Financial Support Campaign and Updates

Which? – Stamp Out Scams

Which? has run a major campaign to strengthen protection against fraud.

Its campaign has pushed for:

• Stronger protection from bank-transfer scams
• Reimbursement for victims
• Action against fraudulent online adverts
• Greater responsibility for technology platforms
• Better protection for people targeted by sophisticated scams

In 2026 Which? continued campaigning for Big Tech platforms to take greater responsibility for scam advertising.

Hold Social Media Companies Accountable for Scam Investment Adverts

This UK Parliament petition calls for social-media companies to be held responsible for publishing paid scam investment advertisements.

It argues that people are losing savings through fraudulent adverts, including fake celebrity endorsements.

Closes: 31 January 2027

Stop Scam Emergency Trade Adverts

This petition calls for search engines to verify emergency-trade advertisers and take stronger action against scam adverts and “bait and switch” pricing.

Closes: 10 September 2026

Cost of Living Action

Cost of Living Action is a coalition of charities, trade unions, civil-society organisations and grassroots groups.

The coalition relaunched for 2026 with a new set of demands.

Its three main campaign pillars are:

• Ensure people have enough income to live well
• Make essentials affordable
• Rebalance taxation, including greater taxation of wealth

Campaign areas include:

• Wages
• Social security
• Housing
• Energy
• Tax

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation researches poverty and campaigns for policy change aimed at increasing economic security.

Current priorities include:

• Social-security adequacy
• Secure work
• Housing affordability
• Reducing destitution
• Increasing financial resilience

JRF is also a major partner in the Guarantee Our Essentials campaign.

Living Wage Foundation – Real Living Wage

The Living Wage Foundation runs the UK's voluntary Real Living Wage campaign.

Unlike the statutory National Living Wage, the Real Living Wage is independently calculated according to living costs.

The current rates are:

• £13.45 across the UK
• £14.80 in London

More than 16,000 employers are accredited.

Living Hours

Living Hours campaigns against insecure and unpredictable work.

Accredited employers commit to measures including:

• At least four weeks' notice of shifts
• Contracts reflecting normal hours worked
• Guaranteed minimum hours for workers who want them
• Greater protection against last-minute shift changes

In August 2026 the campaign reached its 300th accredited employer.

Living Pension

The Living Pension campaign encourages employers to help workers build a pension capable of providing an adequate income in retirement.

It complements the Real Living Wage and Living Hours campaigns.

Turn2us – Stop the Stigma. Fix the System.

Turn2us campaigns for a social-security system that treats people with dignity and respect.

Its campaign calls for:

• Simpler access to disability benefits
• Better PIP assessment processes
• Assessor training
• Supportive Jobcentre conversations
• Less reliance on sanctions
• A social-security system based on trust rather than suspicion

Campaign activity has included an open letter to the DWP, Parliamentary events and work with people who have lived experience.

Turn2us – Challenging Disability Benefit Cuts

Turn2us has worked with disability organisations and people with lived experience to challenge reductions in health and disability-related social-security support.

Its campaigning has included:

• Open letters
• Policy briefings
• Responses to Government welfare reform proposals
• Campaigning for meaningful co-production with disabled people

Guarantee Our Essentials

Trussell and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation are campaigning for an:

Essentials Guarantee in Universal Credit.

The proposal is for Universal Credit's standard allowance to have a protected minimum based on an independent calculation of essential living costs.

The campaign also proposes that deductions should not normally push support below that minimum.

More than 100 organisations support the campaign.

Benefits Without the Fight

Scope campaigns for disabled people to receive the correct benefits decision without unnecessary appeals.

It calls for disabled people to have the right to request an appropriate benefits assessor.

Campaign concerns include:

• Incorrect assessment decisions
• Stressful appeals
• Poverty caused by lost support
• Assessor knowledge of disability

Disability Price Tag

Scope's Disability Price Tag research highlights the additional costs faced by disabled households.

The 2025 report estimated disabled households required an extra:

£1,095 per month on average

to achieve the same standard of living as a non-disabled household.

Campaign issues include:

• Energy costs
• Equipment
• Transport
• Care costs
• Housing and adaptations

Scope – Futureproofing Benefits

Scope's 2026 policy work calls for disability-benefit reform to focus on creating a sustainable, fair system rather than simply cutting support.

Scope has argued that:

• PIP should remain separate from work assessments
• Disabled people should be involved in reform
• Financial support should reflect disability-related costs
• Assessments should be fair and accurate

Trussell – End the Need for Food Banks

Trussell's long-term campaign goal is a UK where people no longer need food banks to afford essentials.

Its campaign focuses on:

• Increasing household incomes
• Improving social-security adequacy
• Preventing destitution
• Guaranteeing essential living costs
• Reducing emergency food-bank use

Child Poverty Action Group

CPAG campaigns against child poverty across the UK.

