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Auriga's response to the latest gambling white paper

Supporting people through life's challenges

Our vision: To be the UK’s leading provider of support solutions to help those in times of need

Our purpose: To be your trusted partner, providing support and advice to those who need it most

Who we are

With over 90 employees with skills in grants, money, debt, welfare and water and energy assistance, we provide our clients with valuable support to meet their needs.

We operate as a Public Benefit Entity (our primary objective is to provide goods or services for the general public or social benefit) owned by a registered charity which helps people out of poverty and debt.

We value our charity-owned status, our integrity, our partnerships and we genuinely care about creating better and lasting impacts for households.

Our Strategic Pillars

Customer

To deliver high quality, excellent value service for our clients and their beneficiaries

Innovation

To invest in our systems focusing on automation and digitisation, to drive efficiencies and continuous improvements throughout our operational delivery model

People

To be an employer of choice, able to attract retain and reward talent in a culture which values and challenges people

Growth

To be the service delivery partner of choice within the sectors we operate, growing our client base year on year to deliver tangible returns on social investment

 

 

Our Values

At Auriga, we care

These values guide our people, strengthen our partnerships, and ensure we deliver exceptional service to our clients and their customers.

Collaborate

Achieving success together

We harness the collective power of teamwork, leveraging diverse skills and knowledge to overcome challenges and drive innovation

Act

Taking purposeful steps for impact

We encourage everyone to take initiative, embrace a can-do attitude, and strive to create tangible and lasting change.

Respect

Treating everyone with dignity

We nurture an inclusive culture where all voices are heard, and relationships are based on mutual respect and understanding.

Empower

Inspiring potential for personal growth

By fostering an environment of empowerment, we enable people to grow, innovate, and create positive change

 

Rarely have there been more challenging times to support customers in vulnerable circumstances. The impact of the cost of living crisis sets a uniquely demanding agenda for Auriga, with many families being left in great hardship. We are equipped to handle complex issues and are proud to be an important part of the response for people needing specialist support.

We hold ourselves to meet high standards; expected by the professional bodies we are part of, our stakeholders and those we set ourselves. We measure performance against our vision based on key indicators:

  • Targets against key measures identified by our clients and the business
  • Audited professional standards
  • Value of social economic impacts generated by our work
  • Independent feedback from customers supported
  • Feedback from clients and partners
  • Case studies which give examples of positive changes resulting from our work
  • Impacts of our activity in different local areas or among different groups

Our History

  • 2004

    In 2004 we were established as a subsidiary of the Severn Trent Trust Fund, a charity with over 23 years’ experience in helping people who find themselves in challenging circumstances and in need of help.

  • 2013

    Keen to raise the bar , we set up our in-house dedicated debt advice service in 2013, enabling us to broaden our range of activities even further. We also began supporting people to meet their needs for affordable warmth and other energy services, addressing some of the issues and challenges associated with fuel poverty.

  • 2015

    In 2015 we set ourselves a vision to help 2 million people in hardship by 2020 with our expert advice and support. Our casework and partnerships began to take off and we started offering households water and energy efficiency advice alongside income maximisation services at scale.

  • 2016

    Since 2016, we have supplied the NHS with welfare and wellbeing services. Auriga began delivering advice and wellbeing services to people being treated in hospital, enabling medical teams to more effectively support patients. This taught us to look at things differently; we started reaching new groups and not only reducing hardship, but increasing life satisfaction, general health and wellbeing.

    Providing the NHS with advice services has been one of our most positive achievements to celebrate. We’ve taken every opportunity to share insights from our evaluation with the UK’s Money Advice Service and exchange ideas about advice excellence in a healthcare setting.

  • 2017

    In 2017 we undertook research and analysis of the three highly respected water trust funds we manage, to showcase the number of people the charities had reached, the difference we made to people, and how much money was spent to do that. With over 13,000 customers directly supported each year, the results showed 82% of grant recipients were able to pay future water charges. They said the schemes made a huge impact on their lives and the study revealed support led to significant improvements in health, housing, employment and family relationships.

  • 2019

    A year earlier than planned, in 2019, we successfully met our company vision to help 2 million people in hardship. That’s the number of people we’ve helped since 1997 with free, impartial, advice and assistance to reduce their financial difficulty. An outstanding achievement, evidencing our dedication to reach our goals.

  • 2020

    In 2020 we launched our brand-new target – to help more than 3 million households by 2030 who are in vulnerable circumstances and in need of support.

    We also started administering the British Gas Energy Trust.

    This was all alongside a smooth transition to total home working before the Coronavirus lockdown was announced. Our team’s hard work during this period meant there was no impact to our customer service throughout the year.

     

  • 2021

    In 2021 we experienced extraordinary growth – tripling our client base, actively bringing new stars to the team, and helping over 1,700 people on a daily basis.

    This brought us well on our way to hitting our target of 3 million healthy homes by 2030.

    We also created our consumer-facing website, Ask Bill. It creates an easily accessible avenue for Auriga’s expert knowledge of the utility sector and financial support, providing advice, handy hints and tips to save money, and signposts to further assistance for the general public.

     

     

  • 2022

    In 2022, Jill Wheeler took the helm as our new CEO. David Woakes and Clare Fleming also joined our Executive Management Team as Client Solutions Director and People Director.

    Following the cost of living crisis, we continued to experience an increased demand in our services, providing specialist advice and support on behalf of our partners to vulnerable and affordability challenged consumers across the UK.

    We also worked to improve efficiency across our organisation, investing in our most important asset – our people.

What we are working on

Championing the development of a single water and energy Priority Service Register (PSR)

Diversifying our client base to include more NHS Trusts, energy providers, local authorities and charities

Continuing the fight against the cost of living crisis, supporting those in need by offering advice and emergency packages

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