Turn2us: Help with the Cost of Living

Your financial health check

Struggling to pay bills and other everyday costs of living? Find out what help may be available to you through benefits, grants and other sources of support.

This financial health check will help you get control of your budget but won’t help if you’re in an emergency. If you are in an emergency situation, use our Emergency Information guide to get yourself stable, then come back to this plan.

Step One: Maximise your income 

Benefits

You may be entitled to benefits, depending on your situation.

To check what benefits you might be entitled to quickly and easily, you can use the Turn2us Benefits Calculator.

The Benefits Calculator mainly calculates means-tested benefits. Depending on your circumstances, there might be extra benefits you can claim.

Depending on your situation, you may find the following information pages helpful:

Charitable grants

Help may be available to you through a charitable grant and other help, depending on your background, circumstances and needs.

To find out what help may be available from grant-giving charities, you can use the Turn2us Grants Search

Money from local councils (England, Scotland, Wales)

Help may be available through your local council, such as  local welfare assistance schemes, depending on your circumstances and where you live in the UK.

Local councils have been given money through the Household Support Fund. Councils may have used this  money to extend the reach of their welfare assistance schemes or set up additional schemes for people in need in their area.

Councils in England, Scotland and Wales have also been given money to provide £150 to all Council Tax payers in bands A-D. People who pay Council Tax by direct debit will get this automatically. Otherwise, you may need to apply. Keep an eye on your council’s website to check for updates (see council finder link in the first paragraph of this section).

Money for people in Northern Ireland

We don’t have any information about whether people in Northern Ireland will receive any equivalent of Council Tax rebates or other help with the cost of living.

Northern Ireland introduced a energy costs support scheme to help people on low incomes on certain benefits during the winter 2021-2022 and has a emergency fuel payment scheme.  See NI Direct: Energy Costs Support Schemes for more information.

The NI Direct website may have more information on help available if you live in Northern Ireland.

 

To continue reading, please click here

 

Related Posts