Lucy, our Financial Inclusion Coach, can offer you friendly and confidential advice in the following areas:
- Ensuring you are getting all the benefits and income you are entitled to including assistance in applying for PIP/grants.
- Understanding changes to the benefits system, including Universal Credit.
- Helping you to prioritise how you spend your money to ensure you pay the most important bills first and don’t get into arrears.
- How to deal with debts and to help you manage your arrears, we’ll happily signpost to specialist agencies to assist.
- Getting the best deals on utility bills and phone contracts.
- Saving money and considering comparisons for affordable loans.
- How to avoid loan sharks, payday loans and high cost rent to own schemes for your essential items.
More tips and advice
Hear from one of our customers about their recent experience successfully appealing their PIP with help from Lucy:
Top tips from LucyThere is help and support available for you, and there are practical steps that you can take to improve your financial situation. Remember, small changes can have a big impact.
|
Ask Lucy
Do you have a question for our money advisor?
Our money advisor, Lucy, is available to our customers for advice about benefits, budgeting, accessing grants, and specialist advice organisations.
Have you got a question about your finances, money management or benefit entitlement? If so, ask Lucy here.
Dear Lucy, I'm concerned about the cost of energy bills this year. Should I switch energy suppliers to get a better deal?
On 1 January 2025, the Price Cap rose by 1% to £1,738 a year for a typical use household paying by Direct Debit. Though remember, it's the rates that are capped, so use more and you pay more.
The Price Cap changes every three months, in January, April, July and October.
It’s important to remember you have to pay to have access to energy even if you don't use it through what's known as the daily standing charge.
How does the Energy price cap work?
The Price Cap sets a limit on the maximum amount suppliers can charge for each unit of gas and electricity you use and sets a maximum daily standing charge (what you pay to have your home connected to the grid).
That means there's no upper limit to what you actually pay – if you use more energy, you'll pay more, use less and you'll pay less.
It only applies to providers' standard and default tariffs, so if you're on a fixed-term energy deal, the Cap doesn't apply.
If you've not switched in the last year or so, it's likely you're on a capped tariff.
What if I want to switch supplier to a different deal?
Switching is easy, it's the same gas, same electricity and same safety. Only the customer service and who bills you changes.
Go on a comparison web site but remember that not all sites have all deals so check different ones.
1. Enter your details – either directly with the supplier or on a comparison site.You'll usually need your address, current energy supplier and usage, how you pay and whether you want to compare dual-fuel, gas or electricity-only tariffs.
2. Consider your options – make sure you compare all tariffs on the market to get the best deal and remember to factor in things like exit fees, tariff length and type.
3. Switch! (Or not) – if you've found a better deal, you can switch online or over the phone. The new supplier will handle the whole process so there's no need to tell your old supplier. Though remember to take a meter reading just before your switch completes.
Which energy tariff is the right one for me?
Selecting a tariff can be confusing as there are a number to choose from that can be advantageous for different households. You can choose from...
Standard variable tariff. This is what most households are on and the rates you pay are set by Ofgem's Price Cap.
Fixed rate tariff. Offers a fixed price for each unit of energy and fixed standing charges for a certain length of time, so it protects you from rising prices, but if prices fall elsewhere, you could be locked in at a higher rate.
Prepayment energy tariff. This means you pay for what you use and can be topped up online, over the phone or at local shops.
Economy 7 tariffs. This comes with two rates, one for nighttime (off peak) usage, which is cheaper, and one for usage in the day (peak), which is more expensive. This helps encourage more nighttime usage, which is ideal if you have storage heaters.
It’s the New Year, so spend 15 minutes checking your energy bills, know what you spend and see if you can save.
Dear Lucy, I’m worried about spending too much money over Christmas and have even taking out credit that I know I can’t afford.
If you’ve struggled with the cost of winter or Christmas on top of the cost of living, there are things you can do:
- Check that you are receiving all the income and benefits you are entitled to. You can use an online benefit calculator or call Hafod and ask for a welfare benefit check.
- Have conversations now with your family and friends. Manage expectations and let them know that you’ll need to be a bit more frugal this year. Plus, they might be grateful you mentioned it, as they’re in the same position.
- Before you go shopping for Christmas food plan! Write out your shopping list, and check what you’ve already got in the house. For big groups, suggest a bring-and-share, where each person brings something, and no one has to spend a huge amount of money.
- If you have taken out credit, then pay everything back as soon as possible to reduce spending on borrowing. Look at the credit you’ve taken out. What’s costing the most in terms of interest? How much can you realistically pay back regularly? If possible, try and pay back more than the minimum payments to reduce how much you pay in the long-term.
If, when you’re looking at your finances, you realise that your debts are more than you can repay in a reasonable amount of time, and you need help and advice, don’t wait to seek free debt advice from Citizens Advice Bureau or Step Change debt charity – NEVER PAY FOR DEBT ADVICE.
