Milestones, policy responses,
honest reflections.

We write here roughly once a month — usually when something is worth recording, occasionally when something is worth admitting. No marketing copy. No press releases pretending not to be press releases.

Milestone

12 April 2026 · 3 min read

Loan ceiling raised to £50,000, grant ceiling held at £10,000

Trustees approved a doubling of the loan ceiling, in response to two years of caseworker evidence on larger hardship needs.

— The Chair of Trustees

Read the full post

All posts · 6

Policy
6 min
4 February 2026
Our response to the Winter Fuel Payment narrowing
We saw a 38% increase in emergency-heating applications between November 2025 and January 2026. Here is what we learned and what we changed.
— Head of Casework
Partnership
4 min
20 January 2026
Greater Manchester Poverty Action — formal referral partnership
A new formal partnership across Greater Manchester, with shared safeguarding arrangements and a single-point-of-contact for housing officers.
— Head of Partnerships
Reflection
10 min
9 December 2025
Two years in: what we got right, what we got wrong
An honest account of our first two years — the things we underestimated, the things we got lucky with, and one big policy change we made halfway through.
— The Chief Executive
Press
FT · 12 min
2 November 2025
Profiled in the Financial Times
A long-form profile in the FT Weekend's Inequality series examined our funding model and the broader landscape of non-commercial UK lending.
— Press Office
Reflection
5 min
15 September 2025
We are open-sourcing our internal lending ledger
After 18 months of use, our internal lending ledger has reached a point where other small non-profit lenders could use it. We are making it free under the AGPL.
— Technology Lead

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Milestones, policy responses, honest reflections.

Loan ceiling raised to £50,000, grant ceiling held at £10,000

Our response to the Winter Fuel Payment narrowing

Greater Manchester Poverty Action — formal referral partnership

Two years in: what we got right, what we got wrong

Profiled in the Financial Times

We are open-sourcing our internal lending ledger

Subscribe for one email a month — no marketing, no asks unless we mean it.

Milestones, policy responses, honest reflections.

Loan ceiling raised to £50,000, grant ceiling held at £10,000

Our response to the Winter Fuel Payment narrowing

Greater Manchester Poverty Action — formal referral partnership

Two years in: what we got right, what we got wrong

Profiled in the Financial Times

We are open-sourcing our internal lending ledger

Subscribe for one email a month — no marketing, no asks unless we mean it.

Milestones, policy responses,
honest reflections.

Subscribe for one email a month —
no marketing, no asks unless we mean it.

Milestones, policy responses,
honest reflections.

Subscribe for one email a month —
no marketing, no asks unless we mean it.