Turn2us annual impact 2025-2026

Cash, confidence and stability in Manchester

Through our partnership with Independent Age (a charity focused on supporting people facing financial hardship in later life), we piloted a new model of support for older people who are unpaid carers or have care needs themselves.

We gave 20 people, mostly older women living alone, a £2,000 care grant to help with essential costs like home adaptations, disability equipment, travel and bills. 

Alongside the grant, advisers identified potential increased annual entitlements, giving people not just immediate relief, but the confidence and stability to plan ahead.

By combining money and information, this partnership reduced stress, increased income and helped people navigate a system that often feels overwhelming.

Standing with Manchester's migrant women 

Working with SAWN (Support and Action for Women's Network), we supported migrant women facing financial hardship because of insecure immigration status. This is a year-long partnership running from July 2025 to July 2026.

We made grants of £1,000 - £2,500 to 17 women to cover essential care costs. 

We also provided skills-building training in campaigning for 21 women, who chose to focus on ending the NHS immigration health surcharge (a mandatory fee that most visa applicants pay to access NHS services).

Turn2us funded the training, co-designed multilingual information leaflets, and produced a report to amplify the campaign. With their community connections, SAWN identified participants and delivered appropriate training. 

Of the women who received grants, 40% reported a decrease in financial worry, a reminder that the right support and resources can change lives.

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2. Edinburgh Trust 

The Turn2us Edinburgh Trust is one of our core place-based programmes, supporting people experiencing financial insecurity in Edinburgh since 2011. 

Over the past year our work included: 

• Relaunching the Edinburgh Together Programme, our core grant making programme, with a new group of 20 partners 
• Completing the first year of the Thriving Futures Fund, our longer-term programme focused on supporting people to thrive 
• Deepening our work with the Edinburgh Trust Co-production Panel, a group of people with lived experience of financial insecurity who live in Edinburgh
• Supporting the Regenerative Futures Fund, a 10-year community fund for Edinburgh that puts decision-making power into the hands of those who are most often excluded. 

We explore one of these programmes below in more detail.

Thriving Futures Fund

Launched in October 2024, the Thriving Futures Fund (TFF) is a three-year programme combining grants, savings and holistic support. TFF was designed in partnership by: 

• Turn2us Edinburgh Trust 
• Fresh Start and One Parent Families Scotland
• the Edinburgh Trust Co-production Panel. 

We deliver TFF in partnership with four Edinburgh-based partners: 

• All In Edinburgh (supported employment for Disabled people or people with long-term health conditions)
• NESSie (a consortium led by Fresh Start, in collaboration with North Edinburgh Arts, Move On and Spartans Community Football Academy)
• Link Living: Edinburgh Young Person’s Service 
• One Parent Families Scotland. 

TFF’s objective is to help people in Edinburgh achieve financial security and to thrive. To do this we allocate £50,000 a year for direct grant making through each partner and pay those organisations £10,000 to support their capacity costs.

Delivery partners work with participants to:

• complete a Thrive Plan
• start a savings account (through an arrangement with Capital Credit Union, or a chosen savings provider) 
• provide general support and advice. 

In the first year of the programme (October 2024 - October 2025), 91 people registered Thrive Plans.

When participants started on the programme, they were asked to rate, on a scale of 1 to 10, their level of worry about their financial security; 80% of participants said it was 7 or above. Eight months into the programme, that dropped to 30%.

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3. Middlesbrough: building the conditions for long term change

The Middlesbrough Collaboration is a long‑term programme, starting in 2022, focused on improving financial security for women and children in Middlesbrough, funded by: 

• Turn2us 
• Buttle (a children's charity) 
• Smallwood Trust (a charity funding organisations that help women overcome financial adversity). 

The collaboration brings together local organisations to challenge the systems that shape financial insecurity, not just its immediate effects. 

This year marked a pivotal shift in how the programme operates. After three years of direct delivery, co‑production and learning, the collaboration moved into its next phase, providing funding for a network of local community partners. 

This is a result of learning from earlier phases, which made clear that fragmented, short term support - even when well intentioned - does not shift entrenched patterns of financial insecurity. While crisis support remains vital, lasting change requires coordinated, shared ownership and trust between organisations working in partnership.

From 2026 to the end of 2027, the next phase of the collaboration will be led by a new partnership of: 

• Nur Fitness CIC, a community organisation dedicated to women's and children's health and self-esteem
• Women Today North East, a grassroots organisation created by and for Black African women and girls
• The Junction Foundation, a charity for children, young people and families in Tees Valley. 

Using their reach into the community, the partnership will help people access coordinated support, rather than having to navigate multiple disconnected services.

Community led savings and leadership in Middlesbrough

In late 2025 we brought together CLASS (based in Greater Manchester) and Creative Minds (a Middlesbrough community group running creative wellbeing sessions for women).

Together, we supported local women - many of whom are refugees and asylum seekers - to set up their own community-led savings group.

This helps women build savings, while strengthening connections and developing leadership skills. Since its launch the Middlesbrough Savers Group has made strong progress in building a consistent, community-led saving culture among women in the Newport area.

Turn2us provided some funding for the start up costs, equipment for money transfers, room hire and travel to meet other savers groups. We acted as the bridge between partners, ensuring the group had the resources and confidence to begin.

Members are increasingly setting personal savings goals, including for major life events like Hajj, and the group has celebrated its first withdrawal - an important milestone demonstrating that the model works in practice.

One of the most impactful elements has been the group's role in fostering financial independence and confidence, particularly among women who may not previously have had control over their finances.

As one member reflected, the group is about "women helping themselves and women being independent," while another highlighted the appeal of "having her own money". The emphasis on small, manageable contributions - "it doesn't have to be big, start small and build up that way" - has helped lower barriers to entry and encouraged participation. 

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4. Barking and Dagenham 

The Barking and Dagenham programme is a long-term initiative that started in 2022, working alongside residents, local organisations and public services.

It focuses on tackling financial insecurity by removing barriers to support and improving access to help. The programme is co-designed with people experiencing financial insecurity and aims to strengthen local networks, test new approaches and drive systems change. 

The programme is delivered in partnership with community organisations and agencies embedded in the borough, including:

• Marks Gate Relief Project
• Kingsley Hall
• Refuge
• London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Council 
• Citizens Advice.

During 2025/26, key developments for the programme included making 44 cash grants for local residents, alongside holistic support by Refuge, Citizens Advice and Marks Gate Relief Project.

The programme held a networking session with local community organisations in Marks Gate to build relationships and understand services supporting residents to become more financially secure.

Also, co-production partners delivered four community workshops with community-based resource providers on financial education, housing, digital equality, and utilities.

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