BLOG: Our Welfare team are always here to help
06 October 2022
By Dianne Challis - Welfare Advice Team Leader
The Welfare Benefit Advice team continues to increase residents’ access to unclaimed benefits and welfare support, unlocking over £2.4million in benefit support for residents in the 2021/22 financial year. With two thirds of this is recovered for rent, another third goes directly to residents, often in unclaimed disability benefits.
Dianne Challis
Our Welfare Benefit Advice team currently consists of three Officers and a Team Leader, plus a part-time Officer who splits their time between the Welfare and Income team. One of the team was recently able to get a Housing Benefit claim reinstated for a resident, with backdated benefits totalling over £4,000. This resident was experiencing health issues at the time that means she was unable to stay on top of her benefits claim alone. With the stress of being behind in her rent escalating her condition, having a clear rent account has made a huge difference to her situation. I’m really proud of the work my team do to take the weight off residents’ shoulders by helping them to receive the benefits they are entitled to.
While the team continue to respond to the enquiries we receive on the phone or by email, we’ve also started visiting residents in their homes again. We had to stop doing this during the pandemic so it’s been great to return to providing support for residents in-person, particularly our older residents living in our Retirement Living schemes.
In recent months, we’ve received lots of requests about the current crisis with the cost of living and beyond. We regularly find that people are not aware of the benefits they are entitled to so a number of benefits go unclaimed, especially Pension Credit for older residents. We also find that disability benefits are often not claimed as the 38 page application form can be a bit daunting. Most people don’t know that while disability benefits are often initially refused, if you request a review or even an appeal, it can often lead to a successful claim eventually.
To support residents through the rising cost of living, we’ve set up a dedicated cost of living section of our website with useful advice and support available to you. I’ve included some key support available from the Government below, and I really encourage you to visit our cost of living page to find out more advice and help on offer.
Visit the cost of living section here
If you’d like to speak to my team for support with what benefits you might be entitled to, please contact us by email, text, website form, social media or phone call.
You may have been entitled to Cost of Living Payments of £326, £324, £301, £300 and £299 if you got any of the following benefits or tax credits on certain dates:
- income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Income Support
- Pension Credit
- Universal Credit
- Child Tax Credit
- Working Tax Credit
To find out if you're eligible for one of these payments, visit: www.gov.uk/guidance/cost-of-living-payment
You may be able to get help with essential costs from your local council. This is sometimes known as ‘the Household Support Fund’. This could help if you’re struggling to afford things like:
- energy and water bills
- food
- essential items
Your council may also offer food vouchers to families during the school holidays.
Please check your local council’s website for more information. Please click here to find your local council.
You may be entitled to a council tax discount or rebate - click here to find out more information on the types of council tax discounts available. Contact your local council to apply for a discount: Find your local council - GOV.UK
For more information and independent debt advice you can contact any of the following agencies:
- National Debtline - Free, confidential, and independent debt advice for individuals who are not self-employed. Phone 0808 808 4000 or visit nationaldebtline.org
- StepChange Debt Charity - A charity providing free, confidential, and independent debt advice for individuals who are not self-employed. Phone: 0800 138 1111 or visit stepchange.org
- Citizens Advice - Citizens Advice Bureau provide free, independent, and confidential advice to those who are not self-employed on their rights and responsibilities. Phone: 0800 144 8848 or visit citizensadvice.org.uk
You can also find out lots of useful information from Turn2Us, a national charity providing practical help to people who are struggling financially. Click here to visit their website.
If you’re struggling with paying your water bills, you may be able to apply for help from your water supplier to temporarily reduce your bill, or to cap or pay a discounted rate for future bills. Your water company will also be able to give you some water saving tips, and you might be able to get some free water saving devices from them.
For some more great advice, click here to visit the MoneySavingExpert website. Age UK shares tips here on how to use less water, potential discounts, and the Priority Services Register.
The UK's largest water company Thames Water offer the WaterSure bill cap and WaterHelp scheme which aim to lighten the load on households in need of extra support. The WaterSure bill cap is available to help people on a water meter who are finding it hard to save water because they have a large family or water-dependent medical condition. The WaterHelp scheme provides a discounted water bill for low income households. To find out more about these schemes and apply, click here or the button below.
Thames Water's financial support schemes
We know that residents' water suppliers may vary, so to find out details and advice on what support your supplier provide, please visit the debt charity Step Change's website: Help Paying Your Water Bills. StepChange Debt Charity
It can be really stressful to juggle the cost of running a home, especially when bills and household costs are going up. This can have a negative impact the mental health of you or your loved ones. It's really important to get help when you need this, and we recommend making use of the wide range of free mental health resources available if you feel mentally overwhelmed by the cost of living. You can click here to visit our dedicated mental wellbeing page for more information on the support available.
