Quids in! Winter 2022

Do you know how many Quids in! readers say that money makes them feel anxious or depressed? It’s more than two thirds of working-age readers not in full-time employment. How do we know?

Reader surveys!

Maybe that figure’s higher now. Our last survey took place in 2018 and it told us what our readers need from us. When we saw one in two skipped meals, we published a guide to keeping food on the table when money’s tight.

Sometimes people who are struggling most with the rocketing cost of living never get heard. Now’s our chance.

Reader Lisette (page 4) shows how we sometimes just need to be in it to win it. Not only is there the chance of a big prize to be won from completing our survey, readers can also sign up to take part in research with the chance of further prizes. Our plan is to set up a research panel so our voices get heard. Get involved.

Jeff, Managing Director editor@quidsinmagazine.com

THE ENERGY PRICE GUARANTEE

●

TWelcomehe government’s new Energy Price Guarantee was announced back in September but lots of us have been confused about what it means.

We were all worrying about what the winter would bring in terms of energy bills. The Energy Price Guarantee will keep costs lower than we may have feared.

Predictions earlier in the year of £5,000 bills had left many of us wondering how we’d pay. But the Energy Price Guarantee will cap the price for a unit of energy at a lower level than we were preparing for.

An average bill will come in at around £2,500 a year. It’ll be frozen at this level until spring. After that it’ll go up to an average of £3,000 a year (and will stay at this level for a year). While this seems huge, we’re still being protected from the real price of gas and electric.

IT’S NOT A CAP ON BILLS!

The most important thing to remember about the Energy Price Guarantee is that it’s not our bills that are capped. It’s the cost per unit of energy.

Standing charges will mean we’re paying about 74p a day before we’ve even turned a light on (if we have both electricity and gas in our home).

The thing to remember is that the more we use the more we’ll pay. But it also means there may be things we can do to cut costs. If we can safely use less energy, we’ll keep bills a bit lower. There are loads of tips on www.quidsinmagazine.com. If we’re struggling to pay though, we should speak to our supplier as soon as possible.

Every household will still get the £400 energy bills support that was promised before the guarantee was announced (if we have a prepayment meter, see the page opposite for more about how we get this).

In November, the government also promised new one-off payments of £900 to those of us on means-tested benefits, £300 to pensioner homes and £150 for those of us on disability benefits. We’ll publish more details of these on the Quids in! website as they’re announced.

“Sometimes people who are struggling never get heard”

it DOESN’T cap our bills at £2,500

As the cost of living crisis rumbles on, the government has said it will be giving us more support to get through it.

There were a few bits of good news in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement in November. As well as the Energy Price Guarantee (see the story on the facing page), those of us on means-tested benefits will be in line for at least another £900 of support. We’ll get more if we’re disabled or a pensioner.

And the Household Support Fund will be extended. The fund provides a pot of cash that councils can give out to us when we’re struggling to pay for essentials.

As inflation keeps rising, our benefits just weren’t keeping up. But it was announced that they’ll rise by 10.1 per cent – the same as the inflation rate in September.

Lots

prepayment meters might be missing out on help with our energy bills that’s worth hundreds of pounds.

Since the start of October the government has been giving every home cash to help with energy costs. It’s called the Energy Bills Support Scheme.

If we have a smart prepayment meter or pay by Direct Debit we get the discount automatically.

But if our prepayment meter is an older one we’ll be sent vouchers in the post, by email or by text message.

The first voucher was worth £66 and was due in October – so we should have had it by now. We’ll get the vouchers every month for six months and we’ll get £400 in total.

But figures suggest that many of us aren’t cashing them in.

WHY HAS THIS HAPPENED?

It seems some energy suppliers were slow to send the vouchers out. But there are also concerns people may

not know about them and so aren’t checking their post.

If we haven’t had ours yet we need to contact our energy supplier as soon as possible. They’ll help us find out what’s gone wrong. It could be that they don’t have our latest phone number or email address. And if we’d like to change the way we get the vouchers, our supplier should be able to change that for us too. If we think we’ve lost our voucher, they should be able to send us a new one.

Annoyingly though, we have heard that some people have had to raise a complaint with their supplier before they got their vouchers.

We can redeem the vouchers at the Post Office or at PayPoint stores. It will say on the voucher where we should cash it in.

If we’ve been holding on to our voucher because it hasn’t been cold that’s fine. But we should be careful – we’re meant to use them within 90 days. However, our supplier is supposed to extend them if we ask.

