Torbay Community Helpline was originally set up one week before the first COVID lockdown in March 2020 to support vulnerable people across the Bay.
The Helpline was so successful that it continues to help vulnerable people across a wide range of services, providing advice, support, and practical outcomes.
If you don’t know where to go or who to contact, call the Helpline. If we don’t know the answer, we will find it for you.
One call, that’s all – 01803 446022
About the Helpline
Torbay Community Helpline works in close partnership with Adult Social Care to provide a clear and accessible “front door” to a wide range of support delivered by the voluntary and community sector. By connecting people with the right help at the right time, we ensure that individuals receive timely, personalised support that promotes independence and wellbeing. This collaborative approach enables us to deliver positive outcomes closer to home, reducing the need for more intensive services and strengthening community-based care networks. Together, we are building a more responsive and person-centred system that empowers people to live healthier, more connected lives.
In addition, we work closely with Torbay Hospital to support a smooth and timely discharge process. By coordinating with hospital teams and linking individuals to appropriate voluntary and community sector support, we help ensure that people can return home safely and confidently. Our involvement helps reduce delays, prevent readmissions, and ensures that individuals have the right support in place to continue their recovery and maintain independence in their own homes. This joined-up approach strengthens the continuity of care from hospital to home and contributes to better outcomes for individuals and their families.
Contact us
Our main phone line, 01803 446022, is available:
- Weekdays: 10am-1pm & 3-6pm
- Weekends: Closed
- Bank holidays: Closed on most bank holidays, hours may vary around Christmas & New Year’s
An online form is available at https://bit.ly/torbayhelpline or can be found embedded below.
The Torbay Community Helpline is operated by staff, volunteers, associates, and partners of Torbay Communities.
Follow us on Facebook for more regular updates.
The Torbay Community Helpline is a group of organisations from the charity and voluntary sector in the Bay, including Torbay Communities (lead), Brixham Does Care, Age UK Torbay, Healthwatch Torbay, Imagine This…, Citizens Advice Torbay, the Torbay Advice Network, Homemaker Southwest, and What’s Your Problem are all working alongside Torbay Council and the Torbay and South Devon NHS Trust, with funding from the Office for Civil Society, NHS Charities Together, and the National Lottery Community Fund.
ONLINE FORM
An online form is available at https://bit.ly/torbayhelpline or can be filled in below:
Privacy Policy
Torbay Community Helpline is a community-run helpline, managed by Torbay Community Development Trust. Our aim in collecting your information is to provide opportunities for individuals to offer assistance to others and support for people in the community through our collaborative voluntary sector (VCSE), statutory and individual referral networks. Contacts are made through our phonelines and website; and as a caller we are asking you to agree to our privacy statement:
I agree that the personal data collected by Torbay Community Helpline may be held and processed on computer or manual records and may be disclosed to authorised employees of Torbay Community Helpline, Torbay Community Development Trust and other organisations and individuals necessary to deliver the help needed or to facilitate the delivery of help from community volunteers. Unfortunately, if you do not consent, we will not be able to process this form. You can request all your personal data contained on this form be deleted by ringing the helpline or emailing [email protected]. For further details you can view our privacy policy: https://www.torbaycommunities.com/terms-conditions/#privacypol
By providing your consent, you also agree to our terms and conditions.
This privacy notice sets out:
- How we process the personal data of callers to the helpline
- The rights you have under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- The data controller is Torbay Community Development Trust.
- The data processor is Torbay Community Development Trust.
- System supplied by – Gallery Partnership
What we do with the information we gather: We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with better opportunities. It will help us link you to people or organisations that can offer assistance. We may contact you back if required and you can specify your preference. We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. This privacy notice describes how we collect and use personal information about you in accordance with data protection law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018.
Purpose and lawful basis for processing: Our basis for processing your personal data is your freely given explicit consent at the time you provided your personal data to us. We will process your personal data on behalf of Torbay Community Helpline in order to provide support to you, in addition for reporting, evaluation and monitoring purposes. This may include matching to other data sources to understand more about situations like yours and general patterns or trends. The data will not be published or referred to in a way which identifies any individual, organisation or business without consent.
