30 years of God’s faithfulness… and we’re just getting started

In 1996, God took John’s ​‘yes’ and started an incredible, poverty-stopping, hope-bringing, kingdom-building movement across the UK.

Churches started been walking alongside people in their toughest financial storms in Scotland (2001), Wales (2003) and Northern Ireland (2009).

CAP Australia was born (2000), followed by New Zealand (2008), Canada (2013), America (2019) and Ireland (2023).

Your support has brought the love of God and financial freedom to thousands of lives across the UK. This year, Simon is celebrating ten years debt free!

More than 100,000 people* have been empowered to better manage their finances by taking part in money coaching.

Shout out to every single one of our amazing 27,000 Life Changers! Thank you for providing holistic, in-depth care to people in their worst financial storms, and bringing the practical, transformative hope of Jesus to people across the UK.

In the lead up to the 2024 general election, we asked you to write to your local candidates to put poverty on the Government’s agenda. Together, you started more than 5,700 conversations across more than 460 constituencies, advocating for those in debt and poverty and building relationships with local decision-makers that we’ve been able to continue since.

Prayer has always been, and always will be, at the heart of our work, and we’ve seen God provide, time and time again. Last year alone 689 clients told us they’d experienced an answer to prayer!**

To guide and inspire your prayers throughout 2026 and beyond, sign up to receive your free prayer and reflection journal.

Since 1996, local churches have carried the love and warmth of Jesus into 100,000 homes for the first time*, often responding to urgent needs such as empty food cupboards and offering to pray.

Jade’s home was one of these 100,000. Jade found herself in debt, desperately trying to make sure her three children had enough to eat. Like thousands of others, Jade experienced the unconditional love of God in action through her local church – and it transformed her life forever.

You’ve enabled churches across the UK to run thousands*** of community groups, including job clubs and life skills groups, offering free, face-to-face support within the friendship of a local church community. 

In October 2022, we launched an online benefits calculator in collaboration with Turn2us. The simple, free calculator has been completed over 406,000 times, helping uncover over £2 billion in extra income – a crucial lifeline for those on the lowest incomes.

Find out if you’re entitled to any extra income today with our free benefits calculator:

Whether you’ve run a marathon, hosted a bake sale, attended a fundraising dinner or taken on your own challenge for CAP, we’re so grateful to every one of you that’s raised vital funds to help people facing crushing debt and poverty.

Will you raise funds for CAP in 2026?

Archaeologist and supporter Jim has raised thousands of pounds for CAP over the last few years by giving talks about finding ​‘the most important British mosaic found in the last 100 years’. Jim discovered a Roman villa, in an amazing story involving a flood, some angry bees and COVID-19!

In the last five years alone, incredibly generous supporters like you have pledged legacy gifts of over a million pounds, the impact of which could last for generations. By leaving a gift in your Will to CAP, you too can equip God’s Church to bring lasting change in the UK.

After we published our Simplify the solution report in 2021, the Government widened eligibility criteria for Debt Relief Orders (DROs), opening up a debt solution for tens of thousands. But the £90 fee remained a barrier, so we continued to speak up. In 2024, the fee was finally removed and eligibility criteria widened further, making this vital debt solution accessible for those who would have otherwise been trapped in poverty.

Until 2023, energy costs for prepayment meters were higher than credit meters, forcing on the lowest incomes to spend more. After many years of advocacy and our 2015 report, The poor pay more, the Government agreed to bring prepayment meter costs in line with Direct Debit.

When Universal Credit was introduced, up to 40% of someone’s benefit payment could be deducted towards debt, leaving people struggling to make ends meet. We urged the Government to reduce this, presenting evidence in our Powerless people report. In 2021, the Government reduced the debt deduction rate to 25%, and in October 2024, the Chancellor announced that debt deductions would be reduced to 15%.

Thank you to our community of campaigners who have joined us in calling for change over the years. Join our campaigning community today, and find out how you can take action, too.

We’re so grateful to every person who has volunteered at an event or exhibition such as Big Church Festival, Spring Harvest, Bible on the Beach, Word Alive, Wildfires, New Wine or Greenbelt, sharing the reality of UK poverty and the hope of the local church with tens of thousands of people.

The Well, Retford Baptist Church recently celebrated 25 years of serving their community in partnership with CAP. A special shout out to Brenda, the centre’s longest serving befriender, whose faithfulness and care has blessed so many.

Kerith Community Church in Bracknell is now the longest running debt centre in the South East, providing debt help for 20 years. Simon, the church’s Senior Pastor, says:

Over the last five years alone, churches working with CAP have provided emergency aid on over 4,600 occasions****. The Fuelbank Foundation has also worked with us to provide over 3,600 fuel vouchers.

Since day one, we’ve been trusting God for provision to grow this movement. We’re eternally grateful for every person who has followed the nudge of the Holy Spirit to pray, give financially or support our mission to end UK poverty.

Earlier this year, we celebrated our 30th anniversary on BBC’s Songs of Praise, where Sharon shared how finding community in her local church has changed her life. You can watch this episode on catch up to hear Sharon’s incredible story.

We’re so thankful for every news article, TV channel and radio station that’s helped highlight the life-transforming work of UK churches. A special thanks to BBC You and Yours, ITV’s Tonight Show, The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Mail, UCB, Premier Radio and TBN.

Over the course of 30 years, 4,385* churches have partnered with CAP to put the love of God into action in their community, through debt help, job clubs, money coaching and other services. If you visited one of these churches every Sunday, it’d take you 84 years to visit them all! 

Want to see how your church could partner with CAP?

Valentine’s Day in 2013 marked the start of a referral partnership with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). Since then, we’ve received over 11,600 referrals to CAP’s services from Jobcentre Plus locations.

In September 2023, following in the footsteps of our friends at Tearfund, we began the development of our Church and Community Transformation (CCT) programme. The CCT process equips churches to prayerfully discern how God is calling them to contribute to their communities flourishing. Why not find out how your church can start their CCT journey today?

In 2025, local churches saw 382 people attend church for the first time – and 140 people said ​‘yes’ to following Jesus for the first time!**

Whilst we celebrate every breakthrough from the last 30 years, the story isn’t over. Poverty is deeper and more complex than we’ve seen in our 30-year history, so we must make sure that local churches are equipped to walk with those in their darkest financial storms.

God is mobilising his Church and moving in ways we’ve not seen for generations, with passionate Christians uniting to reach the most marginalised and extend God’s kingdom.

Through 2026 and beyond, your giving will equip more churches to connect and collaborate with their communities, and resource churches in the most deprived areas of the UK to support those on the lowest incomes.

As we look forward to what the next 30 years may hold, we’re excited to continue this journey with you, believing that together we will end poverty, once and for all.

Footnotes:
*Estimated based on available records.
**‘Moments of faith’ survey completed by local CAP workers.
***Estimate. Records began in 2014.
****Number of times emergency aid was provided between April 2021 and December 2025.