We’ll see this rise in our benefits from April 2023.

Rents are often the biggest part of our household spend and many of us are fearing big rises. The government has now said that social housing rents won’t rise by more than seven per cent. It’s still a big increase, but less than some people were fearing.

The minimum wage will also rise by the same amount – from £9.50 an hour to £10.42 if we’re over 23.

(The Real Living Wage is different. Some employers offer this higher rate of £10.90 outside London and £11.95 in London. Look out for the logo when job-hunting).

And if we were worried about reaching the benefits cap, that’s being raised too. It’ll go up in line with inflation, and will give us a bit of breathing space if we were getting close to it.

of us with

‘I WON £1,050 TO PAY FOR CHRISTMAS!’

It’s tempting to think that winning things is something that happens to other people. But could that be because we’re not doing it right?

SAMPLE

Quids in! reader Lisette Davidson became a keen “comper” when she was a child. Since then she’s won everything from money and electricals to chocolate and cuddly toys.

“When I was nine I designed a three-legged alien on the back of a postcard,” says Lisette, 58. “It was for a comic and I won a Letraset transfer set. At that age it went to my head and I’ve been doing it all my life.”

She says comps have changed over time. She used to have to get creative – inventing slogans or taking photos – now the focus is on instant wins by entering a code online. But that didn’t stop her carving pumpkins at Halloween in a bid to win a prize.

“I wasn’t lucky enough to win this year,” she says. “But I had fun doing it and it keeps you young. It stops me from focussing on the big

problems of the world, I simply focus on the little things that give me joy. Comping is right up there at the top of the list. Only last night I put in a code online and won £10 in a Tesco competition.”

CHRISTMAS COVERED

In 2021, Lisette covered the cost of Christmas with a whopping £1,050 win. She’d spotted a competition being run by Pepsi where all she had to do was enter a code online.

“My husband and I got a couple of bottles and when he entered his code it came up with £50,” says Lisette. “We thought, wow – that’s really going to help with Christmas. The following Sunday I put in my code and it won £1,000. I was dancing around the room shouting to the children that their mum was a winner!”

SAMPLE

The prize was delivered on 10th December – just in time for her Christmas shopping. “Our living room floor was covered with presents,” says Lisette.

It wasn’t the only thing she won last Christmas. “On Twitter Currys asked for your epic tech fail,” she says. “I’m not a technical person and mine was that I still use a basic mobile phone instead of a smartphone. And I won a 55-inch TV that got delivered in time for Christmas. It’s the third time I’ve won a television.”

IT COULD BE YOU...

For those of us who feel we never win anything, Lisette has some advice.

“People say that because they never enter anything,” she says. “For me, if it tickles my fancy I just enter it. It’s very important to feel like you have a little edge. My little edge is the Compers News magazine.

“But the biggest advice I’d give is don’t discount the small print. It’s not there for no reason. Also, don’t be discouraged if you don’t start winning as soon as you enter.”

We’re not going to make a living from comping, says Lisette. But we might land ourselves a bit of cash or some other amazing prize. And have fun at the same time!

Reader Lisette Davidson is the queen of competitions. She says any one of us could be a winner too...

“I focus on the things that give me joy. Comping is right up there”

Welcome to the Quids in!

Cost of Living Survey!

Welcome to Quids in’s 2022 Cost of Living survey! We want to know more about what money means to you, and this quick survey will help us make Quids in! even better. The easiest way to complete it is online at qimag.uk/ survey but if you’d rather fill out this page you can pop it in the post to Freepost QUIDS IN, or send a photo of it to our WhatsApp number (07548 627303). However you get your survey to us, we’ll enter you into a prize draw to win £300 of shopping vouchers! Entry closes 31st January 2023 (see quidsinmagazine.com for T&Cs).

ABOUT YOU

1. Which of the following apply to you? (Tick all that apply)

■ I am retired/past retirement age

■ I am working age and full-time employed

■ I am working age and not full-time employed

■ I am unable to work

■ I work but my job is not meeting my money or personal needs

2. Thinking of everyone living with you, what is your household’s weekly income, whether benefits or earnings (after tax):

■ £260 or less ■ £261-£385

■ £386-£442 ■ £443-£507

■ £508 or more ■ Don’t know

3. When it comes to using the internet, which of the following apply to you? (Tick all that apply)

■ I cannot access the internet

■ I borrow a device

■ I use a PC at a café, library or community centre

■ I have a PC, laptop or tablet at home

■ I use my smartphone

■ I use WhatsApp for messaging

■ I often run out of data/don’t have data on my phone

■ Broadband/4G connection at home is poor or unreliable

■ I can ‘google’, upload photos, watch videos AND post comments (only tick this if all are true)

