Case Study

HelpRouter UK: the right local support, fast.

A postcode-first signposting service that routes people to local support services, volunteering opportunities and reporting channels across the UK, built on Open Referral UK data.

3

Entry points

Postcode

Location first

UK-wide

Four nations

ORUK

Open Referral UK data

The problem

Someone who needs help in the UK, or wants to give it, faces a scattered landscape: council pages, charities, national helplines and local groups, each with its own site and its own idea of what to call things. The person often does not know which category their problem belongs to, let alone which organisation covers their postcode. People use services like this at their worst moments. The design brief was to get them to the right door with as few decisions as possible, and to be honest that the service signposts rather than advises.

What we built

HelpRouter UK is a web application with three entry points: I need help, I want to help, and I want to report a concern. Each one asks for a postcode (or uses device location to find the nearest one), then a category, and returns the relevant local services and next steps. The reporting route covers concerns such as rough sleeping and safeguarding. A persistent emergency banner on every step puts a Call 999 action in front of anyone in immediate danger, and the emergency mode is deliberately reduced to five buttons. The service data is built on Open Referral UK, the open data standard for describing community services in the UK, so local directories can be consumed in a consistent format rather than scraped.

Key decisions

Location first, then category. Asking for a postcode before anything else means every result is already local, and it keeps the first screen free of jargon. All three modes follow the same three steps (location, category, details) with categories specific to each intent. HelpRouter is explicit that it is a signposting service only: it does not provide advice or services directly, and it tells users to verify information with the linked organisations. That boundary is stated on every page rather than buried in terms.

Outcome

The web application is live at helprouter.co.uk as an MVP covering England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with a presentation for councils and partners available from the home page. A mobile app is in beta. HelpRouter UK is published by WAPPDEV UK and is open to pilot partners.

Screenshots

HelpRouter UK 'I need help' flow asking for a postcode, with a persistent Call 999 banner for anyone in immediate danger
helprouter.co.uk: step one of the I need help route. Postcode first, with the emergency action always in view.

Technology stack

Next.jsOpen Referral UKPostcode lookupGeolocationWeb and mobile

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