A BRADFORD-based health care cash plan provider has been celebrating after a decade of donating millions of pounds to local charities.

Sovereign Health Care, based in Manningham Lane, made just shy of half a million pounds of donations last year, to take the total raised over the past ten years to £5.8 million.

Local causes in Bradford, Shipley, Keighley, Haworth and across West Yorkshire have been supported by the health care cash plan provider, which is marking its 145th anniversary this year.

It has also supported a number of national charities such as Barnardo’s, The Salvation Army, the NSPCC, the Royal British Legion, and Heart Research UK.

In the district, Sovereign has donated to both small and large organisations, such as the Bradford Winter Schools Games, which was granted £2,000 towards the annual sports tournament, and the Association for Women and Children’s Centre in Keighley which was handed £5,000 to deliver outreach work, training and skills development to improve the health of women and children in the town.

A total of 146 charities and organisations have received support from the firm, including Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes, a charity that provides blood and organ transportation services for the NHS across the county, which received £2,000.

The biggest single donation in the past ten years was a £300,000 grant to the Bradford Marie Curie Hospice in 2014, to enable the charity to build a new wing with en-suite rooms, and state-of-the-art breathing equipment.

Russ Piper, chief executive at Sovereign Health Care, said: “Each year, any surplus we make is available to reinvest into the business or donate to community and charitable causes with a health and wellbeing focus.

“This has enabled us to donate, on average, £500,000 each year over the past decade.

“Our loyal customers make this possible, and that is why our charitable donations are focused within Yorkshire as this is where the majority of our customers reside.

“We have a long history of charitable giving, and it is something that sets us apart within the highly competitive health insurance industry.

“Donating a total of £5.8 million over a ten-year period is something all of us at Sovereign Health Care are particularly proud of.”

Sovereign Health Care was founded in Bradford in 1873 as a hospital fund to help people get access to hospital treatment.