Essential support

William*, a Hyde customer living with mobility and other health issues, experienced a series of setbacks when his essential home appliances broke down. William also had rent arrears of £1,400 and it was struggling financially.

While he was able to replace his washing machine, William didn’t have a working fridge-freezer or cooker, and couldn’t afford food. When he spoke to us, he hadn’t eaten a proper meal that day — only a cup of gravy.

William received a Hyde Charitable Trust (HCT) Helping Hand Fund grant to buy a cooker and a fridge-freezer, and was given a food voucher to meet his immediate needs. We also helped him get advice on his rent arrears and how he could become financially stable. And, once his Universal Credit payment came in, he was able to afford food again.

HCT awarded more than 1,900 grants worth £406k to about 240 Hyde customers in 2024-25, helping them with food, energy bills, and buying appliances and other things for their home.

After food and shopping vouchers, help to buy cooking, washing and refrigeration appliances was the second most requested support by customers in 2024-25. We paid for 368 appliances, saving customers an estimated £550k last year.

“We gave customers 1,054 emergency food and shopping vouchers worth £77k in 2024-25, equivalent to about 11,400 days of food,” said Felicity Hunt, Hyde Group Director of Communities and Social Impact. “We also gave £25k to customers to help them pay their energy bills.

“Our support means households can afford other living costs, preventing further crises and reducing the risk of them getting into more debt.”

Find out more about the support HCT gave to our customers and our community partners last year in the HCT Annual Review 2024/25 (PDF, 10MB)

*Name changed