After the holidays, January can seem like a very long month. If you’re finding it hard to make payments or cover costs, then there are lots of people who can help.
Visit entitledto.co.uk use their ‘benefits calculator’ to see if you can get any benefits, or if you are already claiming, to make sure you’re getting as much as you can: www.entitledto.co.uk
You may be able to use some benefits to help pay your bills (including rent, service charges, gas, electricity or water bills). You should contact your Jobcentre Plus with details of who you owe and how much, your customer reference number (for bills) and your National Insurance number.
You can find more information about this here: www.gov.uk/bills-benefits
You can also:
- call your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB) – find your local CAB here: www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/how-we-provide-advice/advice/search-for-your-local-citizens-advice/
- call your local Shelter Advisor – find your local Shelter Advisor here: england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_services_directory
- call StepChange. They provide free help to deal with debt – find out more about StepChange here: www.stepchange.org
- call Christians Against Poverty (CAP). They also provide free help to deal with debt. CAP is free for everyone, it doesn’t matter what religion you are or personal beliefs that you have – find out more about CAP here: capuk.org
- call PayPlan. They also offer free help to get you out of debt – find out more about PayPlan here: www.payplan.com
If you currently, or previously worked for the civil service or organisation sponsored by the government, or have retired from this, you may be able to get help from The Charity.
The Charity offer support with a lot of things, to find out more and to see if you may be able to get some help from them, visit their page here: www.foryoubyyou.org.uk/apply-help
