Terminally ill client facing pressure from creditors

The Problem

Mrs X is terminally ill with 2 teenage children. She is separated from her husband and has been too ill to work for some years The separation from her husband last year caused huge financial difficulties for her. She needed help with her debts, which had reached approx. £13,500 and she also needed assistance to apply for benefits as a single parent. She was already in receipt of the highest rate of disability benefit and also Employment and Support Allowance.  She receives Child benefit and Child Tax credit for her youngest child, who still qualifies for these.

Our Intervention

We helped Mrs X with successful applications for full housing benefit and council tax support to a combined annual value of just over £8,000, She was also awarded backdated housing benefit of just over £2,000. We drew up a Financial Statement with her, approached her creditors on her behalf, and, to date, have managed to have nearly £11,000 of her debts written off. We prevented her creditors from putting her under any unnecessary pressure.

Mrs X used our home visiting service as she is far too ill to come into the bureau. Without this service she would have been unable to access this assistance. The work took numerous visits over several months and is still ongoing.

The Outcome

Mrs X was extremely grateful for this practical assistance and is very happy that her debts have reduced and benefits increased; as the stress was having a very negative impact on her already fragile health.