Read how SNCBC used Evouchers to deliver the Household Support Fund to thousands of local residents, swapping slow, hands-on processes for fast supermarket and energy assistance that let people choose dignified support for themselves.
Support without stigma: handing choice back to residents with Evouchers
Sunderland North Community Business Centre (SNCBC), also known as Community Opportunities, is a community organisation based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. Established in 1987, the organisation supports local residents through training, employability programmes, volunteering opportunities, childcare, and community support services.
Sunderland has a population of approximately 274,000 people and has experienced economic challenges following the decline of traditional industries such as shipbuilding. As a result, organisations such as SNCBC play a vital role in improving employment opportunities, developing skills, and promoting social inclusion within the area.
The centre works across several local regions, including Hylton Castle, Washington, Thorney Close, and Shiney Row. Its services mainly support unemployed adults, young people, families, and disadvantaged groups within the wider Sunderland community.
SNCBC received funding from government schemes, routed through the local authority, to deliver the Household Support Fund. The fund existed to help vulnerable households cover the essential, everyday costs of living: food, energy and the basics that are easy to take for granted but make a huge difference to our lives.
Getting support to the people in need was not the only task. Trust had to come first. Because the funding came through the local authority, the team had to ask residents for evidence to validate each application, which meant proof of benefits, income or debt. Understandably, some residents were reluctant to share this information. As the team got to know people through the scheme, the hesitation eased, and residents felt comfortable sharing what was needed to complete their claim.
The team first came across Evouchers from an internal recommendation. SNCBC’s Chief Executive is a trustee on the board of a local school, which was already using Evouchers to issue Free School Meal vouchers to parents.
Each organisation delivering the Household Support Fund could choose how to provide support, whether that was energy vouchers, food parcels, warm home packs or something else.
SNCBC initially distributed the Household Support Fund by taking food shopping orders from residents and booking grocery deliveries for them. It worked, but it ate up staff time.
So the team contacted Evouchers by raising a ticket online, filling in a short form with their company details. They were contacted by the Evouchers team and set up was quick. After SNCBC paid credit onto the account by bank transfer, they could buy vouchers whenever they were needed.
Evouchers has been extremely easy to use. It has allowed us to help thousands of local residents financially in a fairly short space of time.
Megan Pilkington, SNCBC
Before Evouchers, support looked very different. The team bought warm coats, bedding and toiletries, and met residents face to face at local shops to top up gas and electric accounts using petty cash. It was slow, and it limited how many people the support could reach.
Moving to Evouchers cut out that manual work. They now were able to offer supermarket vouchers, alongside the gas and electric cards to provide resources for the key essentials such as food, household items and housing energy.
It also handed choice back to residents, who could now do their own shopping and pick from a range of supermarkets, rather than the single account the team had held before.
Moving over to Evouchers really streamlined the process and gave residents their dignity, as they could choose their own shopping.
Megan Pilkington, SNCBC
The difference showed up most clearly in people’s day-to-day lives. Families with children who have SEN felt it immediately. Some of those children had specific food needs, and supermarket vouchers meant parents could buy exactly what worked for them, solving a problem that impacted the team, the parents and the children.
There was a quieter benefit too. A supermarket gift card can be used in store or online like other gift cards, so residents could accept help without anyone knowing they had received it. Support should not carry a stigma, and being able to shop like everyone else provided privacy and empathy at their time of need. Many found they no longer needed to lean on food banks while the support was in place.
The knock-on effects reached further than the funding itself. Staff time that had previously been spent on shopping trips and face to face top-ups was freed up. And the relationships built through the scheme lasted: residents who first came for financial help went on to join lunch clubs, community groups and volunteering.
Receiving help shouldn’t be stigmatised, but using a gift card that anyone can buy online allows residents choice and privacy.
Megan Pilkington, SNCBC
The best thing is how easy the platform is to use, and how friendly the staff are. They’re really efficient and solve issues straight away.
Megan Pilkington, SNCBC
For SNCBC, Evouchers has improved the lives of the team and their community. Queries were answered almost immediately. Invoices to top up the account arrived the same day they were requested.
Evouchers account management and support teams have gone above and beyond. On the rare occasion a voucher had a problem at the supermarket’s end, the account manager looked into it and came back with a fix. New team members introduced themselves by email, and if someone was on leave, a colleague picked the query up without a delay.
The Household Support Fund has now come to an end. But with the new Crisis and Resilience Fund, if SNCBC is asked to provide financial support, Evouchers will be their first choice.
