I'm going insane with worry

[Diamondsareforever123]

I just don't know where to turn. I'm a pensioner of 68. I get state pension and small work pension. Takes me just over limit for UC. I'm on about £14k a year. I live in a social housing flat. I can't afford the fuel bills at the moment and am terrified that from next April the lot will increase. That's rent, council tax, fuel, water rates - obviously food will increase. I'm not going to have enough money to cover all of this. I'm in my own. What in god's name am I going to do? I think I'll have to get a job but who is going to employ me now? I am in a major panic.

Yes so that the government stop having to pay for all the extras no doubt and get people off means tested benefits !

Plenty of restaurants and cafes looking for servers or workers over lunch or breakfast shifts. 68 isn't too old to work some hours.

On that income, you should still qualify for housing benefit of £41.48pw, and council tax credit of £2.28pw. Please make a claim ASAP.

If you have been wrongly turned down before, I suggest contacting your local council, as they usually have benefits advisors who can help with your claim. You ARE entitled to, please don't take no for an answer. 💐

My local Dunelm was advertising for people to work in the cafe.

Have you applied for housing benefit and council tax benefits? You shouldn't have to pay the whole amounts of these now.

OP please make yourself an appointment with Citizens advice and they will help you review your income and expenditure. They will look for where savings can be made and check your eligibility for benefits and help you to apply.

Do you have a water meter or at least get a single household discount?

@NannyGythaOgg I would love to have a SS like this if you would be able to send?

OP - it might depend where you are but I am north-west and there is a very real need for EAL teachers. Syrian and Ukrainian refugees need support but there are increasing numbers of children from other parts of the world as well. You could also offer your services through the many tutoring platforms that exist as well as contacting any local language schools.

Oh, and forgot to say, loads of tutoring is online these days. You just need a Zoom subscription or Teams or Skype. All easy to use.

Thanks again everyone for your useful suggestions. I have been on a variety of online calculators regards financial assistance and I am eligible for nothing apart from a reduction in CT, which I will apply to via my local authority. The benefits system in this country is very mean. I don't understand how people with kids survive if they are on benefits because they can't be getting very much at all. It's subsistence money. I will get the heating payment in December. Thanks again.

Best wishes to you, Diamonds.
Have you thought about any of the money-making suggestions people have offered? Is there anything that appeals to you?

I don't understand this at all. When I run a benefit check using £1274/mo and a rent of £100 per week, there is an entitlement to HB and CTB.

This

Is the reduction in Council tax backdated as you may get some back from overpaying if you are due a reduction

OP how much do you spend on energy? In a one bed flat, it should be well below the price cap level, which is typical of what it would cost in a 2-3 bed house. Is there anything you can do to reduce your usage? You could also apply for extra grants if you qualify due to financial hardship.

If you can get a bit of work that will help enormously, even if it's only a few hours a week. Also have a look at Moneysaving Expert. Loads of information about extra financial help, ways to warm you up without using heating, and ways to make extra bits of money, eg change your bank account for £1-200 each time. People do this several times, you just have to be organised to remember which banks you've used, but you could probably make £1000 in a year or two by just doing that every few months.

Have a look at:

www.moneysavingexpert.com/energy/

and also get the weekly email for ongoing pointers to increasing your income and reducing your costs.

user374698 If you applie for CTax relief I don’t believe it can be backdated more than 3 months. Unlike other reasons for reducing ctax in different ways

OP, don't forget that from next April your state pension will increase by nearly £20 pw, so that will help. NMW is also going up to £10.42, so even if you only worked 5 hours a week, you could end up with around £300 pm extra compared with what you have coming in now.

Oh, that doesn't sound very good then, I was hoping that OP might get more than that back.

You didn't include rent

@crazycatladyof6 my post just below that explained that she is entitled to housing benefit.

wont you get a warm home discount of £300?

I don't understand why so many people think the OP is entitled to HB but she has been told she isn't by multiple sources, so this definitely needs investigating properly. I thought people above pension age who rented were entitled unless they had a higher income due to working or private pension?

From that budget list posted by @daffodilandtulip £250 pm for energy for a single person in a one bed flat should be a significant overestimate, so something else to look at? Water and council tax should also be well below the amounts suggested.

TV licence isn't an essential unless you want to watch live TV and/or use the BBC iplayer. If you're not bothered about these, you could cut costs a little by taking something like basic Netflix instead.

But without the OP posting actual figures, it's all speculation anyway.

Yes I was purposely overestimating figures to show that she would still have spare money and be entitled to housing.

This is dangerous advice. Your council will take you to court, and you will end up with bailiffs or attachment of benefits

They might well take you to court but the end result will be that you are paying something towards it so they won't order you to pay the full amount, especially if you can show via your ingoings and outgoings that you genuinely cannot afford it.

An attachment of benefits order will only be a small amount.

Bailiffs cannot force entry for council tax debt, so there is nothing they can do if you don't let them in.