How we've helped people manage their rent

Miss T's story

Miss T was in supported accommodation after leaving hospital. She has a mental health condition and is in receipt of PIP and Employment Support Allowance (ESA).

At Miss T’s pre-tenancy check (as she was preparing to move into a Nottingham City Council home), we identified that her ESA payments did not include the Severe Disability Premium (SDP) which she should have been receiving. We explained how she could get her SDP added to her ESA claim, and advised her to ask for it to be backdated to the date she qualified, as there is no time limit on SDP payments.

As there was a break in Miss T’s housing benefit, we advised her to claim Universal Credit when they moved into their Nottingham City Council home and make a new claim for council tax support.  

We also made sure she was getting council tax support, and advised that we could help her apply to the Big Difference Scheme.

Miss T got her backdated SDP - a gain of £10,000

We then found that Universal Credit had failed to add SDP protection to the claim and liaised with Universal Credit – resulting in a further gain of £1560.

Mr F’s story

We supported an occupier, now the tenant, after his mother sadly passed away and succession was being considered. He claims Universal Credit but as he doesn’t have a mobile phone or bank or post office account, he gets paid via a voucher.

We helped him apply for council tax support and requested a backdate to the date of his mother’s death – which saw him gain £904.07. We also helped him make a successful application to the Big Difference Scheme, which reduced his water bill to £2.98 a month, and saved him £393.36.

We then helped Mr F apply for a discretionary housing payment as he is under-occupying, which gained £288.12.

Mr F turns pension age in February 2023, so we’ve advised him in which benefits he will then need to claim, and reminded him that we’ll be able to help with the new claims when he reached pension age.

We’ve set up an arrangement for him to repay arrears of £512.20; the arrears are now coming down.

The tenant was in a very difficult place financially and emotionally following his mother’s death and is now in a much better situation with his finances and his health.