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Journalists’ Charity — Financial Help and Advice for UK Journalists

The Journalists’ Charity is a benevolent fund for journalists and former journalists in the UK. It offers confidential advice, means-tested cash grants, 1-2-1 career training, mentoring and retirement housing. It is the working name of the Newspaper Press Fund, registered charity 208215 in England and Wales and SC042405 in Scotland.

This page sets out who the charity says it can help, the occupational test and savings screen it applies, and which of its forms is the right one — because the application page most people land on first is for a different scheme entirely.

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Advice and financial assistance →Who is eligibleHow to applyFAQs

Why UK JournoHub Features the Journalists’ Charity

Journalism carries an unusual amount of income risk. Freelance work arrives in irregular lumps, staff jobs disappear in restructures, and illness or a family emergency can turn a manageable month into an unmanageable one with very little warning. There is a fund that exists for precisely that situation, and a large number of journalists either do not know it exists or assume it is not for them.

The Journalists’ Charity says it has helped thousands of journalists across the UK and Ireland with advice, support and financial assistance since it was started by Charles Dickens in 1864. Its current work is not limited to cash: it also runs career coaching for people whose work has been hit by cuts and closures, a mentoring scheme, a fund for people in their first two years in the trade, and retirement housing for the over-60s.

We feature it here for two practical reasons. The first is simple awareness. The second is that the charity’s published criteria are specific — there is an occupational test, a savings screen and a property-equity screen — and the site has two different application forms serving two different schemes. Getting either wrong wastes time that a person in financial distress does not have.

What the Journalists’ Charity Does

The charity describes several distinct forms of help, aimed at different career stages. The Charity Commission records its activity as supporting journalists and their dependants by providing retirement housing facilities, and by making grants in approved cases to individuals who meet the occupational requirement.

Confidential advice and cash grants

The charity says that if you are struggling it can help with confidential advice, useful information and cash support. Awards are decided case by case against a means test rather than issued at a fixed rate.

First Jobs Fund

A separate fund for people in their first two years in journalism, offering support with essential costs such as accommodation, moving home, transport and essential work-related equipment.

‘Next Steps’ 1-2-1 training

Tailored one-to-one training and guidance for journalists whose careers have been affected by cuts, closures or redundancies, or who feel their development has stalled.

Moving Forwards mentoring

Run with Journo Resources, this scheme lets UK-based journalists book one-to-one calls with experienced mentors for support on job applications, next steps and building confidence.

Independent Living at Ribblesdale

Retirement housing in Dorking, Surrey, described by the charity as independent retirement living designed exclusively for the over-60s. Enquiries go through the charity on 01306 887511.

Signposting to other organisations

The charity says it works closely with partner organisations including the NCTJ, Journo Resources, the Printing Charity, NUJ Extra and StepChange to signpost other specialist services.

The charity does not publish rent figures for Ribblesdale, so we do not quote any. Ask the charity directly if cost is the deciding factor for you.

Who Is Eligible for Financial Help

The main fund applies an occupational test and a means test. Both are published by the charity, and both are worth reading before you spend time on a form.

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    The occupational test

    You must be a journalist or former journalist in the UK, or work for a UK organisation overseas. Journalism should have been your main source of income for at least two continuous years out of the last five years, or for seven years in total if you are no longer working in the trade. Dependants of journalists are also within the group the charity was set up to help.

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    The savings and property screens

    The charity states that your application is unlikely to be successful if you hold significant equity in a property, or if you have savings above £10,000. It does not define what counts as significant equity, and it frames both as making success unlikely rather than as an absolute bar. If you are close to either line, ask rather than rule yourself out.

  • ›
    Need, not lifestyle

    The charity’s objects, as recorded by OSCR, state that it aims to meet a need rather than preserve a particular lifestyle, and that it cannot subsidise those who in the long term find it difficult to make a living from journalism unless through illness or other misfortune. That is the boundary of the fund in the charity’s own words.

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    Under two years in journalism

    If you have not yet built up two years, the general fund is not your route. The First Jobs Fund exists for people in their first job or with an offer letter from an employer, and for those who can evidence having been a full-time journalist for less than two years.

