Every year, tens of billions in welfare support allocated to households across the UK goes unclaimed. Behind these numbers are families pushed deeper into hardship, councils under mounting pressure, and communities absorbing the weight of crisis that could have been prevented. But what if the solution to this systemic gap isn’t simply better forms, new guidance, or more advertising? What if the first step in unlocking billions lies in the relationships and trust already embedded across our neighbourhoods?

This was the question explored during a recent Resolve Poverty workshop, where we introduced Angels Connect – a community-activated, technology-supported model designed to close the gap between what people are entitled to and what they actually receive. The conversation highlighted both the scale of the challenge and the transformative potential of a grassroots-led response.

The Scale of the Gap

The numbers are staggering. In 2024/25, an estimated £11.1 billion in Universal Credit alone will remain unclaimed, with the total unclaimed benefit entitlement across the UK reaching as high as £24 billion annually. This includes £5 billion in locally administered benefits and £3.4 billion in unclaimed Council Tax Support.

This isn’t theoretical money. It’s already allocated, budgeted, and intended to support the people we work with every day. The problem is that it simply isn’t reaching them.

Why? Because the gap is fundamentally relational. People don’t know they’re eligible; they worry about judgement; they’re intimidated by complex systems; or they no longer trust statutory institutions because of past experiences. Crucially, many lack a trusted person who can walk with them through the first step.

This is not just a financial issue – it is a justice issue.

A Local Insight: North Liverpool’s Story

For over twenty years, St Andrew’s Community Network (SACN) has delivered debt advice, welfare support, and community-led interventions in North Liverpool. We’ve seen lives transformed when people finally receive the support they’re entitled to: incomes stabilised, evictions prevented, wellbeing restored. But we’ve also seen a painful pattern – the people who most need advice are the least likely to access it. Often, they walk through our doors only when they’re already in crisis, when both the personal and system-level costs are far higher.

This reality demanded a different approach.

Introducing Angels Connect: Redesigning the First Step

Angels Connect was created to shift the system upstream by equipping ordinary people in communities to notice need early, have safe guided conversations about money worries, and directly connect individuals into specialist advice via a secure digital platform.

These “Money Angels” include:

• volunteers,

• church teams,

• pantry staff,

• school workers,

• NHS receptionists,

• social prescribers,

• housing officers,

• elected members,

• even a barber 

People who already hold trust- something systems can’t mandate or manufacture.

Money Angels complete a short online training programme (video, quiz, resource access, safeguarding) and then use the Angels Connect app or web portal to refer people safely and directly into advice services. They don’t give advice. They simply open the door.

System Infrastructure, Not Just Community Engagement

Behind this sits a digital platform that connects community capacity to advice-sector capacity. It includes:

• a training hub,

• a resource library,

• a secure referral system,

• a social learning network,

• the ability to route referrals based on local capacity.

The platform ensures cases are never lost – each person is followed through until support is received.

Where It’s Already Working

In under two years, the model has spread from Liverpool to other areas across the UK. The ripple effect has been profound: people who would never have accessed advice are now receiving hundreds of pounds a month in previously unclaimed support, with stabilising effects on households, mental health, and community wellbeing.

The Challenge: Capacity and Systems Change

But the workshop also explored an honest tension: increased demand on advice agencies requires smarter, fairer, and more transparent capacity management. Work is already underway to model provider capacity, distribute referrals equitably, integrate upstream triage, and strengthen the wider ecosystem. Angels Connect is becoming more than a community tool – it is an emerging system-wide infrastructure platform.

The Return on Investment

The economics speak loudly. Every £1 invested in training Money Angels yields multiple pounds in successful income claims. The result?

• more income entering households,

• reduced pressure on crisis services,

• lower homelessness interventions,

• decreased foodbank dependency,

• and reduced demand on GP and mental health services.

Far from a “nice-to-have,” early intervention is increasingly a matter of system sustainability.

A Vision for Liverpool City Region

Imagine every school, pantry, GP reception, community hub, children’s centre, fire station, library, housing team, employer and local faith community functioning as a relational touchpoint – thousands of trusted connectors all feeding into a single secure pipeline. Tens of millions unlocked locally; hundreds of millions nationally. A region-wide model of upstream, relational, community-powered income maximisation.

Co-Designing the Next Phase

The workshop closed with an invitation: How could this work in your area? Where could it integrate? What barriers need to be understood? What would it take to build an LCR-wide pilot? These are not rhetorical questions – they are the foundation for the next phase of development, which must be shaped in partnership with people, places, and organisations across the region.

Every unclaimed pound isn’t just lost income – it’s a missed moment of dignity, stability, and justice. But every Money Angel brings that moment closer. If we want to build a system that truly works for people, we need to activate the relationships that already hold communities together – and design systems that recognise, support, and amplify them.

Liverpool City Region now has an opportunity to lead the country in this new, community-activated approach to income security. The door is open. The question is: How far can we push it together?