Current campaign priorities include:

• Abolishing the benefit cap
• Restoring the value of children's benefits
• Expanding free school meals
• Improving social security
• Increasing Scottish Child Payment

Its long-running campaign against the two-child limit achieved a major policy change when the limit was removed in April 2026.

End Child Poverty

End Child Poverty is a coalition of more than 100 organisations campaigning for a UK free from child poverty.

It brings together:

• Children's charities
• Anti-poverty organisations
• Faith groups
• Trade unions
• Social-justice organisations

Room to Repay – Council Tax Debt

StepChange is campaigning for people in council-tax arrears to be given fairer and more realistic opportunities to repay.

The campaign argues that aggressive collection and confusing letters can make financial problems worse.

Campaign priorities include:

• Fairer council-tax collection
• Better communication
• Affordable repayment arrangements
• Earlier support
• Reducing harmful enforcement

Plug the Gap – Energy & Water Social Tariffs

StepChange is campaigning for national social tariffs so households on low incomes can afford essential energy and water.

The campaign argues that people should not have to take on debt simply to heat their homes or use necessary water.

Debt Awareness Week

StepChange's annual Debt Awareness Week raises awareness that problem debt can happen to anyone and encourages people to seek support earlier.

The 2026 campaign ran from:

16–22 March 2026

under the theme:

“Debt doesn't define you.”

Credit Safety Net

StepChange campaigns against people being forced to use credit to pay for basic essentials.

Campaign goals include:

• Safer lending
• Better affordability checks
• Early intervention
• Affordable alternatives to high-cost credit
• Improved financial resilience

Becoming a Nation of Savers

StepChange campaigns for policies making it easier for people on low and moderate incomes to build emergency savings.

The aim is to reduce the number of households forced into borrowing when unexpected costs arise.

Fair By Design – End the Poverty Premium

Fair By Design campaigns against people on low incomes being charged more for essential products and services.

This is known as the:

Poverty Premium.

Campaign areas include:

• Energy
• Insurance
• Credit
• Payments
• Financial inclusion

Its 2026 research estimates the poverty premium costs the British economy around:

£2.8 billion a year.

Fair By Design – Energy Social Tariff

Fair By Design is part of a coalition campaigning for a targeted energy social tariff.

It wants eligible low-income households to:

• Receive discounted energy
• Be automatically enrolled where possible
• Receive support funded fairly
• Not pay extra simply because of the way they pay their bill

National Energy Action – Ending Child Fuel Poverty

National Energy Action campaigns to address fuel poverty across the UK.

Its child fuel-poverty campaign focuses on children living in homes that families cannot afford to heat properly.

Campaign priorities include:

• Affordable energy
• Energy-efficiency improvements
• Better targeted support
• Protection for vulnerable households

Fuel Poverty Awareness Day

National Energy Action's 2026 Fuel Poverty Awareness Day will take place on:

Wednesday 18 November 2026.

The campaign encourages supporters to:

• Share fuel-poverty campaign materials
• Contact MPs, MSs and MLAs
• Raise awareness of energy debt
• Campaign for warmer, affordable homes

Citizens Advice – Energy Debt & Fair Pricing

Citizens Advice uses evidence from millions of contacts with consumers to campaign for stronger protection in essential markets.

Its 2026 priorities include:

• Reducing energy debt
• Targeted support for households with high energy needs
• Fair pricing
• Consumer protections
• Action where companies make excessive returns

Carer Poverty Coalition

The Carer Poverty Coalition is led by Carers UK and brings together organisations campaigning against financial hardship among unpaid carers.

In 2026 the coalition marked the 50th anniversary of Carer's Allowance by calling for a comprehensive review.

Its goals include:

• Increasing support for carers
• Reviewing Carer's Allowance
• Improving means-tested carer support
• Reducing carer poverty
• Recognising the financial impact of unpaid care

Challenge Poverty Week 2026

The Poverty Alliance coordinates Challenge Poverty Week in Scotland.

In 2026 it runs from:

5–11 October 2026.

The campaign brings organisations and communities together to:

• Challenge stigma around poverty
• Call for stronger social security
• Campaign on low pay
• Promote secure employment
• Push for action on fuel poverty
• Encourage political action

CPAG Scotland – End Child Poverty

CPAG Scotland and the End Child Poverty coalition campaign for Scotland to meet its statutory child-poverty targets.

Current priorities include:

• Increasing Scottish Child Payment
• Expanding free school meals
• Improving social security
• Better support for families in debt
• Affordable social housing
• Flexible and affordable childcare

School Shouldn't Cost

The campaign brings together the views of children and young people about poverty-related barriers in Scottish education.

