SUPPORTING YOU WITH THE COST OF LIVING CRISIS
With escalating energy prices, rising food costs and soaring household bills, we know times are incredibly tough at the moment.
We’re working closely with our partners and support organisations across Salford to do all we can to help ease the cost of living crisis for our customers.
If you are worried about your finances and struggling to cope, please don’t suffer in silence as we have dedicated teams and services in place to support you.
Read on to find out more about some of the ways we can help…
Struggling financially? Contact our Income Management Team.
Our Income Management Team are here to provide advice and support to those who are worried about their finances and struggling to pay their rent and bills.
From ensuring our tenants are claiming the benefits they’re entitled to, to giving out food vouchers and assisting people to apply for additional funding, our dedicated officers are on hand to help people who are experiencing financial difficulties.
During the past year alone, the team has helped secure an additional £116,542 in benefits for our customers.
Sharon Simmonds, our Income Manager, said: “All of these financial pressures have hit at the same time and people are worried about how they will heat their homes or put food on the table.
“If you’re worried, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us. We can provide advice and support, and we can refer you to specialist agencies if it is something we cannot help directly with.
“People may be nervous to get in touch, but the main thing is to not suffer in silence and let your debts and worries mount up around you. We really are here to help and will do everything that we can to ease financial hardship.”
Here’s just some of the ways we can help you:
Discretionary Housing Payment: We can assist customers in receipt of Housing Benefit or Universal Credit to apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment from Salford City Council. This is an extra amount of money to help pay your rent.
Customer Support Fund: We can help tenants experiencing a crisis situation. If you are having difficulty paying your rent or other bills and expenses, we can help you to apply for support up to £500.
Food assistance: We can issue vouchers for our tenants to access community food banks in an emergency.
Fuel top-ups: If you’re on a pre-payment meter and struggling to top up your gas or electricity, we can provide emergency top-up vouchers for eligible customers.
Income and expenditure assessments: We will carry out an assessment with you, to make sure you are claiming all the benefits that you’re entitled to.
Challenge benefit decisions: If an error has been made, we can support you to challenge the decision and claim any money you’re entitled to.
Contact our Income Management Team on 0800 2182000 or email enquiries@salixhomes.co.uk
Furnish your home – for free
The cost of furnishing a home can be a big expense and one that many people struggle to afford.
If you’re struggling with the cost of buying essential furniture or appliances for your home, or can’t afford replacements if they’re broken, then we can refer you to our Furniture Recycling Scheme.
The scheme provides pre-loved furniture, household items and white goods free of charge to our customers who need them the most.
We have a well-stocked warehouse of good quality, clean, furniture and homeware that has either been donated or has been left behind by a tenant who has moved out.
We can supply items like sofas, beds, tables, drawers and white goods like fridges, freezers and washing machines.
Find out more on our website:
Stay connected – for free
We can provide free mobile data for customers on low incomes.
We know that the cost of topping up your mobile phone or paying for wi-fi is an added expense that some people can’t afford at the moment.
With so many essential activities now done digitally on smartphones and computers, we want to help ensure our customers aren’t left disadvantaged or socially excluded by not having access to the internet.
We’re part of the National Databank scheme, and can provide free sim cards, pre-loaded with data, for eligible customers.
Help with fuel bills
Tenants could be able to access vouchers to help towards the cost of fuel.
Following our recent regeneration project on the Poets estate in Swinton, we have secured additional funding from our partner contractor, which will be used to benefit the community.
With the growing cost-of-living crisis, we’re distributing the funds to help our customers with the cost of fuel.
Check if you’re eligible for pension ‘top up’
Older people are missing out on thousands of pounds in unclaimed pension credit – could you be one of them?
Pension credit is a benefit designed to bring the weekly income of pensioners up to a minimum amount. But in Salford alone, it's estimated there's over £6.3million of pension credit currently unclaimed.
In addition to extra income, receiving pension credit also unlocks other financial benefits such as a free TV licence for over 75s, council tax support and grants for insulation and other green home improvements.
We’re urging our older customers to get in touch so we can check if you’re eligible for any additional income.
Get in touch to see how we can help you. Call: 0800 2182000 Email: enquiries@salixhomes.co.uk My Salix: www.mysalix.co.uk
Here to help
As the cost of living crisis grows, we’ll continue to support our customers where they need it most.
We’re also working closely with Salford Council and other partner agencies to provide additional help and support where it’s needed.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for more details about the latest support available.
We now have a dedicated support section on our new website where you can find out more about the support we have on offer, including information on what our partners and other local community services in Salford are doing to help, such as:
- Food banks and low-cost food pantries
- Family support including free baby essentials like nappies and formula
- Health and wellbeing - from help to quit smoking to accessing mental health support
- Salford Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB)
- Salford Credit Union
Salford Council has also launched an online Cost of Living hub where you can access more information about the Spirit of Salford initiative and the help that is available across the city.
Energy support from the Government
The Government has introduced a number of measures to support people amid the spiralling cost of energy prices and household bills.
The Energy Price Guarantee will reduce the unit cost of electricity and gas for all households in the UK by placing a cap on the amount people can be charged. This will remain in place until April 2023.
There is also a £400 energy bill discount available as part of the Energy Bills Support Scheme to help people with their energy bills over the winter months.
Keep an eye on the Help for Households website for more information about Government support available, including help with other household costs, childcare costs, transport and finding work.
AWAITING COPY - Energy Safety article
Rise construction framework grants available
Rise Construction Framework, a business who believe in giving back to the community, have given us a pot of money so that we can help some of our tenants who are struggling with rising energy costs.
This is short term support for people who are in a crisis and need help obtaining an emergency supply of gas or electric for their household. To receive the support tenants would need to provide supporting evidence by answer questions on their income and household circumstances. Each support request will be assessed on the information provided. The amount given will be awarded via a voucher, or payment directly to a smart metre.