People's Postcode Lottery: Flexible funding in action
With People's Postcode Lottery's flexible funding, we have been able to invest in people, communities, systems and infrastructure.
Since March 2024, players of People’s Postcode Lottery have raised more than £800,000 to support our mission to end financial insecurity.
Their generosity forms an important part of the resources that allow Turn2us to support over four million people across the UK with practical help they need to navigate financial shocks and truly thrive.
Financial insecurity can happen to anyone. The loss of a job, a loved one, a home can be devastating. Much more so when you are already struggling financially. For many families and individuals across the UK, budgets are tighter than ever before and systemic poverty is deepening. Households simply do not have the resources to withstand a further crisis.
When I was growing up, my mum always worked low paid jobs in the social care sector and had to rely on Tax Credits to supplement her wages, so I know what financial insecurity feels like for a family. For as long as these problems persist, my life’s work will be to tackle them.
In the UK today, over 4.5 million children live in poverty1. That’s almost a third of all children. And 27% of working-aged people living with a disability are living in poverty, compared to 19% of those who are non-disabled2. Nationally, nearly a quarter of people (24%) run out of money for essentials either most months or most days3.
This is why we exist. And why we have to act.
When I was younger we had to sit in the dark with candles because we didn’t have enough money for the meter - how can we, as a country, still be in the same position 40 years later?
With People’s Postcode Lottery’s flexible funding, we have been able to invest in people, communities, systems and infrastructure.
We are supporting communities through our place-based work to tackle the systemic factors that are holding so many children and families back from living a life of their choosing. From the ground up, we are building support systems, rooted in practical help, giving agency, power and dignity directly to the households themselves.
Our grant-making work ensures that people have autonomy to make their own decisions about their lives, providing support and comfort at the darkest moments.
And our digital tools are transforming the way we, and our growing network of partners, provide targeted and specialised support and information to people whatever their circumstances.
A heartfelt thank you to the players of People’s Postcode Lottery for their valuable support. As financial insecurity deepens across the UK, this transformative funding will mean we can increase the scale of our information offer, grants and practical support. At the same time, we will be able to intensify our focus on challenging the root causes of financial insecurity. The support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery is vital in making this all possible.
But our work does not stop there. The flexible support that players of People’s Postcode Lottery have provided, has helped us to grow our voice as a credible and persuasive campaigning organisation.
We are influencing policy at the highest level. And our latest project, Stop the Stigma - which calls for culture change to ensure that all people can access the support they need without stigma or shame - is rapidly gaining traction.
Esther's story
“I’ve always believed in working hard and doing the right thing. I went to university, built a career, and started to raise my three boys on my own. Two of them have complex needs and are non-verbal, so life was already intense.
"When my relationship ended and child maintenance stopped, everything fell apart. I took on three jobs just to survive. I’d come home after a late shift, cook meals half-asleep, then be up again through the night caring for my boys. I was constantly exhausted but too proud and ashamed to ask for help.
"I thought benefits were only for people who didn’t work. When I finally went to the Jobcentre, the adviser told me I “looked fine”. I left feeling invisible.
"One night, at 4am, I found the Turn2us Benefits Calculator. Sitting alone at the kitchen table, I typed in my details, convinced it would say “nothing”. Instead, it told me I qualified for the carers element of Universal Credit, support I’d never heard of.
"That small discovery changed everything. It meant I could cut my hours, cook proper meals, and actually sit with my children at dinner. It gave us stability, peace, and the feeling that we mattered again.
"It wasn’t just about money. It gave me time, dignity, and the space to breathe again. My boys could finally see me calm, present, and hopeful for the future.”
1 Figures from DWP, March 2025
2 Figures from DWP, April 2025
3 Figures from Together Through This Crisis Coalition, February 2023