cost of living - helping to ease the stress for customers

As the rising cost of living continues to affect most UK households, we know many people are worried about their finances and could see their mental health and general wellbeing suffer as a result.

Specialist teams at believe housing can support customers with free, confidential, and impartial help with money management and looking for employment.

We’re offering extra support to help customers and communities this winter, from grants to advice about to managing bills and keeping homes warm, lots of which can be found on our website.

And if customers are facing mental health problems, or suffering abuse or loneliness, we are here to listen, provide support and work with other specialist services to get the support needed.

One customer we spoke to recently was clearly struggling with his mental health, so a member of staff who is trained to support people experiencing suicidal thoughts was able put measures in place to help.

He was contacted immediately by our Money Matters team and the next day we visited him at home to offer initial advice, which gave him reassurance and reduced his anxiety.

Money Matters Coordinator Lynda Monaghan found out a claim had been made against him at County Court. He couldn’t face dealing with agencies on the phone.

We were able to contact the claimant, have the claim withdrawn and get an affordable arrangement in place so he can pay off the debt.

Affordable direct debits were set up to pay his utilities bills and TV licence, we arranged for his £400 cost of living payment to be taken from his electricity bill and he was placed on the Priority Services Register so those companies will support him in future.

“I have mental health problems and was very low when I spoke to someone at believe housing.

“They’ve helped in a few ways and taken away some of the additional stress that was making me feel so low,” he said.