Turn2us has helped fight poverty in the UK and Ireland for 125 years. If poverty looked different in Victorian times, it is still highly prevalent in today’s society. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimates that more than one in five of the UK population – the equivalent of 14.5 million – live in poverty. Of these, 4.3 million are children. Covid-19 is likely to have pushed hundreds of thousands more into financial hardship.

The mission of Turn2us became even more crucial during the pandemic. As well as supporting people who struggle financially, the national anti-poverty charity runs an information helpline service. Prior to Covid-19, it received over 76,000 contacts from people needing support to access its services. In 2019-20, the figure jumped to over 101,000, an average of 276 people per day. Thomas Mathew, Turn2us’s director of finance and resources, says the charity had to increase the staffing capacity of the helpline to be able to deal with the number of calls.