bank each month.
Q. How will I know if I’ve won?
A. The great news is there’s no need to claim. We’ll notify you as soon as you’ve won and prize cheques will be posted out within 7 working days of the draw taking place. You can also check online as each month, the winning numbers will be published on the website for you to check. It’s that easy!
Q. What measures has UNISON There for You taken to ensure this lottery encourages responsible gambling?
A. This was one of our main concerns when we first decided to launch the lottery. A big problem with other lotteries and scratch cards is that there is no limit to the number of tickets or cards people can buy which could encourage people to spend more than they can afford.
Any individual playing our lottery is limited to a maximum of ten £1 tickets each month. We also believe that offering lots of prizes rather than just one large prize is a responsible approach, and also means more people win a prize.
We have also managed to keep administration costs down and after payment of prizes a minimum of 20% ticket revenue (on average it’s much more than this) will go to UNISON There for You.
For more information, please click here.
Q. How will the lottery be promoted?
A. The lottery will be promoted in many ways including Umagazine, the website, regional publications etc. Here we will rely heavily on both our colleagues in UNISON Communications and of course the branches.
Q. What other ways are there that members and branches can support UNISON There for You?
A. Sponsorship / take part: Since 2003, UNISON There for you has organised charity challenge events taking place in both the UK and abroad. To-date, more than 400 members have taken part helping to raise over £500,000 in sponsorship money which is a magnificent achievement! Look on our website for information on the latest events https://www.unison.org.uk/
Regular giving: Of course the lottery isn’t going to be for everyone. In fact, some branches and members have chosen to make regular monthly donations direct to the charity preferring that every penny of their donation comes to UNISON There for you. If this is something that interests you, visit https://www.unison.org.uk or call 020 7121 5620 for more information.
Local / individual fundraising: We’ve some great examples of how members and brancheshave raised money for UNISON There for You. This year we plan to have ready a fundraising toolkit available so, if this is something that appeals to you, please do get in touch.
Q. What challenges face ‘There for You’ in the coming years?
A. At a time of rising living costs, cuts in public services, and increasing uncertainty in around job security, sadly more and more members are seeking help from the UNISON There for You. We are really pleased that, in these difficult times, UNISON There for You is able to help members with advice, support and grants. But of course that means we need to be able to do as much fundraising as possible and the Lottery is one of ensuring we can meet the increasing demands on our resources. To learn more about how every day we are helping UNISON members who may be struggling in the personal lives visit our website.
Have a question we haven’t thought of?
We hope we’ve managed to answer your questions but, if there’s still something you’d like to know, then drop us a line or give us a call – we’re waiting to hear from you. For a complete list of the Lottery Rules, Terms and Conditions, go to Rules.
Email: thereforyou@unison.co.ukCall: 0800 0857 857Write to: Abigail Coombs, UNISON There for you, 130 Euston Road, London NW1 2AY