Dear Lucy. I've had my application for Personal Independence Payment refused, I didn’t get any points! I have a health condition which makes me unsteady on my feet and I don’t understand why the assessor said I could cope. What can I do about this, do I have to make a new application?
You don’t need to make a new application. Before you can appeal to a tribunal, you’ll need to ask the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to look at the decision again. This is called mandatory reconsideration.
If the DWP didn’t change their decision when you asked them to look at it again, you can appeal to an independent panel, called a tribunal. The tribunal looks at the evidence from both sides, then makes a final decision. The tribunal is part of the court system - it’s not part of the DWP.
The appeal will look at whether the decision was right at the time it was made, they won’t consider whether your condition has got worse since then. To be allowed to appeal to a tribunal, you’ll need:
- your letter from the DWP with the words ‘Mandatory Reconsideration Notice’ at the top - if you’ve lost it, ask them for a new one
- to send your appeal form in within one month of the date shown on the mandatory reconsideration notice
To appeal use your decision letter, statement of reasons and medical assessment report to note each of the statements you disagree with and why. Give facts, examples, and medical evidence (if you have any) to support what you’re saying. You might have done this already for your mandatory reconsideration letter - if so, you can use the same examples and pieces of evidence again.
If you feel that they have not taken into account everything and the difficulties you have then it is always worth asking for a mandatory reconsideration or an appeal.
Dear Lucy. I’m a pensioner who has no savings. I have a small occupational pension and state pension and I'm really worried about heating my home. Can you help me?
There are many people in a similar situation to you, and rising energy costs is a big worry for everyone at the moment. You are not alone, and we are here to help in any way that we can.
First of all I would recommend you look into making sure you are getting all of the income you are entitled to. There are some really handy websites out there that you can use to check your benefits, like entitledto.co.uk. We have a friendly team of income coaches who are available to help and support you in finding the information you need. They are available to chat over the phone or face-to face.
Dear Lucy. I need the internet for my children so they can keep up with school work as well as keeping in touch with their friends but I can no longer afford the package that I was on.
It's important to know what date your contract is due to end, make a note of it so you can search for a better deal in plenty of time. There are lots of search providers out there but remember not all deals are on all sites, so make sure you know what you need before you accept an offer, broadband-only connection, or a phone and TV package included. Find out more about how a social tariff could help you.
Dear Lucy. I am behind with my council tax payments and don’t know what to do.
Council tax is a priority debt because the council has strong powers to make you pay. This means you should pay council tax before paying non-priority debts such as credit cards or unsecured loans. Depending on your circumstances, you may be entitled to a reduction to, or discount on, your council tax bill. This could mean that you do not have to pay all, or part, of your council tax bill.
Dear Lucy. I’ve recently lost my job as a carer and I'm struggling to make ends meet. I’ve got three kids at home and I haven't always got enough food to feed them. I feel like I'm failing both in work and at home, can you help me? I don't know who to turn to.
I'm so sorry to hear that you have lost your job. I meet many people in your situation and the first two pieces of advice I always give are; firstly, check if you are entitled to benefits, and secondly, is there a way to reduce your household expenditure whilst you are going through this difficult period? There are grants available that you may be entitled to which will support you with things like childcare costs and school uniform. If you are struggling with food you can access your local food bank. We can also provide you with a food bank voucher to give you access to food in an emergency situation. Our income coaches can also help signpost you to agencies that can help get you back into work and we have a number of vacancies available.
Dear Lucy. I've heard a lot about people having to move to Universal Credit. I get Employment and Support Allowance and Child Tax Credits as I have a daughter, will I have to go on Universal Credit?
What you've heard about is called managed migration. Managed migration is the process where claimants on existing means tested benefits and tax credits – known as the legacy benefits – are told these benefits are ending and are asked to claim Universal Credit instead.
Up until recently, managed migration only applied to people getting tax credits and no other legacy benefits. However, the Department of Work and Pensions is now sending managed migration notices to claimants on other benefits. These will be issued:
- to claimants on income support and those getting tax credits with housing benefit from April 2024
- to claimants on housing benefit only from June 2024
- to claimants on income-related employment and support allowance in combination with child tax credit from July 2024
- to pension aged claimants (including mixed aged couples) of tax credits from August 2024
- to claimants on income-based jobseeker’s allowance from September 2024
The Department of Work and Pensions expects that all claimants in these groups will have been migrated onto Universal Credit by March 2025.
Disabled adults who are getting Income-related Employment and Support Allowance only or income related Employment Support Allowance in combination with housing benefit will be migrated slightly later. It is expected that the first claimants in this group will be migrated from autumn 2024 onwards, with the last claimants sent migration notices by December 2025.