How we've helped
Alan
I got in touch with my housing officer because I was struggling a bit financially.
They linked me up with Paul from Money Matters who looked into my income and noticed that I wasn’t receiving the state pension, even though I’m 72.
I didn’t claim state pension years ago because I carried on working past the age of 65 and I was worried about being taxed too much.
Paul spoke to the Department of Work and Pensions for me, and it turned out that I was entitled to backdated payments which added up to £27,705. I couldn’t believe it, this is lifechanging for me.
Mr Smith
I’d worked for myself for years but had to stop working because of health problems.
I was really worried about loosing my home because of bedroom tax. I love my home and I really wanted to stay.
When I spoke to Diane, she explained that I wouldn’t need to pay the bedroom tax once I was claiming state pension, and I was only 1 year away from that.
Diane was brilliant, she helped me with my claim for PIP and DHP to pay for bedroom tax until I started getting state pension.
She kept in touch with me and then helped me with my claim for state pension, pension credit and housing benefit.
There’s no way that I could have sorted out all these claims without Diane, it’s just too confusing.
With the reduction in Council tax and all these benefits I’m now £31k better off – which I can’t actually believe!
Miss Hall
I was in a pretty bad situation and was about to be evicted from my home because I hadn’t been able to pay my rent for quite a long time.
I had lots for other issues going on in my life and was really struggling to cope.
Diane and the income team really helped me out when I needed it most.
Because of my personal situation, they help me move to a new home in a different area. I didn’t have any furniture at all, so they sorted that out for me as well.
Diane is still supporting me, setting up agreements to cover my debts and helping me with budget planning. I’m just really glad that I explained everything to the team at Money Matters and that they have given me this support.
Mrs Sharma
Universal Credit had taken too much money from us one month and it didn’t leave us with enough money for food and bills.
The income team put me in touch with Shelley from Money Matters, she came to our house and sat with me for 2 hours while I explained that we had moved to the UK 3 years ago from Afghanistan. I struggled with English and knowing how to set everything up which meant I’d fallen into debt with Council tax, Yorkshire Water and British Gas.
Shelley was amazing, she helped us sort out the issue with Universal Credit and set up all our utility bills and make payment plans. For the first time we felt that the pressure has been lifted off us.
Hayley
I have lots of debt and didn’t want to speak to anyone at Incommunities because I just thought they would take my home off me.
Matthew from Money Matters and Dawn my Housing Officer came to see me quite a few times because they knew that I was struggling with lots of different things.
One of the main things was that I didn’t have any heating because my gas had been cut off because of the debt. Matthew and Dawn spoke to British Gas and got the meter turned back on and debt was cleared. It just made a massive difference to me.
Matthew is still helping me to try and clear my other debts and sort out a budgeting plan.
Ms Johnson
My mum lives in one of Incommunities’ retirement living buildings. She’s vulnerable, disabled and has carers in twice a day.
I got in touch with the Money Matters team on her behalf to see if there were any other benefits that she could be claiming.
Sara spoke to me about applying for attendance allowance, but I told her that we had tried applying before and it was declined.
Sara said she thought it was worth trying again and she helped us with the application.
I couldn’t believe it when we were given the higher rate attendance allowance of £108 a week and we also received the severe disability premium from pension credit of £81.50 a week. So, in total an extra £190.05 a week and it’s all because of Sara’s help!
Mr Wagstaff
I didn’t even realise that I’d fallen behind with my bills and rent because I’ve started to suffer with dementia and was struggling with all the letters coming through my door.
Diane from Money Matters came to see me and asked if I would like her to help me.
She looked at what support I was entitled to and put some claims in for state pension Housing benefit and pension credit.
When it all came through my debt was cleared and i’m now getting £17,732 per year. Which means I can actually afford to live. I’m just so grateful for the support.
Stock photos have been used for these case studies and names have been changed.