“I feel extremely proud when I look at what we’ve achieved”: ScottishPower’s Andrew Ward reflects on our partnership as we renew for another three years

Our partnership with ScottishPower began in 2012, since then it’s raised over £30m. We’re thrilled to announce that we’re extending this extraordinary partnership for another three years. This means that the incredible employees, suppliers and customers of ScottishPower will continue to help us fund our life-saving research until 31 March 2024.

Alongside their creative fundraising events and activities, ScottishPower will continue to support us through their ‘Help Beat Cancer’ energy tariff, which sees ScottishPower donate to Cancer Research UK for every month a customer remains on the tariff. We’re also pleased that they will continue to sponsor Race for Life and Stand Up To Cancer.

To celebrate the renewal of our partnership, we spoke to ScottishPower CEO of UK Retail, Andrew Ward, to hear his thoughts on our partnership’s achievements – and its future.

What does the partnership between ScottishPower and CRUK mean to you?

I think that, from a professional point of view, it’s one of the things I’m most proud of so far in my 30-year career. I vividly remember the day we confirmed our partnership. It just meant so much to us that we were going to help CRUK. We knew that it was the right thing for our customers, for our staff and for our partners. Everybody wants to try to help when it comes to the amazing work that CRUK do, and for us it’s about giving them a way to do so.

From a personal point of view, I feel extremely proud – and I know my colleagues feel the same – when I look at what we’ve achieved. We’re not all clever enough to cure cancer so using the money our customers, staff and partners have donated to fund CRUK in their work feels like the right way to spend our time and effort. I’m really proud that we’ve been able to help.

ScottishPower has been our partner since 2012, how has our partnership grown and evolved in that time?

CRUK and ScottishPower are better integrated than ever. This is clear when you look at our communications strategy, which aims to ensure that our customers, employees and partners know the full extent of the progress CRUK is making in the fight against cancer.  Together, we have helped raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer and played our part in encouraging early diagnosis. We also now have well-established, successful events that aim to appeal to these groups and allow them to donate and support CRUK in their own way.

“I feel extremely proud – and I know my colleagues feel the same – when I look at what we’ve achieved”.

ScottishPower has done so much for CRUK. Do you have any highlights from our partnership so far?

Without a doubt, my personal highlight has been reaching the milestone of £30m raised for CRUK. Knowing the difference our partnership has made since it first began and how it has contributed to bringing forward the day when all cancers are cured – it’s fantastic!

What does extending our partnership for another three years mean to you?

We talk about cancer and CRUK and as soon as you do people share their own experiences and everybody gets on board. I look at where we’re at with COVID-19 – we’ve seen the world unite to make a difference and find a vaccine. We need that effort and focus to beat cancer. I’m humbled by the work that is happening and delighted that our continued partnership will lead to further developments.

We’re thrilled to be extending our partnership – what are your hopes for the future of the partnership?

I hope we can continue to raise awareness of the amazing work that CRUK does and continue to create more opportunities to raise funds. I can’t wait to see how our partnership will allow CRUK to make a difference to people who are diagnosed with cancer in the future.