Press information

There are more than 1,000 helplines in the UK and Ireland, of which around 450 are Members or Associates of The Helplines Association.

THA offers a kitemark for members of the public to enable them to recognise helplines which meet THA's good practice standards. 263 helplines across the UK and Ireland have met THA's good practice standards and are entitled to call themselves Full Members of The Helplines Association and to display the THA Member logo.

We estimate that every year UK helplines respond to a total of:

• 29.3m telephone calls
• 2.6m emails
• 1.6m text messages and
• 200,000 instant messages.

In the last year THA has saved helpline callers £1m through THA's Special Freephone Tariff scheme, a special range of helpline numbers which are free from mobile phones as well as landlines.

THA members employ 20,600 staff and volunteers between them.

We estimate the annual turnover for the UK non-profit helpline sector is £9.6bn.

We estimate the non-profit helpline sector spends a total of £8.9m on telephony costs every year.