Supporting those working in the home improvement and home enhancement sector for over 180 years, the Rainy Day Trust has launched a new brand identity and website to mark its evolution from “crisis-only support to being at hand at every step of a working life.”
The industry charity is pledging to be “at hand, whatever stage of life you’re at” as it also seeks support from industry businesses to build proactive, ongoing partnerships that will “enable it to be there when it is needed, and before.”
For nearly two centuries, Rainy Day Trust has been “the sector’s safety net,” providing crisis grants to people working in DIY retail, builders’ merchants, housewares, garden centres and potteries when life is at its toughest. That safety net stays firmly in place, but Rainy Day Trust says its evolved mission goes further; preventing hardship, enabling early intervention, and providing vital support when crisis strikes.
New services include trained Workplace Ambassadors embedding wellbeing in businesses across the sector, early careers and apprentice support, expanded debt advice, and access to a range of online counselling services to meet all needs – support designed to reach people earlier, before problems escalate.
A new digital front door and an invitation to the industry
The new website has been designed to give Rainy Day Trust a clear digital home for the three groups it serves: workers seeking confidential support, employers who want to invest in the wellbeing of their teams, and fundraisers who want to give back to their industry.
The charity is also inviting businesses across the sector to get in touch to support its vital work, and is “keen to build proactive, ongoing partnerships that matter. Partnerships that enable it to be there when it is needed, and before.”
Employers can start the conversation at www.rainydaytrust.org.uk or by emailing anna@rainydaytrust.org.uk.
“When our people thrive, our industry thrives.”
CEO Anna Skeats said: “This is a pivotal moment in our history of over 180 years. For generations we’ve been the safety net people reached for when crisis struck and we always will be. But too many people in our industry are struggling long before they reach that point, and their mental and physical health pays the price.
“Our new brand is a promise; we will be there sooner, at hand from someone’s first day in the sector and at every step after it, helping our people live happier, healthier and more fulfilled lives. When our people thrive, our industry thrives.”
Richard Drew, Chair of Rainy Day Trust and Sales Lead, Trade Independent Merchants at AkzoNobel, added: “Rainy Day Trust has always been there for our sector on its worst days. This evolution means it will be there for all the other days too.
“That’s good for our people and good for our businesses and I’d encourage every employer in the industry to be part of it.”
Why Rainy Day Trust’s shift towards prevention matters
The charity explains that the move is in response to “stark evidence that its sector is disproportionately affected by poor mental health and often poor physical health too.” For example, ONS analysis found that men in the lowest-skilled construction roles are 3.7 times more likely to die by suicide than the national average, whilst the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity reports that two construction workers take their own lives every working day in the UK.
Meanwhile, research published by the Chartered Institute of Building in 2025 found that 28% of construction workers had experienced suicidal thoughts in the previous year. The picture is similar on the shop floor. The Retail Trust’s Health of Retail report 2025 found 39% of retail workers blamed cost-of-living increases for a decline in their mental health.
Physical health carries a heavy burden too, with the HSE reporting 79,000 construction workers suffering work-related ill health each year, over half of it musculoskeletal.
The new brand identity and website were developed with Brookes & Co and its sister agency, Brew. The new branding is described as being “a symbol of being there sooner,” built around the umbrella as a metaphor for how Rainy Day Trust now works.
Closed, it is a tool for the journey; compact and purposeful, travelling with workers through everyday life and quietly equipping them before difficulty arrives. Open, it creates shelter; expanding to meet the moment and surrounding people with the care, resources and support they need to weather the hardest chapters of their working lives.
The thinking is captured in Rainy Day Trust’s new positioning, “At hand. For every working life,” in addition to the ethos of: “Like a pension or a hard hat, Rainy Day Trust is there from someone’s first day in the sector, not just their worst one.”
