A sad case needing our help

We were approached for help for a young man, 22 years old, who has recently taken over the tenancy of his Mum’s house, following her death earlier this year.  This young man has been given a catalogue of incorrect advice, and by places that should know better, which has resulted in him not having the financial support he should have been receiving.  He has ended up in terrible debt, which is awful for someone so young.  He is also a single parent, having been granted custody by the courts of his young 2 year old son, with the mother not being allowed access at all to the child.  He has been receiving no financial assistance regarding his son, as he’d been advised to stop his income support claim and claim universal credit instead, which triggered a stop in his child tax credits payments.  They are trying to exist on £53 per week.  Our agents are helping him get all the correct benefits back in place, and they are assisting him too with the council as he’s fallen behind with his bedroom tax payments, but in fact he should have been given 12 months grace following the death of his mother.  He has had an awful lot to deal with in the past 10 months.

We agreed to send across to him £150 for him and his son, so they are able to buy some food and essential items.  He’d had to borrow the money to buy a postage stamp so he could send off some evidence to the DWP for his universal credit claim.