Our helpline needs your support to help parents feed their families this Spring.

Over a year into the cost of living crisis, Turn2us frontline services are stretched to the limit as demand continues to soar. There are thousands of calls into the Turn2us helpline from families who need support that go unanswered each and every month.

At Turn2us, we believe no one should have their lives blighted by financial insecurity. We have a deep, committed, and impatient drive to support people to build financial security across the UK. We do this through our helpline, direct cash grants, and online financial tools to help people access support. Our helpline service provides provide free, confidential, and independent support to help people use the Turn2us financial tools to learn about the benefits or grants they are eligible for.

Hear from one of our helpline advisors, Nicola:

I've worked at the helpline for over two years and have helped thousands of people struggling to afford their basic needs. I speak to people faced with incredibly difficult circumstances every single day but, throughout the cost-of-living crisis, the number of people needing our support has continued to soar. With the current level of demand, the helpline would have to be 3 times bigger to respond to the number of calls we receive each day.

On an average day, I can assist approximately 40 people to complete our Grants Search tool, or enable 20 callers to work out their benefit entitlement as a single advisor. Over 7 million families are missing out on around £15.5 billion worth of unclaimed benefits each year, so our Benefits Calculator is absolutely crucial in helping people understand what they are entitled to and how to claim this. Each day, the helpline service fields roughly 300 calls, 200 live chats and 50-100 emails, and a huge majority of people I speak to are calling because they can't afford to pay their bills or buy enough food to live on. These are the bare essentials & no one should be in this position.

Our calls are vitally important to help people access the support they are entitled to. But, to offer timely support to everyone who needs it, our helpline team would need to be three times bigger than its current capacity. People are waiting on average between 30 minutes and an hour to speak to us, which only compounds their feelings of distress. 

We urgently need your support to fund this vital service. On average, people who contact Turn2us have just £1.20 left over each week after paying their housing, utility, and council tax bills, which is simply not enough to eat and live on. Families are facing impossible choices and, as the cost-of-living crisis endures, we're seeing more callers than ever needing urgent, professional safeguarding support.

Today I ask you to please consider donating. Together, we can make a massive difference for people and families across the UK in need of support. 

How will your donation transform lives?

• £20 can help cover one family's transport costs to work, school or hospital appointments for a whole week
• £25 can help five families receive financial advice and support through our Helpline
• £50 can help a family afford their weekly utility bills
• £100 can help cover groceries to feed a family for an entire week

Turn2us

In 2022, Turn2us gave £3.5 million in grants to people and families facing financial hardship across the UK. We helped people to calculate their benefits entitlements 2.6 million times, supported people to complete 1.3 million grant searches, and provided information and support to 100,000 people through our helpline.

With your support, we can continue supporting families struggling to make ends meet. When you pledge your support, you help Turn2us raise £10,000, which could answer 2,000 more calls from families this Spring. 

We know parents should not go days without eating so their children can be fed, and we know everyone deserves a life where they are able to afford the essentials. But unfortunately, this isn't the reality for many people and families across the UK.

Together, we can change this.

Thank you,

The Turn2us team

If you have any queries or would like more information, please contact us at [email protected]