GamCare Publishes its 2025/26 Trustee’s Annual Report

GamCare has published its 2025/26 Trustee’s Annual Report, showing that people continued to receive timely, compassionate and high-quality support throughout the most significant period of change in the charity’s history.

The report covers the last financial year of the voluntary levy system, ahead of new statutory levy commissioning from April 2026.

Margot Daly, Chair of Trustees, said: “The Board’s priority throughout was to keep the quality of services at the centre of every decision. Independent CQC assessments found GamCare’s National Gambling Helpline, treatment and outreach services to be safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led, with care focused on the needs and preferences of the people who use them.

“After nearly three decades in this sector, we know that periods of change are when quality and continuity matter most, and as we continue delivering in England and Scotland under the new arrangements, that is where our focus will stay.”

Between April 2025 and March 2026, GamCare supported thousands of people across Great Britain. Its education, prevention and outreach programmes reached 17,100 people before harm escalated. Among them were more than 2100 professionals trained to recognise gambling-related harm across sectors from health and social care to criminal justice, financial services and the Armed Forces.

When people were ready to seek help, GamCare’s Helpline and online services responded to more than 114,000 contacts, making over 11,400 onward referrals into treatment and support 17,700 onward connections to wider services.

For those who entered treatment, support came quickly: a full assessment within an average of 2.4 days. Across the year, GamCare delivered more than 10,300 sessions for 811 clients and, wherever possible, the same practitioner walking alongside them throughout.

Nearly 97% of people finishing treatment reported a positive change in their circumstances. On the standard clinical measure of gambling harm, average scores fell from 14.4 at the start of treatment to 3.3 at the end, while scores on a separate measure of psychological distress more than halved.

The CQC also confirmed that GamCare’s services operate free from gambling industry influence, and the Helplines Partnership awarded the National Gambling Helpline its three-year certification to the Helplines Standard.

It was against this record that GamCare secured funding from new commissioners in England and Scotland.

Victoria Corbishley, Chief Executive, said: “Behind every one of this year’s 114,000 contacts to the National Gambling Helpline and its online services, is a person who chose to ask for support – often for the first time. Whether that begins with a call at two in the morning, a live chat during a lunch-break, or a message sent in private, our role is the same: to listen without judgement and help each person take the next step that is right for them.

“That same care runs through to treatment. This year, people were assessed within days and nearly 97% told us it brought positive change in their lives. We enter the new commissioning landscape with a clear mandate, a proven model and an unwavering commitment to the people we serve.”