The Turn2us Helpline
The Turn2us helpline is a free, confidential, secure and
independent service that helps people in financial need access the
money available to them. It also provides support to intermediaries working with them and
grant-giving charities.
If you are an individual who needs help with using our services,
call us on 0808 802 2000 and speak to one of our helpline advisers,
who can:
- Help you check your eligibility for welfare benefits and access
the forms you need
- Assist you with grants searches to find possible grant-giving
charities that may be able to support you, based on your personal
circumstances and background
- Support you with a grant enquiry and making an application
- Help you set up and manage your 'My Turn2us' online
account
- Find local advisers on benefits, legal and other practical
issues using our 'Find an Adviser' tool
- Give you more information on Turn2us
- Put you in touch with other services that may be able to help
you.
If you are an intermediary helping people in financial need, our
helpline can help you carry out benefits checks and grants searches
for your clients, set up 'My Turn2us' intermediary accounts for you
and your staff and signpost you to other sources of help.
If you are from a grant-giving charity, our helpline can support
you with enquiries you have about our services, your profile in our
grants search facility and your 'My Turn2us' account.
What people are saying about our Helpline
"I like the fact that you can talk about your situation to a
real person on the helpline as well as using the resources on the
Turn2us website."
"A very efficient, friendly and professional response from the
telephone responder. It left me more confident that a solution to
my personal situation can be improved."
"When calling for help, I encountered a very kind and
sympathetic service."
"Being apprehensive and hard of hearing, the assistant was
understanding and spoke clearly. If I did not hear her properly,
she was pleasant and repeated the question without embarrassing me.
I felt at ease and a load lifted off my shoulder."
"The lady who rang me communicated in a very friendly,
informative and professional way."
Helpline policies
All enquiries received by our helpline are dealt with
confidentially in line with the following policies:
Compliments and Complaints
We aim for high standards in our service delivery and welcome
feedback, including compliments and complaints, from individuals,
intermediaries, charities and anyone who works with us, on all
aspects of our services. Such feedback is invaluable in helping us
evaluate and improve our work.
If you wish to make a complaint, we will ensure that we:
- Listen carefully to complaints and treat them as confidential,
where possible
- Record, store and manage all complaints accurately and in
accordance with the Data Protection Act
- Investigate the complaint fully, objectively and within the
stated timeframe
- Notify you of the results of the investigation and any right of
appeal
- Inform you of any action that will be implemented in order to
ensure that there is no re-occurrence
- Report, on a quarterly basis, the number of compliments and
complaints received, the outcomes of investigations and any
actions
You can make a compliment or complaint;
Contact details are at the bottom of this page. Full details of
the procedures we follow can be found by reading our Compliments and Complaints Policy.
Can you help us?
The helpline is a new service. We need your help to show its
effectiveness and further develop the resources it offers.
If you use our helpline to obtain financial help, such as
benefits and grants, please can you let us know the outcome. This
might include:
- Any welfare benefits you successfully applied for as a result
of doing a benefits check
- Any grants that you were given by searching for and
enquiring/applying to grant-giving charities using our grants
search facility.
We are also looking for individuals who have found help for
themselves and intermediaries who have found help for people they
are working with by using Turn2us services and are willing to share
their stories on our website and in forthcoming media and
fundraising activities. See our case studies
page for more information.
Contacting the helpline
Call us on: 0808 802 2000 (8am-8pm
Monday-Friday)
Calls are free for all landline and for major mobile network
providers - Orange, 3, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Virgin and O2 - charges
may apply for other network users. Check with your supplier first.
If your network does charge for the call and you are worried about
the cost, our Helpline can call you back.
Email us
Fax us: 01443 827616
Write to us: Turn2us, Unit 9, Cefn Coed Parc,
Nantgarw, Cardiff CF15 7QQ.
A translation service for people who have limited English is
available through Language Line.
A Typetalk service is available for deaf people.
The ACO Helpline is supported by Turn2us
From January 18th 2010, Turn2us will be running the
Association of Charity Officers (ACO) helpline service.
Anyone contacting the ACO, by telephone, letter or online, for
help in finding grant-giving charities will be referred to Turn2us
to receive a free, comprehensive and confidential service,
including a welfare benefits check and grant searches.
The ACO has run a pioneering helpline since the early 1970s
offering a personal service to link individuals in financial need,
their families and advisers working with them to grant-giving
charities (members of the ACO) that might be able to help them.
Although separate, the two organisations have always had a close
working relationship. This change will mean many more people can
access information on welfare benefits and grant-giving charities
(including a searchable database of over 3,500 charitable
funds).
All other ACO support services and administrative matters are
managed by ACO staff and volunteers.
For more information, read our
Frequently Asked Questions about this initiative
Last updated: 18 January 2010
Turn2us - to access benefits & grants.