The travel agency is extending its Community Partnership Scheme to cover the extra 555 premises.

As part of the initiative, each branch receives £500 cash to kick start fundraising for any good cause of their choice.

It has been running since the opening of the first Hays Travel store in Seaham, nearly 40 years ago. 

“Our colleagues are encouraged to be creative with their fundraising activities,” Toni Gibson, Hays Travel sales support manager, said. 

“They are given the opportunity to have control over where the money is donated, which means the money raised is put to best use in each local community and year after year they outdo themselves.”

Earlier this year, eight branches from the south-west of England teamed up with the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service to raise £9,700 for a six-year-old who was in a car accident.

Gibson oversees the partnerships activity and the independent Hays Travel Foundation, which has separately donated almost £1 million to charity since 2015.

The foundation aims to give young people better access to health, education, the arts and sport, and supports the Community Partnership Scheme by match-funding.