UK charities and helplines for every part of life
Free, established UK charities and helplines covering the practical and personal sides of life here — housing, money and benefits, mental health, domestic abuse, immigration and more. Many are available around the clock and in multiple languages, and you do not need to be a citizen, or to have lived here long, to use them.
See the helplines
In an emergency, call 999. If you are struggling to cope or need someone to talk to right now, call Samaritans free on 116 123, any time, day or night.
Free advice, crisis support and helplines
Every organisation listed here is an established UK charity or helpline, reviewed by our editorial team. All are free to contact.
12 services listed
Free, confidential advice on rights, benefits, housing, employment, debt and consumer problems. A practical first stop for almost any official or financial issue, with guidance covering England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Round-the-clock emotional support for anyone struggling to cope or in distress. You do not have to be suicidal to call, and the line is free, confidential and open every hour of every day, including holidays.
Expert advice on housing and homelessness — from eviction and disrepair to losing your home or struggling with a landlord. The helpline advises on housing law in England; Shelter Scotland and Shelter Cymru cover those nations.
Independent advice and guidance for people seeking asylum, refugees, and survivors of trafficking and modern slavery. The asylum helpline is free, available around the clock, and offers support in multiple languages.
One of the leading charities working with refugees and people seeking asylum in England, offering practical support, casework and specialist services, including help for unaccompanied children and refugee health professionals.
A free, independent charity helping people in financial hardship access the support available to them — including benefits and charitable grants. Its online benefits calculator and grants search are open to anyone.
Mental health information and support. Mind’s Infoline can help you understand a diagnosis, your treatment options, and where to find support in your area. It is a signposting and information service rather than a crisis line.
Run by Refuge, this free and confidential helpline supports women experiencing domestic abuse, 24 hours a day, every day. Advisers help with safety planning, refuge spaces and understanding your options, in many languages.
The charity behind the UK’s largest network of food banks. Its Help through Hardship line, run with Citizens Advice, offers benefits checks, income guidance and, where needed, a referral for an emergency food parcel.
Free, confidential and independent advice on debt and money worries, from arrears and bailiffs to budgeting and repayment plans. Run by the Money Advice Trust, with online tools and a dedicated phone line.
Support, advice and guidance for anyone affected by dementia, whether living with a diagnosis or caring for someone who is. The Dementia Connect support line connects you with trained advisers who can talk through your situation and local services.
Practical, emotional and financial support for anyone affected by cancer. The free Macmillan Support Line is staffed by specialists — from cancer information nurses to money and welfare advisers — seven days a week.
We’re actively reviewing charities and helplines to add to this list.
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The organisations on this page are independent UK charities and helplines, chosen by our editorial team for their relevance to people living in the UK. We are not affiliated with them and receive no payment for listing them. Details such as phone numbers and opening hours can change — always check the organisation’s own website for the most current information.
Where to turn when you need help in the UK
Life in a new country can be going perfectly well until, suddenly, it isn’t — a job falls through, a tenancy turns sour, a relationship becomes frightening, or the weight of it all becomes hard to carry alone. The UK has a deep network of charities and helplines built for exactly these moments, and almost all of them are free to contact. You do not need settled status, a long history here, or even much English to reach many of them; interpreters are often available.
It helps to know roughly who does what before you need them. For day-to-day problems — benefits, employment rights, a dispute with a landlord or a company — Citizens Advice is the broad first port of call. For housing specifically, Shelter advises on everything from disrepair to the threat of homelessness. Money worries and debt have their own specialists, and emotional or mental-health support runs from listening services to information lines.
Crisis support versus advice lines
There is an important difference between a crisis line and an advice line, and knowing which you need saves time when time matters. Crisis lines — such as Samaritans, or the National Domestic Abuse Helpline — are there for urgent emotional or safety situations, often around the clock. Advice and information lines, such as Mind’s Infoline or many Citizens Advice services, operate set hours and are better suited to working through a problem rather than an emergency. In a genuine emergency, where someone’s safety is at immediate risk, always call 999.
Support is not only for citizens
One of the most common reasons people do not reach out is the belief that these services are not meant for them. For the great majority, that is not the case. Helplines for distress, domestic abuse and asylum support are open to anyone in the UK regardless of status, and specialist organisations exist specifically for migrants, refugees and people with no recourse to public funds. If you are unsure whether a service applies to you, the simplest thing is to call and ask.
No list can capture every organisation, and the right source of help depends entirely on the situation in front of you. What this page offers is a starting point: a set of established, trusted services covering the parts of life that most often go wrong. Save the numbers that feel relevant before you need them, and do not wait until a problem has become a crisis to make the call — most of these services would far rather hear from you early.
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View all categories →UK charities & helplines — FAQs
The helplines listed here are free to call from UK landlines and mobiles. Numbers beginning 0808, 0800 and 116 are freephone, and the Samaritans 116 123 number does not appear on phone bills. If you are calling from abroad or via a non-UK provider, charges may differ, so check with your provider.
In most cases, no. Crisis lines, domestic abuse support and asylum advice are open to anyone in the UK regardless of immigration status. Some practical entitlements, such as certain benefits, do depend on your status, but the charities themselves can advise you on what you are eligible for. If unsure, call and ask.
Most helplines treat calls as confidential, and many allow you to remain anonymous. Confidentiality policies vary between organisations, particularly where there is a risk to a child or to someone’s life. If this matters to you, ask the adviser about their confidentiality policy at the start of the call.
Often, yes. Several services, including Migrant Help and the National Domestic Abuse Helpline, provide interpreters in many languages. When you call, you can ask for an interpreter; it may take a few minutes to connect one. Some organisations also offer information in multiple languages on their websites.
A crisis line, such as Samaritans, is for urgent emotional or safety situations and is often available 24 hours a day. An advice line, such as Mind’s Infoline or many Citizens Advice services, helps you work through a problem and usually operates set hours. For an immediate emergency where someone is at risk, call 999.
Shelter offers expert housing advice and runs a free helpline covering housing law in England, with Shelter Scotland and Shelter Cymru serving those nations. Citizens Advice can also help with housing alongside other issues. If you are at immediate risk of harm at home, contact a domestic abuse helpline or, in an emergency, call 999.
The Help through Hardship line, run by Trussell with Citizens Advice, can check your benefits, suggest grants and, if needed, arrange a referral for an emergency food parcel. Turn2us helps you find grants and benefits you may be entitled to, and Citizens Advice can also refer you to a local food bank.
Yes. Migrant Help runs a free, around-the-clock asylum helpline and supports survivors of trafficking and modern slavery. The Refugee Council provides practical support, casework and specialist services for refugees and people seeking asylum in England. Both can advise in multiple languages.
If someone’s life is at risk or a crime is happening, call 999 for police, ambulance or fire. If you cannot speak, you can call 999 and, when prompted, press 55 from a mobile to alert the operator. For urgent but non-emergency medical advice in England, you can call 111. For immediate emotional distress, Samaritans are on 116 123, day or night.
These are established, well-known UK charities and helplines, chosen by our editorial team for their relevance to people living in the UK and the breadth of life they cover. We are not affiliated with them and receive no payment for listing them. It is not an exhaustive list, and many excellent local and specialist services exist alongside these national ones.
Run a service that should be listed here?
If you run a charity or helpline that supports people living in the UK, we would like to hear about it. We are actively reviewing organisations to add to this directory.
Suggest a serviceThis page was last updated on 4 June 2026.