Advisory panels

Survivors Advisory Panel

Every member of our Survivors Advisory Panel has lived through a national emergency. They use that experience to guide our work.

They focus on the things that decide whether support reaches people well. How do we make applying for funds less stressful? How do we make sure survivors are treated with dignity when funds are raised and shared out?

Since our first survivor consultation in 2019, the panel has shaped how we respond, how we design funding, and how we approach policy and projects.

Equity Advisory Panel

Our Equity Advisory Panel makes sure the people who need support are not the people who get missed.

Its members advise on how we recruit, how we fundraise, and how we make decisions. Their job is to build equity, diversity and inclusion into the work itself. During emergency appeals, they work with our Allocations Committee to scrutinise funding decisions and check that different needs have been considered. Their lived and learned experience helps us find the barriers that stop people reaching support, and remove them.

Mental Health Advisory Panel

The mental health impact of an emergency can last longer than the physical one. Meeting that need is one of the gaps in how the UK responds to major emergencies.

This came through in our 2019 Consultation Phase. We saw it again during the Covid-19 pandemic, and in the findings from our Bee The Difference research. How people are affected, and what helps, changes from one emergency to the next.

Our Mental Health Advisory Panel brings together specialists in mental health and in disaster response, including members from the UK Trauma Council and the Centre for Collective Trauma. With their guidance, our funding stays trauma-informed. It reaches people straight after an emergency and over the longer term. They help us understand what specific groups need, including children and young people, and advise on how to remove barriers to getting help.

Four Nations Advisory Panel

Our Four Nations Advisory Panel makes sure a UK-wide response fits each nation. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own needs, cultures and ways of working.

The panel brings together people from the statutory and voluntary sectors across all four nations. It supports the Trust before, during and after national emergency appeals, and strengthens the local networks a response depends on.