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Staff Profile: Penny Jerrum

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My name is Penny Jerrum and I have been working for Turn2us for almost a year now as Head of Engagement. In this role I lead our Face to Face Services. We deliver these services through our volunteers and partner organisations. 

Our volunteers deliver some of our most vital face to face work. They go out to visit those who we might be able to support through a direct grant to get to know them and understand their need for support from us. This often involves spotting things the individual might have forgotten to tell us in their application. They also visit the people we are provide ongoing support too. We recently reviewed our approach to volunteers and as such launched a new Volunteer Strategy outlining our approach to volunteers. We are also working to extend our volunteer roles to ensure we include volunteers at the very heart of all our work as a charity. 

A huge variety of organisations across the UK use our digital tools with their clients to help them find benefits and grants. We run workshops in locations across the country every month to train staff and volunteers from these organisations to use our tools with confidence. We aim to train around 2,000 intermediaries every year who go on to support thousands more people. We work with a team of extremely talented trainers who deliver our workshops and they largely come from a welfare benefits background and are passionate about helping those in financial need. 

The other part of my role is to extend our reach through partner organisations. I spend a lot of my week travelling around the country meeting charities and community groups who are supporting people in financial need. I often present on our tools, attend conferences to network or meet one on one with other charities to work out how we can achieve more together. I work with partner charities on various projects including working with them to refer into us for direct financial support for those who they are supporting who meet our grant giving criteria. 

  • If you are interested in volunteering with us, please contact Lynne Regan. 
  • If you are interested in attending a training workshop, please contact Michelle Brookes. 
  • If you are a charity or not for profit organisation and you are interested in working more closely with Turn2us, then please contact Penny Jerrum.