Co-designed with a child's heart. Built for everyone.
Social Things is a community support portal born out of a simple, comforting idea: everyone deserves a helping hand, a warm meal, and a cosy place to sleep.
Comfort, Care & Support
The design elements of Social Things were chosen by a 6-year-old child to bring comfort and warmth to those facing difficult times.
The Supportive Handshake
Our central handshake has two hands of the same colour. It is not about race; it is about plain community support. It stands for one neighbour lifting up another, with compassion, respect, and no judgement at all.
Inviting Warmth
From the steaming bowl of soup that stands for food support to the warm marigold background, every colour and curve was chosen to feel like a friendly community noticeboard rather than a form.
Clothes for Every Season
Our clothing picture is a jumper and a pair of jeans — a whole outfit, not just a warm top for winter — because people need clothing all year round, not only when it is cold.
The Wrench, Not the Briefcase
For finding work, she chose a wrench and a hi-vis vest instead of a briefcase. A briefcase is an office, and an office is not what most people arriving here are looking for — the wrench stands for honest, practical work.
The Cosy Chimney
Rather than grand, impersonal housing estates, our housing picture is a small cottage with smoke rising from a brick chimney, and two windows lit. The smoke means a fire is going; the lit windows mean somebody is in, and they are awake.
Where our information comes from
We publish support we can trace back to a source, and we say what that source was. Nothing here is written from memory.
Give Food
Free to use with attribution and a link (givefood.org.uk/api)
Food bank data from Give Food (givefood.org.uk).
givefood.org.uk (opens in a new tab)
ALISS
CC BY 4.0
Contains information from ALISS (aliss.org), licensed under CC BY 4.0.
aliss.org (opens in a new tab)Charity Commission register
Open Government Licence v3.0
Contains public sector information from the Charity Commission for England and Wales, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk (opens in a new tab)The Scottish Charity Register
Open Government Licence v3.0
Where we check that a Scottish charity is real and still registered. Contains information from the Scottish Charity Register supplied by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
oscr.org.uk (opens in a new tab)postcodes.io
Open data
How we turn a postcode into a real location, so the distances we show are the actual distance to the actual door. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right, and Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right.
postcodes.io (opens in a new tab)gov.uk bank holidays
Open Government Licence v3.0
So that “closed on bank holidays” means something. The three UK calendars genuinely differ — Scotland has the 2nd of January, England and Wales have Easter Monday — and using the wrong one would tell somebody a shut helpline was open.
gov.uk (opens in a new tab)