Advice for Health

The context

We know that timely free and independent advice when it is most needed is critical, and getting support can reduce anxiety and longer-term stress and improve health. People experiencing marginalisation, discrimination, and social and financial disadvantage are disproportionately impacted by the cost of living crisis and are therefore more likely to need to access advice.

Despite an increased response from organisations giving advice, many people are not receiving the advice they need when they need it most. People may need to access advice on a range of areas that impact their life including employment, income, health, disability, housing, asylum, immigration and debt. Some people are not seeking or able to access advice because they feel overwhelmed by the challenges they are facing in their lives, such as insecure income, poor health or cultural or language barriers. This can also be due to a mistrust of services or digital exclusion.

About Advice for Health

Advice for Health will fund organisations supporting local people who are experiencing financial and social disadvantage, marginalisation and discrimination and are not able to access advice services because they feel overwhelmed. By supporting people to feel less overwhelmed and to access advice, the funding aims to see improvements in people’s mental and/or physical health.

Advice for Health also aims to result in changes to existing advice services so that they better meet the needs of groups of people who most need advice. This could be developing more culturally appropriate services, or undertaking community outreach to groups not currently accessing advice. The funding is focussed on small grassroots organisations who either have a strong track record in giving advice themselves, or can work with an advice giving partner.

As part of our commitment to community power, funded partners will involve local people who were previously distant from advice services and want to help other people access it in the development and delivery of funded activities.

Funded organisations and the Trust will collaborate to use learning from the activities to engage with decision-makers to seek changes that improve the provision of advice services for local communities across Great Britain.

Advice for Health was open to stage one applications from 22 May 2024 to 19 June 2024. Stage two applicants will be notified if they have been successful by the end of September and funded activity will commence from November 2024. For more information about the criteria for Advice for Health, please see the application guidance.