News

When it comes to managing your money, we know it can be hard to know where to start – that’s why we’re here to help.  Taking the time to manage your money better can help you stay on top of bills and help you to save some extra pennies for a rainy day.

We know life isn’t straight forward, and things don't always go to plan, so if you're experiencing difficulties paying your rent, please let us know as soon as you can - we’re here to support you. Don’t forget we have plenty of online resources dedicated to money management. Let’s go through a few of them!

 

Government benefits calculator

Since the removal of the £20 Universal Credit uplift in October, we know many of our tenants rely on universal credit to pay their bills and may feel anxious or worried about the future. If you’re struggling to make ends meet you can use the Government benefits calculator to help you work out what financial help you may be entitled to. As always, we’re here to support you and can talk through the options available.

 

Housing Benefit

Housing Benefit is available to people who are unemployed or in low-paid employment to help them pay their rent. If you qualify for Housing Benefit, it’s important that you claim this as soon as you can. Any entitlement will start from the day you submit your claim.

To find out if you are eligible to make a claim, please contact your local authority - you’ll need to provide them with all the information they need to help assess your needs.

 

Additional financial support

In special circumstances, local authorities can make a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) for extra support with your rent. This can help if the amount you receive from Universal Credit or Housing Benefit is not enough to cover your rent.

If you have rent debt that is preventing you from moving to a more affordable home, or you want to move but can’t afford the rent deposit, rent in advance or moving costs, your local authority may be able to help.

Each application is assessed based on individual circumstances – to find out more visit your local authority’s website.

 

Benefit cap

The benefit cap is a limit on the total amount of benefit income you receive.  If your benefit package exceeds this cap, your Housing Benefit payment will go down and the amount of benefits you receive will not be more than the cap level.

If you're already receiving Universal Credit, the reduction will be taken from the housing element (not the childcare element). You can use the benefit cap calculator to help you estimate how much money you may lose – if you are a pensioner, you will not be affected.

 

Bedroom tax

Bedroom tax (also known as removal of the spare room subsidy or under occupancy charge) is a change to the Housing Benefit. It means your payment for housing will be reduced if you have any spare rooms in your home. This will affect you if you’re between 16 and 66 years old.

If you have one spare room in your home, the benefit, on which your housing payment is calculated, will be reduced by 14%. You can find out more about bedroom tax here.

 

Alternative support

We hope this helped shed some light on the options available to you. For more information and guidance head over to the Your Rent page of our website and if you need someone to talk through the options with you, head over to the Tenancy Support page.

And of course, there’s plenty more help out there if you need it. Check out these helpful resources:

 

Advice Guide - online money help from the Citizens Advice.

StepChange Debt Charity - a registered charity offering free, confidential advice and support to anyone who is worried about debt.

Shelter – Help and guidance on dealing with rent arrears