What help can I get to pay my rent?

QI have had my hours at work reduced and will struggle to pay my rent. My local council advises that I am not entitled to housing benefit. Is there any help available to help me with my rent etc?

Housing benefit for most new claimants (there are a few exceptions for pension aged couples or people living with a disability) was abolished following the introduction of Universal Credit (UC).

Universal Credit, a benefit made up of several elements which includes help with rent, can be claimed at https://www.gov.uk/ apply-universal-credit.

If you would like support to make a claim, contact us at Citizens Advice and a member of our team will help you through our ‘Help to ‘Claim’ service.

During this appointment you will be offered a full benefit check to establish whether you have any further benefit entitlement, e.g. should you be entitled to UC for help towards your rent you are also likely to qualify for help with your council tax costs.

QMy Mum is 79. Now the weather is getting really cold, can she get any help towards her fuel bills.

There are two main schemes for older people that help with fuel costs. The first is Winter Fuel Payment. You need to be born on or before April 5,1954, and you can be eligible for £100 to £300 depending on your situation.

If you are receiving a State Pension you should get this automatically, but if you don’t receive it, make sure you apply before 31st March 2020.

The other scheme is Warm Home Discount. This is a credit of £140 from your electricity supplier.

You should get this automatically if you are in receipt of the Guarantee Element of Pension Credit, but other people on low income may be entitled too.

Each supplier has its own scheme so check with them. The funds for this are limited so make sure you get your application in early!

Your mum should let her supplier know if she has any health problems so that they can make sure she gets extra help, for example if there is a power cut. This is called the Priority Services Register. Ask the supplier about this.

It would also be worth checking with the local authority for some advice about making sure her house is energy efficient. If you need help making sure you are on the cheapest energy tariff you might find our totally independent comparison site at https://energycompare.citizensadvice.org.uk.

QI have run out of credit on my electicity meter. What can I do?

If you’ve run out of credit and need gas or electricity urgently contact your supplier to ask for temporary extra credit.

You’ll need to pay this back when you next top up. If you have a prepayment meter because you’re repaying a debt to your supplier, you can ask them to reduce the amount you repay each week.

Your energy supplier might agree to give you temporary credit if you’ve run out of gas or electricity.

Tell them about your situation, including your income and anyone you look after, so they know why you need temporary credit.

You’ll need to pay this credit back next time you top up. If you need temporary credit, ask for it as soon as you can - some suppliers will need to send someone to put money on your meter.

If you owe money to your supplier, you’ll pay back a bit of the debt each time you top up your meter. For example, if you top up by £10, £5 of that might go to paying back your debt, leaving you with £5 of credit. Tell your supplier if you can’t afford this.

Ask them to reduce the amount you pay back each time you top up.

Your supplier has to take into account how much you can afford, so tell them if anything has changed since you first agreed your repayments. For example, if your income has decreased.

Tell your supplier if you use electricity for heating.

Some suppliers add up heating separately. Unless you mention your electric heating, they might reduce the amount you pay back on the rest of your electricity, but leave your heating repayments the same.

If you run out of credit you’ll build up extra debt to your supplier, for example by using emergency credit. Next time you top up you’ll pay this back straight away.

If it feels like you’re running out of credit too quickly, this extra debt could be the problem.

Ask your supplier to let you pay it off weekly rather than in one go.

Try to top up with more money than usual after running out of credit. This will stop your credit from running out too quickly because of the extra debt.

The chief executive of BANES Citizens Advice, Leslie Redwood, tackles your problems.