NABS forced to stop cost-of-living grants after ‘unprecedented’ demand

NABS, the advertising and media industry’s wellbeing charity, has had to pause applications for its other grants while it processes “overwhelming” number of applications for its cost-of-living support.

The cost-of-living grant received 150% more enquiries in 36 hours than NABS’ support and upskilling grants received in 11 months of 2022.

The one-off £1,000 grant was launched on 1 November and was originally intended to stay open until the end of February 2023 to provide support to workers struggling with rising essential living costs.

Two-thirds of applications to the cost-of-living grant came from women (66%), while 88% were London-based and 12% came from north-west England, Scotland and south-east England.

The top reasons for applying to the cost-of-living grant were identified as paying for utility bills, rent or mortgage and putting food on the table. The charity has said it will use this insight from these applications to inform its offerings in 2023 and how it can carry on supporting the industry.

NABS’ continues to offer support through Advice Line, therapy referral, masterclasses, coaching and a new financial wellbeing page on its website.

The charity has lost £1.75m in income during the pandemic, while seeing a rising demand for its services, with mental-health related calls to its service are up by more than doubling (128%) in the last year.