If you have any questions in relation to how the data will be processed and disclosed please contact [email protected]. Your personal data will not be processed unless you have provided your freely given explicit consent for us to do so.
You have the right to:
- request information about how your personal data are processed, and to request a copy of that personal data
- request that any inaccuracies in your personal data are rectified without delay
- request that any incomplete personal data are completed, including by means of a supplementary statement
- request that your personal data are erased if there is no longer a justification for them to be processed
- in certain circumstances (for example, where accuracy is contested) request that the processing of your personal data is restricted
- object to the processing of your personal data
- withdraw your consent at any time by contacting [email protected] or by calling the helpline: 01803 446022
Security: We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.
The kind of information we hold about you: Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
We will process the following personal data:
- Persons name
- Contact details: personal contact details such as name, title, addresses, telephone numbers, and personal email addresses
- Address and postcode
- Demographic data
- Your offer of assistance to others
- Your request for assistance through the Helpline network and subsequent notes inform us of progress with your request.
Recipients
- Where permission has been granted, the personal data you provide will be shared with members of the Torbay Community Helpline Network. These include:
- Age UK Torbay
- Engaging Communities South West
- Gallery Partnership
- Shekinah Torbay
- Social Prescribing Link Workers – Torbay – NHS
- What’s Your Problem
- List updated 25/07/2025 – each organisation has signed a confidentiality agreement related the Torbay Community Helpline.
- We reserve the right to add trusted organisations to the Helpline Network who agree to our confidentiality agreement for the purposes of improving the assistance we provide.
- Your data will not be used for other purposes by any third party without your consent.
- We will only share your information with third parties where we are legally required to do so.
- The data you provide will not be transferred outside of the UK or European Economic Area (EEA).
- If the information is no longer relevant for Helpline provision it will be deleted with 6 years from the last contact.
Principles:
We’ll comply with data protection law. This says that the personal information we hold about you must be:
- Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
- Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
- Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed.
- Accurate and kept up to date.
- Kept in a form that identifies you for only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.
- Kept securely.
- The information you provide is not used for automated decision making (making a decision solely by automated means without any human involvement) or profiling (automated processing of personal data to evaluate certain things about an individual).
Contact us or make a complaint
You can contact the Helpline Data Protection Officer at:
Helpline Data Protection Officer
Torbay Community Development Trust
4 – 8 Temperance Street, Torquay, Devon, TQ2 5PU
Tel: 01803 212638 [email protected]
A full list of your rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is available on the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website. https://ico.org.uk/
If you consider that your personal data has been misused or mishandled, you may make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an independent regulator. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office:
Website: https://ico.org.uk/
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Email: [email protected]
Any complaint to the Information Commissioner is without prejudice to your right to seek redress through the courts.
HELPLINE POSTER
A copy of the Helpline’s latest poster can be downloaded from below, either as a .PDF or .JPG file:
TORBAY COMMUNITY CAFÉ & HELP HUB
At the beginning of the first lockdown (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) in March 2020, the Torbay Communities office at 4-8 Temperance Street, Torquay TQ2 5PU was closed to the public, and all staff began working from home and continue to work remotely to this day.
Our former office has now become the Torbay Community Café & Help Hub – a community café operated by Ellacombe Community Partnership, with drop-in activities, groups and services available via Torbay Communities & partner organisations, ranging from financial and benefits advice to lunch clubs for over 50’s.
The Torbay Community Café & Help Hub is open Tuesdays-Fridays, 10am-3pm.
For regular updates, follow on Facebook @TorbayCafeHelpHub.
TORBAY FOOD ALLIANCE
Torbay Food Alliance is a group of local food banks & charities, supported by Torbay Council & the NHS, working with Torbay Communities, all in an effort to ensure no one goes hungry in Torbay during the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing economic challenges.
Food parcels are being distributed across Torbay, through referrals made via the Torbay Helpline.
If you are struggling for food and finances, or know someone in need, contact the helpline for a food parcel referral.
Torbay Food Alliance’s website: www.torbayfoodalliance.org
DONATIONS
If you would like to make a donation to the Torbay Community Helpline, please follow this link. We are grateful for all contributions, big or small and you can be assured all the money will be spent here in Torbay.
Thank you for your generosity.