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    No union membership requirement is published

    The eligibility conditions the charity publishes are occupational, not membership-based, and make no reference to belonging to a union. The Journalists’ Charity is a separate organisation from the National Union of Journalists, and lists NUJ Extra — the union’s own welfare charity — among the partners it signposts to.

On the size of a grant

The charity does not publish a maximum award. It says it tries not to be prescriptive but is bound by certain limits and by its financial resources. Any figure you see quoted elsewhere as a “maximum” from this charity did not come from the charity, and we will not repeat one here.

How to Apply, and Which Form Is Which

There is more than one application route on the charity’s website, and they lead to different schemes with different criteria. Use the one that matches your situation.

Hardship: advice and financial assistance

This is the route if you are struggling financially and meet the occupational test. The page sets out how the charity wants to be approached and how to reach it during office hours.

Advice and financial assistance→

First two years in the trade: First Jobs Fund

This is the route if journalism is your main income but you have been in it for less than two years, or you have a firm offer letter. Check the fund’s own page for the evidence the charity asks for.

First Jobs Fund→

Career support: ‘Next Steps’ 1-2-1 training

Apply here if cuts, closures or redundancies have affected your career, or if your development has stalled. This is coaching and training rather than a cash grant.

1-2-1 training→

Mentoring: Moving Forwards

Book a one-to-one call with an experienced mentor through the scheme the charity runs with Journo Resources. Aimed at job applications, next steps and confidence rather than money.

Moving Forwards mentoring→

Two pages that are easy to misread

  • /apply-now/ is not the hardship form. It is the application form for the Queen Camilla Future of Journalism Awards, a separate awards scheme with its own requirements. If you are in hardship, use the advice and financial assistance page instead.
  • The grants and bursaries page lists other organisations’ money.It is a signposting directory of funds run by third parties, not a list of grants the Journalists’ Charity awards itself. Any award sizes shown there belong to those other organisations and are subject to their rules, their deadlines and their eligibility criteria — not the charity’s.

What the Registers Record

Two registrations, one charity. The Journalists’ Charity is the working name of the Newspaper Press Fund. It is registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales under number 208215, and with OSCR in Scotland under SC042405, where it has been registered since 24 June 2011 as a cross-border charity. If you are checking its bona fides before sharing financial information, those are the two registers to look at, and both are linked in the primary sources below.

Scale. The Charity Commission records total income of £851,000 and total expenditure of £895,000 for the financial year ending 31 December 2024. OSCR records eight members of staff and a constitutional form of statutory corporation, established by Royal Charter. This is a small organisation, which is consistent with its own statement that it cannot be contacted outside office hours.

Registered office. The charity gives its address as 11 Ribblesdale, Roman Road, Dorking, Surrey RH4 3EX, with the telephone number 01306 887511 — the same site as its Independent Living housing.

