Impact at a glance

Digital reach

• 849,723 unique users
• 1,741,595 page views across England and Wales
  
  Who we reached (self-reporting survey)
• 60% women
• 34% disabled
• 29% Black or minority ethnic background (+8% vs previous period)
• 49% low-income households
• 46% not in employment
  
  Supporting others
• 15% of survey respondents were helping someone else (friend, family member, volunteer, or professional)
   

Disability benefits

• Our information and action-support tools to help people understand and challenge disability benefit decisions remained a major source of support.
• 387,906 page views of our benefits help webpages

Modernising how we help

Digital transformation

• In 2024 we started a digital transformation programme focused on user-centred design — improving accessibility, mobile journeys, and clarity for people under stress.
• We launched our new website in December 2024, and adopted Advicenow as our organisation’s brand to better reflect how users experience their problems.

Making a difference: what we delivered

Housing, homelessness and temporary accommodation

We designed community education courses to reach people less able to access digital help, working with trusted intermediaries and grassroots organisations (including those supporting refugees and migrants, vulnerable women, and Black and minority ethnic groups). We also extended our housing work to include people with lived experience of homelessness.

• 27 workshops delivered
• 756 participants from 297 organisations
• Education initiatives indirectly reached 3,906 people each month
• Housing/homelessness information resources: 60,822 page views
  
  Employment problems
  We expanded support for people facing problems at work, including new content to help users assess whether they way they are being treated is unlawfuland guides to support users step-by-step through the employment tribunal process.
   
• Employment guides: 27,253 page views (up from 5,436 in the previous period)
  
  Family law
  Our Affordable Advice Service combines Advicenow’s step-by-step guides with fixed-fee, unbundled advice from Resolution family lawyers at crucial points in the process.
• 555 contacts (average 46/month)

Accessibility and language support

We enabled our users to listen to our information and translate it into 100+ languages, and adjust how it appears (text size, contrast, masking).

• Toolbar used to view 11,324 pages by 4,991 unique users
• Most used: screen reader (including English, Slovak and German)
• Most common translations this year: Slovak, simplified Chinese, Moldovan

Funding that enabled our work

In June 2024 we were awarded an Online Support and Advice Grant (OSAG) to provide accessible online support and advice for civil, family and tribunal issues, helping people navigate the justice system and prepare for proceedings where needed. We agreed an extension at £173k (including a £20k uplift).

Expanding our influence

Research, policy and consultancy
We carried out and published research into personalised legal support tools for benefit claimants (published November 2024), shared interim findings from a Nuffield-funded local legal needs study, and published research on Roma families’ experiences with children’s services in England.

Our recommendations and learning influenced wider conversations — including reporting in an ONS journal and engagement from the Law Commission and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman in relation to our housing work.

Media coverage highlights

Our work was featured across respected outlets, including coverage of the Roma families research and practical guides (including a Sky News segment on TV licensing prosecutions and an appearance on ITV’s Martin Lewis Money Live).