Twenty sixteen proved to be a year of significant change for the Rainy Day Trust. Not only did the charity become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, but it also launched a whole series of new programmes, specifically designed to tackle the impact of low income in the industry.

The Rainy Day Trust has, and always will be, a grant maker. It provides financial assistance where and when it is needed and, in 2016, the number of people the charity helped grew by nearly 20%. The amount of money it awarded grew by 23%.

Offering financial help is just one part of what the Trust now does. If someone needs a new washing machine because they can’t afford it themselves then that’s what the charity is here to do. The charity now asks the following questions: “Why can’t you afford it and what can we do to help you buy it yourself next time?” It isn’t about offering judgement; it’s about offering support to overcome whatever difficulty is acting as a barrier, says the charity.

The Rainy Day Trust now offers free housing advice in partnership with Shelter to cover everything from dealing with difficult landlords, to what to do about mortgage arrears or how to seek help with a boundary issue. It has an e-learning package designed to help people re-train or upskill, and it even supports apprentices to give them a better chance of passing their course and securing a full-time job.

The Trust also provides a winter fuel pack, which will service someone’s boiler and pay towards fuel bills. A telephone-based counselling offering is also available to help deal with bereavement, anxiety or stress.

Finally, the charity has just launched a new debt advice partnership with the Debt Advice Foundation, which helps callers deal with personal debt, identify the right solution and reduce stress in the process.

If you would like to work more closely with the Rainy Day Trust, e-mail chief executive officer Bryan Clover at bryan@rainydaytrust.org.uk.