Its 2026–31 manifesto calls for:

• Action on child poverty
• Removing school-related costs
• Helping families meet education costs
• Making school participation genuinely accessible

Bevan Foundation – Welsh Benefits System

The Bevan Foundation has campaigned for a more joined-up Welsh Benefits System.

The aim is to make devolved financial support:

• Easier to understand
• Easier to claim
• More consistent
• More automatic where possible
• Better coordinated across different schemes

Its wider 2026 anti-poverty proposals include:

• Expanding free school meals
• Strengthening the Discretionary Assistance Fund
• Reducing fuel poverty
• Council-tax reform
• Support with childcare costs

Citizens Advice Cymru – Cost of Living & Consumer Campaigning

Citizens Advice Cymru uses evidence from advice services to campaign for policy changes affecting households in Wales.

Campaign and policy work includes:

• Debt
• Energy
• Benefits
• Housing
• Cost of living
• Consumer protections

Advice NI – Social Security & Welfare Reform

Advice NI campaigns on issues identified through Northern Ireland's independent advice network.

Its policy work includes:

• Universal Credit
• Disability benefits
• Welfare reform mitigations
• Debt
• Cost of living
• Benefit administration

Advice NI was part of the Welfare Reform Mitigations Group which helped secure significant mitigation funding for Northern Ireland.

Consumer Council – Cost of Living Advocacy

The Consumer Council for Northern Ireland represents consumers across:

• Energy
• Transport
• Food
• Financial services
• Cost of living

Its 2026 work tracks the impact of rising prices and energy costs on Northern Ireland households and challenges providers and policymakers where consumer protection is needed.

Raise the Personal Tax Allowance to £18,000

Calls for the tax-free Personal Allowance to be increased to £18,000.

The petition has already received a formal Government response.

Closes: 30 September 2026

Increase Universal Credit Savings Limits

Calls for the £6,000 and £16,000 capital thresholds to be increased to reflect inflation and then uprated automatically.

Closes: 17 February 2027

Stop DWP Bank Account Information Powers

Calls for Parliament to reconsider powers allowing DWP to receive certain information connected to Universal Credit eligibility.

The petition raises concerns about privacy and vulnerable claimants.

Closes: 25 September 2026

Stop Reduction in the Universal Credit Disability Element

Calls on Government to reverse reductions affecting the health element of Universal Credit for new claimants.

Closes: 1 November 2026

Review Motability Advance Payments

Calls for Government to review and cap increases in Motability Advance Payments and consider affordability for disabled people.

Closes: 30 October 2026

Reform Carer's Allowance Earnings Rules

Calls for carers to be able to earn more without losing Carer's Allowance.

The petition argues that current rules can make it difficult for unpaid carers to remain in work while providing substantial care.

Closes: 24 October 2026

Improve Maternity Pay & Family Financial Support

Calls for:

• Higher statutory maternity pay
• Review of Universal Credit thresholds
• Greater access to maternity grants

Closes: 24 September 2026

Abolish Council Tax & Replace It With National Funding

Calls for council tax to be abolished and local councils instead funded through national taxation.

Closes: 25 September 2026

Increase Single Person Council Tax Discount to 50%

Calls for the current Single Person Discount to be increased from 25% to 50%.

Closes: 30 December 2026

Increase Local Housing Allowance Rates

Calls for Local Housing Allowance to be increased so housing support more closely reflects real private-rental costs.

Closes: 24 January 2027

Free School Meals for All Children Up to 16

Calls for all children up to age 16 to receive free school meals, regardless of household benefit status.

Closes: 28 February 2027

Social Media Accountability for Scam Investment Ads

Calls for social-media companies accepting payment for scam investment advertising to face stronger responsibility.

Closes: 31 January 2027

StepChange – Breathing Space

StepChange campaigned from 2014 for statutory protection giving people time to obtain debt advice without immediate enforcement pressure.

The campaign led to the:

Debt Respite Scheme – Breathing Space.

It launched in England and Wales in May 2021 and can provide qualifying people with a temporary pause on most:

• Interest
• Fees
• Charges
• Enforcement action

Money & Mental Health – Stop the Charge

Stop the Charge campaigned against people with mental-health problems being charged for medical evidence needed to obtain support from creditors.

Following the campaign, GP charging for the standard Debt and Mental Health Evidence Form was ended in England.

Money & Mental Health – Stop the Debt Threats

The campaign challenged intimidating and outdated wording in statutory debt letters.

It called for debt correspondence to be:

• Clearer
• Less threatening
• More supportive
• Better designed for people in financial distress

Rules governing relevant debt letters were subsequently changed.

CPAG – Two-Child Limit Campaign

CPAG and many other anti-poverty organisations campaigned for years against the two-child limit in means-tested benefits.

The policy was removed in:

April 2026.

CPAG now lists this as an important campaign success while continuing to campaign on the benefit cap, children's benefits and free school meals.