A financial support officer at Origin, tells how helping Mr J clear his rent arrears and move to a smaller home eased the impact of the cost of living crisis.
"Mr J has long term ill health and he was relying on disability and housing benefits. He was struggling to make rent payments and arrears were accumulating. Additionally, as he lived alone in his two-bedroom home be was having to pay bedroom tax.
"We have supported him over a substantial period, helping him through the process of making several Discretionary Housing Payment claims to meet the Housing Benefit shortfall. This helped him to ultimately clear his arrears before we supported him to find a suitable smaller property and to move home.
"During our support we were also able to access shopping and medical expenses vouchers to relieve some financial pressure which allowed him to focus on ensuring his rent account remained positive and to work towards his move."
