Guernsey Welfare Service

This year, the Guernsey Welfare Service turns 130. Founded when local churches came together to provide coordinated support for the Island's poorest and most vulnerable residents, it has been meeting need ever since. Today, from its centre in St Peter Port and a second location at The Bridge in St Sampson's, it continues that same work, and the demand has never been greater.

The service describes itself as a multi-bank: food, clothing, furniture, financial assistance, and increasingly, a listening ear. Volunteers visit isolated residents through the Linking Lives programme. A parenting programme offers support to families under pressure. Budgeting guidance helps people get back on track. And for anyone who simply needs to talk, the doors are open Monday to Friday, no appointment necessary.

Simon Fairclough, who joined as manager in August 2025, is candid about the scale of what the service is now facing. "The need is probably greater than it's ever been," he says. The numbers bear that out. 714 households were supported in 2025, there have been 3,500 visits to the centre in the past year, 68 families, on average, are helped a week and the service has seen a 42% increase in weekly family visits since pre-COVID.

That last figure - up from 48 families a week in 2019 to 68 today - tells its own story. Two new clients are walking through the door every week. In the month leading up to Christmas alone, 550 households sought support. Seven home deliveries go out every week to those too vulnerable or unwell to attend in person. And behind every number is a person who, as Simon puts it, has found the courage to ask for help, no small thing in a community where the stigma around doing so remains very real.

"Some people come in and just break down in tears," he says. "It's a humbling experience for them, particularly the first time. We try and break down some of those barriers and bear the weight they feel. We just listen. We don't judge. We try and help." On a busy day, a welfare officer might see 24 people in four hours. Each one carries a complicated life.

The grant from Lloyds Bank Foundation arrived at a moment when operational costs - vouchers, food bank purchases, salaries, rent, insurance - had risen by around 15% on average. The grant, which represented approximately 15% of the service's annual income, meant the difference between maintaining services and scaling them back. "To put it bluntly," says Simon, "without the support of Lloyds, we simply couldn't have got through the year financially."

That generosity takes many forms. Donations of food and furniture. Volunteers giving their time. And occasionally, something that stops Simon in his tracks: a former client walking in, unprompted, to hand over £100. "You helped me out 15, 20 years ago," they told him. "I'm now able to start giving back." It is, he reflects, a kind of microcosm of life; times of need, times of giving. No journey is linear.

The relationship with Lloyds Bank Foundation has meant more than funding alone. A visit from the Foundation during the busy December period left a particular impression. "The interest shown by the visitors was extraordinary," says Simon. "Really intelligent questions, a genuine effort to understand what we do. It was one of the highlights of my time here."

Looking ahead, the Guernsey Welfare Service faces real uncertainty. Its storage facility, essential given the volume of food and donated goods it handles, is under threat from a local planning application, and the centre itself is approaching capacity. The possible introduction of goods and services tax adds another layer of concern. But Simon is determined to meet these challenges the way the service always has; by adapting, by listening, and by continuing to show up. "We've just got to keep going for another 130 years," he says. "There'll always be need. And we'll always try to meet it."