Help with budgeting and the cost of living
If you’ve missed a payment or think you might – we’re here to help you.
On this page, you’ll find information about how to maintain an effective budget and find support with the cost of living. This could be useful if you’re worried about falling behind with your mortgage payments, or if you’re already struggling.
With the cost of living rising, it’s normal to be concerned about money and debt. If you’re tying to carefully manage your finances, setting a realistic budget can be a great first step to help you stay in control.
As part of your budget, make a list of your debts and work out which ones are highest priority, and which are less important to you. For most people, it makes sense to pay essential expenses and priority debts such as your mortgage or rent, before any non-essential expenses or lower priority debts.
There are some useful resources available to help you build a sensible budget and find help with the cost of living. We’ve listed some below.
If you’re worried about the rising cost of living, you’re not alone.
Our partners PayPlan have developed BudgetSmart to help. You can use it to look at what you may be struggling to afford and use the tools and tips provided to help you cut costs.
It has information and tips covering car and home insurance, food, clothes and shoes, utility bills and much more. BudgetSmart could help you save money.
There’s also a benefits calculator you can use to check if you may be missing out on anything you’re entitled to.
MoneyHelper (formerly the Money Advice Service) provide free, clear and unbiased advice to help you make the most of your money.
Their will help you to know exactly where your money is being spent, and how much you’ve got coming in.
The MoneyHelper website contains a huge range of resources that could also be useful for you – such as dedicated section about the rising cost of living.
StepChange is a registered charity offering free, confidential advice and support to anyone who is worried about debt.
Their website has a section focused on making a budget. This contains hints, tips, FAQs and a clear list of steps to help you get started.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has launched a cost of living support campaign entitled Help for Households. Its website contains information in relation to:
- Income support – where you can find out what benefits and financial support you may be able to get.
- Energy saving tips – things you can do at home to reduce the amount of energy you use and save money.
- Help with childcare costs – where you can check eligibility for a certain number of hours of free childcare, whether you’re able to claim back childcare costs already paid for and/or apply for free school meals / national breakfast clubs.
- Housing support – where you can find more information about the Government’s Cost of Living payments, council tax support, housing benefit support and help with water, phone and broadband bills.
- Help with transport – which outlines what support options exist when using public transport.
- Help finding work – where you can search and apply for jobs across a range of industries across the UK through the Government’s Find a Job website.
It also lists discounts and offers that are available from businesses that are looking to help with the cost of living.
Talk to us about your situation
Discussing money problems isn’t easy, but we have lots of experience helping customers who are having difficulties making payments and we’ll try to help you in any way we can.
Please note, this page contains links to external websites. We are not responsible for the content of external websites.