Turn2us

Turn2us is a UK-based non-profit service that helps people in financial need access welfare benefits, charitable grants and other financial help. Turn2us provides information and support about accessing welfare benefits and charitable grants through an accessible website and a freephone Helpline.

Turn2us is part of Elizabeth Finn Care,^[1] a charity that supports people experiencing financial difficulties in the UK. Elizabeth Finn Care is registered in England and Wales: 207812 and Scotland: SC040987, in 2007.

Aims

Over 13 million people currently live in poverty in the UK, including 3.9 million children.^[2] Elizabeth Finn Care, a charity that supports people experiencing financial difficulties with direct financial assistance, set up Turn2us to respond to this need.

The aims of Turn2us are:

• to increase awareness of welfare benefits and charitable grants
• to improve access to these forms of financial support
• to aid the distribution of funds from public and voluntary sector bodies; and
• to give a voice to people living in financial difficulty, in order to influence funders and policy makers.

Elizabeth Finn Care and Turn2us

On 1 October 2009 Elizabeth Finn Care and Turn2us joined together to form a single charity, to more effectively help the 13.5 million people currently living in poverty in the UK.^[3]

Services and activities

Turn2us provides information and support about accessing welfare benefits and charitable grants, all in one place. It does this through a website and a freephone Helpline.

Website

The Turn2us website is designed to help people find appropriate sources of financial support, quickly and easily, based on their particular needs and circumstances.

The website includes:

• A benefits calculator that helps people ensure they are receiving all the welfare benefits they may be entitled to
• A grants search containing the details of over 3,500 charitable funds (national, regional and local) that may be able to provide financial support and other services
• A confidential 'My Turn2us' online account that can be used to make enquiries and applications to grant-giving charities
• Information and resources on welfare benefits, grants and managing money
• A Find an Adviser tool to help users find local advisers, according to their needs.

Helpline

16% of homes do not have access to the internet.^[4] The Turn2us Helpline supports individuals who cannot access or use the Turn2us website.

The Helpline is an independent telephone and online service providing:

• Welfare benefits calculations
• Grants searches and support to apply for grants
• Information and signposting.

The Turn2us Helpline can provide a translation service through Language Line. This allows the person to talk to the Helpline adviser through an interpreter.

The Helpline also provides a service called Typetalk. This is a national telephone relay service for deaf, deafened, hard of hearing, deaf blind and speech-impaired people, which allows them to use a textphone to type what they want to say.

The Helpline is open all year from 9am-8pm, Monday-Friday, and calls are free for all landlines and for major mobile network providers - Orange, 3, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Virgin and O2. Charges may apply for other network users. Check with the supplier first.

The Turn2us Helpline has achieved The Helplines Association Quality Standard - a system specifically designed to assess telephone helplines working in the field of social welfare.

The Helpline also handles all initial enquiries for grants to Elizabeth Finn Care.

Public campaigns

In June 2009, Turn2us launched a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of the benefits, tax credits and charitable grants available for people struggling for money. This was supported by actress and TV presenter Lisa Maxwell.^[5]

Related videos

Youtube channel

External links

• Turn2us website

References