Our Money Advice team offers free and confidential advice to help you to manage your finances.
We’ve spoken to Tracey, our Money Advice Manager, about what the team does and how they help our tenants to manage their finances.
Hi Tracey, can you tell us about the Money Advice team?
Our Money Advice team is a team of qualified advisers who provide free and confidential advice and support tenants with benefit and debt issues. Our goal is to help our tenants to sustain their tenancies and live independently in their own homes.
We offer free advice and support for our tenants on:
- Claiming benefits
- Challenging benefit decisions
- Claiming grants for support
- Advice with rent arrears
- Offering suitable debt solutions
And much more.
How can our tenants get help with their finances?
Since April last year, we’ve dealt with over 1,600 enquiries, including home visits, and have supported our tenants to claim over £900,000 in housing benefit and £300,000 in disability benefits.
As our tenants, you can ask your Rent Payment Officer to refer you to our Money Advice team by calling us on 0345 60 20 540 or you can self-refer by completing our form.
Are there any common patterns that you see?
I continue to see our tenants’ experiencing problems with the cost of living, for example some tenants that are living off welfare benefits have had support from the government through the cost-of-living payments. We can help our tenants make sure they’re claiming all the help and benefits they’re entitled to.
I’ve also seen a high number of tenants think that we will ‘tell them what to do’, however our job is to advise and provide options suitable for each individual need. Every tenant is different so the advice me and my team give will always be bespoke to that tenant.
It’s also important for tenants to understand that seeking advice and support is empowering and gives you the opportunity to take control of your financial situation, with our support.
What top 3 Money Advice tips would you give to tenants?
The top 3 tips I would give to anyone that’s struggling with their finances is…
- Prepare an income and expenditure statement – this means writing down what money you have coming into your home and then writing down what money you’re spending.
- After you have paid your priority bills such as rent, council tax, energy bills you should ask yourself whether you can make any cutbacks.
- If you know you cannot make ends meet or you’re falling into debt, immediately seek advice and support.
I still have questions, what do I do?
If you have any other questions, you can contact our Money Advice Team by calling into our Hub on 0345 60 20 540 and we’ll be able to refer you. You can also visit our Cost-of-Living webpage for more information about the support available.