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Primary sources

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Journalists’ Charity?
The Journalists’ Charity is a benevolent fund for journalists and former journalists in the UK. It is the working name of the Newspaper Press Fund, and it is registered as a charity in England and Wales (208215) and in Scotland (SC042405). The charity says it was founded by Charles Dickens in 1864 and that, more than 160 years later, it remains committed to providing life-changing support. Its published offer combines confidential advice, means-tested cash grants, career support and retirement housing. The Charity Commission records its activity as supporting journalists and their dependants by providing retirement housing facilities, and by making grants in approved cases to individuals who meet the occupational requirement.
Am I eligible for financial help?
The charity publishes an occupational test that acts as the main gate. In its own words: to be eligible for financial help you must be a journalist or former journalist in the UK, or work for a UK organisation overseas, and journalism should have been your main source of income for at least two continuous years out of the last five years, or for seven years in total if you are no longer working in the trade. Dependants of journalists are also within the group the charity exists to help. If you have been in journalism for less than two years, the general fund is not the right route — see the First Jobs Fund below. If you are unsure whether you meet the test, the charity offers confidential advice during office hours, so it is worth asking rather than assuming.
Will my savings or my home stop me getting help?
The charity applies a means test and is explicit about two screens. It states that your application is unlikely to be successful if you hold significant equity in a property, or if you have savings above £10,000. Note the wording: this is stated as making an application unlikely to succeed, not as an absolute statutory bar, and the charity does not publish a definition of what counts as significant equity. If your circumstances sit close to either line, the honest position is that the outcome is not predictable from the published criteria alone, and the charity itself is the only place that can tell you. Its advice line is confidential, so asking costs you nothing.
How much money can I get?
There is no published maximum, and UK JournoHub will not invent one. The charity declines to be prescriptive, saying it tries not to be prescriptive but is bound by certain limits and by its financial resources. Awards are decided on individual circumstances rather than issued at a fixed rate. Its objects, as recorded by the Scottish regulator OSCR, also state that it aims to meet a need rather than preserve a particular lifestyle, and that it cannot subsidise those who in the long term find it difficult to make a living from journalism unless through illness or other misfortune. That is a meaningful limit: the fund is built around hardship and misfortune, not around topping up a career that is not paying.
Where do I actually apply for hardship help?
The route for advice and financial assistance is the charity’s Advice and Financial Assistance page at journalistscharity.org.uk/how-we-help/advice-financial-assistance/, which is where the charity sets out how to ask for help and how to reach it during office hours. Do not use the page at /apply-now/ for this: that form is for the Queen Camilla Future of Journalism Awards, which is a separate awards scheme with its own requirements, and applying there will not get a hardship case in front of anyone. One further practical point: the charity says that, as a small charity, it is not contactable outside office hours, and it directs anyone in crisis and struggling to cope to the Samaritans on the freephone number 116 123.
I have been a journalist for less than two years — is there anything for me?
Yes. The charity runs a separate First Jobs Fund for people at the very start of a journalism career, which sits outside the two-years-in-five test used by the main fund. The charity says the fund will offer support with essential costs such as accommodation, moving home, transport and essential work-related equipment. On eligibility it says you should be in your first job or have an offer letter from an employer, or be able to provide evidence that you have been a full-time journalist for less than two years. Read that page for the evidence the charity asks you to supply. No maximum award is published for this fund either, and the illustrative situations described on the charity’s page are examples rather than caps.
Do I have to be an NUJ member, or a member of anything?
The Journalists’ Charity is a separate organisation from the National Union of Journalists, and the eligibility conditions it publishes for financial assistance are occupational rather than membership-based: they turn on journalism having been your main source of income for the stated periods, and make no reference to belonging to a union. The charity lists NUJ Extra — the union’s own welfare charity — among the partner organisations it works with to signpost specialist services, alongside the NCTJ, Journo Resources, the Printing Charity and StepChange. In practice that means the two routes are not mutually exclusive: NUJ members may have access to their union’s welfare fund as well, and the Journalists’ Charity is open to journalists who are not in a union at all.
Is UK JournoHub affiliated with the Journalists’ Charity?
No. UK JournoHub is independent of and not affiliated with the Journalists’ Charity. We are not paid to feature it, and we receive nothing from it. We describe its work here because journalists in financial difficulty frequently do not know the fund exists, and because the eligibility rules and the correct application route are easy to get wrong. Everything on this page is drawn from the charity’s own published pages and from the Charity Commission and OSCR registers, all of which are linked in the primary sources above. Where the charity does not publish a figure, we do not supply one.

Go to the Charity Directly

Everything on this page is drawn from the Journalists’ Charity’s own published pages and from the Charity Commission and OSCR registers. For advice, a grant application, or a conversation about your circumstances, start on the advice and financial assistance page.

Advice and financial assistance →First Jobs Fund1-2-1 trainingAbout the charity

Contact

Get in Touch

Journalists’ Charity, 11 Ribblesdale, Roman Road, Dorking, Surrey RH4 3EX. Telephone 01306 887511. Contact routes for advice, grant applications and Independent Living enquiries are listed on the charity’s own pages. The charity states that it is not contactable outside office hours.

Contact via the advice page →

Out of Hours

The charity asks anyone in crisis and struggling to cope to contact the Samaritans, which it says understands the pressures of working in journalism. The freephone number is 116 123.

Mental health: finding the right support →

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