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A Guide to Getting Financial Assistance

10 – 17  minutes to read

In this guide

  1. Introduction
  2. Priority Bills
  3. Help with paying Council Tax
  4. Help with paying Rent
  5. Help with paying Utility Bills
  6. Other Bills
  7. Grant Aid
  8. Getting Help

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See also

You may also want to read our free guidance on claiming Universal Credit.

Click here

1. Introduction

Moving into and maintaining a property comes with its own set of costs. Rent, Council Tax, utility bills, not to mention furnishings and the smaller maintenance jobs that become your responsibility.

How do you cope financially when you have spent all of your money on deposits, insurance and other permitted expenses?

Thankfully, some help is available.

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2. Priority Bills

If you are experiencing financial problems, you must first identify your priority household bills. If you are struggling with paying your priority and utility bills, you may be underemployed and/or receiving a low income. 

Your priority housing-related bills would be:

  • Council Tax
  • Rent
  • Electricity
  • Gas, where applicable

Priority bills are considered to be priority because of the serious consequences if they are not paid.

  • If you fail to pay your Council Tax bill, you can face a fine, Court Proceedings, bankruptcy and even imprisonment (although this is very rare)
  • If you fail to pay your rent, you could face Possession Proceedings being brought against you by your landlord and even eviction, leading to homelessness
  • Failing to pay your energy bills can lead to being disconnected and deductions being made from your benefit entitlement.

So you always need to give these bills top priority. 

However, do not ignore non-priority creditors. Contact them, explain your financial position and ask them to agree an affordable temporary payment arrangement. If you have several debts, obtain free debt advice before deciding how much to pay each creditor.

Non-priority debts include

  • Credit card or store cards – here you can just pay the minimum sum and leave paying off the main loan until your finances are in better shape
  • Loans and overdrafts – just pay sufficient so that you are not penalised
  • Loans to friends and family – although you may feel a moral debt to clear these as soon as possible, you should avoid doing this until you have covered your priority debts.

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3. Help with paying Council Tax

Although there is normally no specific Grant Aid available for Council Tax debts, you may be entitled to one or more of the following:

  • A single person’s discount, if you are residing alone: Click here
  • A Council Tax reduction if you are in receipt of income-related benefits: Click here
  • a person with a severe mental impairment may be disregarded for Council Tax purposes;
  • a property adapted for a disabled resident may qualify for the disabled band reduction;
  • councils can make discretionary reductions under section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 in cases of exceptional hardship.

These reductions in your Council Tax liability can be applied for through your Local Authority Council Tax Department.   It is worth approaching them to see what is available.

If you do not know your Local Authority/Council you can find this out here.  Then go to the council website and search for the Council Tax section.

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4. Help with paying Rent

Are you entitled to benefits?

You may be entitled to welfare benefits, and if:

  • you have lost your job,
  • you are on a zero-hour contract or
  • you are receiving a low wage.

you may already be receiving some benefits as your income was so low.  If not you probably should be.

Unemployment-related benefits now mainly come in the form of Universal Credit (UC). If you have no income, and are not restricted by your immigration status, you should apply for UC as soon as possible.

New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance remains available to some people with sufficient National Insurance contributions and can sometimes be claimed alongside Universal Credit.

Some pension-age and other claimants may still claim Housing Benefit – eligibility can be affected by capital, immigration status, income and household circumstances.

Click here for the online application form for UC.  See also the website entitledto and the CAB  Help to Claim service.

The Crisis and Resilience Fund

This is relatively new.

  • Local councils in England administer the support;
  • it may provide short-term help with rent, energy, food and essential household expenses;
  • the scheme and application procedure differ between councils;
  • so you should check your council’s current scheme.  Find your Council here.

See also the section below on grant aid.

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5. Help with paying utility bills

Utility providers offer financial assistance and grants toward paying off energy bills. 

These tend to change frequently so your best course of action is to read the CAB’s energy grants and benefits page, which is regularly updated.

Other useful pages to check are

Water Bills

Water companies offer their own social tariffs and hardship schemes. Eligibility and the amount of help vary, so contact your water supplier or use the Consumer Council for Water’s assistance information.

WaterSure may be available to metered households receiving qualifying benefits that have a large family or a high essential use of water because of a medical condition.

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6. Other bills

Help with Furniture and Household items

There are various charities and organisations which may be able to help with essential household items such as beds, cookers, fridge freezers and washing machines.

Examples include:

Some energy providers also offer grants for white goods and other essential household items. In some cases, these are available to both customers and non-customers.

You may also be able to obtain second-hand furniture and household goods free of charge through local online groups and community networks.

Budgeting Loans and Budgeting Advances

If you receive certain means-tested benefits, you may be able to apply for help with one-off essential expenses.

Budgeting Loans and advances

Budgeting Loans are available to some people receiving legacy benefits such as:

  • Income Support
  • income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
  • income-related Employment and Support Allowance
  • Pension Credit

Although, note that a Budgeting Loan normally requires receipt of a qualifying legacy benefit for at least six months.

Click here for guidance on how to apply.

Crisis and Resilience Fund

In England, the Crisis and Resilience Fund replaced the Household Support Fund on 1 April 2026. It can cover such matters as rent, energy, food and essential household items.

Applications can be made through your Local Authority directly.

Online Freebies!

There are also online communities offering to give away well maintained furniture for free, so long as they can be collected:

However, with these sites, watch out for scams, personal safety and transport costs.

(Note – if you are aware of any similar sites, please let us know via our feedback form below and we will add it here)

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7. Grant Aid

Grant Aid

We have discussed above some of the grants that are available, for example, for utility bills.  However, there are thousands of organisations which will provide grant aid in specific circumstances or which can help provide information.  For example:

  • To  people in specific industries – such as hospitality action for those in the hospitality industry
  • To people who are or have been in the armed forces – such as SSAFA
  • To former prisoners – such as Unlock
  • To households with children – such as Children in Need

These are just a few examples.  You may also be able to find a grant if you are disabled, have a particular qualification, have a particular nationality or so on.

Two good places to search for grant aid are:

It is well worth searching to find some Grant Aid, and making applications.  You can apply to more than one charity – for example, you may find that grants from several organisations are sufficient to clear your rent arrears (allowing you to remain in your property if your landlord was threatening to evict you for rent arrears).

Make sure though when making your application that you comply with all the organisation’s requirements.  For example, if they require a handwritten letter, they are unlikely to respond to you if you just send them an email.

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8. Getting help

You may, with the assistance of this article, be able to resolve your issues yourself.  However, it makes sense to take advantage of one of the many organisations that provide help to people in financial difficulty.

You will find online help available:

If you want to visit someone for face to face advice, try your Citizens Advice Bureau Local Office. They are normally very good.

This is the end of this article.

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