The contact with us for help this week has been very full on. The following are just some of the cases that we have actioned payments to in the past couple of days.
A mother of four children, her second youngest being 11 months and the youngest 2 weeks old. She is unable to claim any child benefit for the two youngest as she already has two older children, due to the new regulations. As there is a large gap in ages between her older children and the youngest ones she is having to start all over again with equipment, clothes, etc and is struggling. We sent her some money to help her out until her next Universal Credit payment is due.
A man continuing to suffer with the consequences of treatment he received for cancer as a child is unable to buy food or top up his energy meters, so we sent him a small amount to tide him over. Another case of a man who’d had a stroke and desperately needed some way of being able to contact people as he didn’t have a landline, nor a mobile phone. We sent him £50 to purchase a phone and top it up with some credit.
A mother and her 5 children, that as a family fled a domestic violence situation to her mother’s house. The home was way overcrowded and the older boys were displaying aggressive behaviour at home and at school which was felt to be a hangover from the domestic violence situation. A home has been found for them all of their own, but the mother needed help to hire a man with a van to move her furniture over to their new home.
A couple which having separated for a while, got back together and submitted a joint claim for Universal Credit. While they’d been apart they had acrued debt with the DWP who decided to claw it back from their next UC payment, leaving them with nothing to live on. An appeal has been made to the DWP to reduce some of their debt repayments, which has helped for future payments going forward. We sent the family, they and their young daughter money to buy some food.
Another case was that of a military veteran that had served in Iraq, part of what he did involved work with IEDs. This has left him with PTSD and has meant he just struggles through each day. His son was due to come and stay with him but he didn’t have enough money for food. Our agents supplied him and his son with a food voucher, but he also needed to submit an application for Employment Support Allowance. His poor mental health meant that the form was filled in so badly they had to redo it for him and contact his doctor for support. Our clients wanted to know if we could help with the cost of the doctor writing a letter which interpreted his mental state to support his ESA application, which we agreed to do.
An elderly man in receipt of pension credit is in a lot of debt, so much so that the DWP are making deductions on his pension credit. He is recovering from cancer treatment and has had three heart attacks and a mental breakdown. The debt and the deductions are causing him extra anxiety as he can’t afford to buy food or top up his energy meters, so we sent him £100 so he could do that.
Finally, for now, a lady who has suffered with domestic violence for years. She has managed to leave the situation but this has impacted her working situation so much so that she has been suspended from work, due to her home situation, and has been on statutory sick pay. This has had a knock on on her finances, and she has been left with a lot of debts which she is trying to resolve. We sent her £120 to buy food and top up her energy meters, to last her until her next UC payment next month.