Guiding across a Galaxy of Support Services

Cat Divers, CEO of the National Support Network (NSN), discusses the evolving support services landscape in the UK. The discussion explores how NSN’s Support Hub is helping organisations—from corporates to charities—guide individuals to the right help, fast.

Themes include trends in digital vs. in-person support, challenges in accessibility, personalisation, the importance of timing in support journeys, and how corporates are responding to increasing vulnerability in customer populations.

The discussion also addresses how NSN uses data and design to simplify a complex landscape and drive both operational and societal impact.

Find out more about National Support Network-> Here.

Key Take Aways

The NSN Support Hub is the UK’s largest vetted directory of support services, covering over 1,000 life issues.
The support landscape is highly dynamic, influenced by changes in funding, demand, and emerging social issues.
Corporates are increasingly creating or partnering on bespoke support services, e.g. Safe Spaces in banks and supermarkets.
Demand for digital support services has accelerated, particularly post-Covid.
Access to support remains difficult: 11.8 million people struggle to find help, with half delaying due to difficulty.
NSN emphasises discovery-based, problem-led searches to guide individuals to relevant support efficiently.
Personalisation is crucial; different demographics require different formats (e.g. digital vs. phone or in-person).
NSN’s platform is used both for customer and employee support, offering dual application across organisations.
Partnerships with organisations like the King’s Trust demonstrate how broader needs often emerge during initial support engagements.
NSN enables organisations to refer users efficiently while protecting front-line staff from offering unqualified advice.
The shift toward automation and digital self-service is freeing time for deeper, empathy-led interactions in customer service.
NSN’s clients receive communication toolkits to integrate Support Hub into frontline conversations effectively and compassionately.

Innovation

NSN’s discovery-led, problem-based search tool that avoids logins or cookies, offering privacy and instant access.
Dual support hubs: one for customers, another for employees, enabling holistic support infrastructure in organisations.
Intelligent tagging and filtering to help users personalise results by geography, format, or target demographic.
Data-led cross-linking of support categories to show users related needs based on browsing behaviour.
Pay It Forward scheme: every corporate subscription donates a support hub package to a charity.

Key Statistics

11.8 million people in the UK struggle to find help.
Half of those people delay seeking help because it’s difficult to find.
NSN’s directory covers over 1,000 distinct life problems.
One-third of mental health issues are perceived to be caused by relationship problems (user-identified data).

Key Discussion Points

The importance of dynamic updates to the support directory due to service changes.
The link between funding cycles and availability of support services.
Impact of digital transformation, particularly during and after the Covid period.
The need to balance online, phone, and in-person support to match user preferences.
Emerging corporate-social partnerships as part of customer vulnerability strategies.
Generational shifts in willingness to seek help, particularly around mental health.
The role of advisors in compassionately signposting without overstepping boundaries.
The use of Support Hub by frontline staff as a safe, scalable referral channel.
Data insights from user interactions helping NSN map emerging needs.
Support journey complexity: users often have multiple interlinked challenges.
The challenge of categorising support needs that are not clearly self-identified.
Increasing need for integrated, trusted, and efficient signposting to mitigate service overload.