■ I check my emails every day/most days

MONEY

4. Which of the following apply to you? (Tick all that apply)

■ I know for sure I’m getting all the benefits I’m entitled to

■ I would know where to find help if I had money problems

■ I feel certain my money will last until I next get paid

■ I feel sure I could keep food on the table if my income stopped or decreased for a few weeks

■ I know exactly how much money goes out each month and how much my rent payments are

■ I check my bank balance every day

■ I cut costs by finding deals when buying clothes/essentials

■ I feel confident I can afford my utility bills

■ I use an online switching service or comparison website, for example for insurance or broadband

■ I feel confident to say ‘no’ if someone pressures me into something that’s not right for me

■ I feel happy using direct debits and I know when they go out

■ I am free of debt and rent arrears, or I’m taking action to deal with them

■ I have ID documents and I know where to find them

■ I want to make more money and have a plan to do so

■ I open all my post every day

SAMPLE SAMPLE

■ I know how much money I have coming in every month

■ I set aside money for savings every day or every week

■ I feel totally happy about what happens if my income goes up

■ I plan ahead money-wise for holidays, birthdays, Christmas, etc

■ Felt my performance at work suffered ■ Taken sick leave from work ■ Cancelled home contents insurance ■ Used a comparison service to switch and reduce bills ■ Taken steps to reduce energy usage and cut bills ■ Missed out on occasions with friends/family ■ Had to turn off heating despite it being cold ■ Had difficulty keeping up with payments on debts ■ Felt frightened, anxious or depressed ■ Had arguments with friends and/or family ■ Become physically ill ■ Faced serious financial problems ■ Turned to a loan shark or an unofficial lender ■ Felt unable to treat my kids to something they wanted

7. With regards to state support, which of these apply to you? ■ I claim Universal Credit ■ I do not claim anything ■ I claim other working-age benefits ■ I receive a pension

8. Which of these forms of support are you aware of/claim? ■ ■ Council tax/rates support or reduction

■ Discretionary Housing Payment ■ ■ Priority Service Register for utilities ■ ■ Social tariffs for broadband/mobile ■ ■ Free internet data and computer devices

9. If you needed to replace something like a washing machine, costing £300, how would you do it? (Tick all that apply) ■ With a credit card ■ From savings or income ■ Borrow from friends or family ■ Would do without ■ A loan company that I know, which will call at my home ■ From a store that offers credit ■ From a second-hand shop ■ Approach a charity ■ Pay-day loan

10. With regard to banking, which statements apply to you (in the past year)? ■ I was refused a service (eg, account, loan or overdraft) and I don’t know why ■ If I’m unhappy with my bank/lender I know who to speak to

If something went wrong, my bank would sort it out ■ I don’t feel safe making payments online 11. Which of the following do you have and which do you use?

Savings account

A private or work-based pension

Credit card

Bank account

Basic bank account

Online banking/banking app

Private health care

Credit union account

■ Pay-day loan

Store card, catalogue or items you owe money on

Loan from someone who approached you at home

Cheque cashing services

contents insurance

HELP AND ADVICE

12. Have you needed advice about any of the issues below in the last year? (Please tick all that apply) ■ Debts of any kind ■ Earning more money ■ Insurance ■ Budgeting and making ends meet ■ Checking I get all the benefits I am entitled to ■ Borrowing money ■ Savings ■ Mental health 13. Did you go to anyone for money advice in the last year?

Bank/building society ■ Friends/family

Power/water supplier ■ Citizens Advice or debt charity

Professional debt adviser ■ GP

Didn’t need advice ■ Didn’t know where to go ■ No one

Other (please specify) 14. If you got money advice, how good was the service you received? ■ Excellent ■ Very good ■ Good ■ Poor

15. If you get Quids in! magazines, emails or guides do you find the advice useful? ■ All the time ■ Often ■ Sometimes ■ Not really

16. In relation to Quids in! magazine, Quids In Readers Club or any of our guides, which of the following do you agree with? (Tick all that apply)

■ I have read articles from Quids in! magazine, Quids In Readers Club or Quids in! guides ■ I have visited quidsinmagazine.com ■ It made me realise I’m not alone in my situation ■ It makes me think more carefully about my finances ■ It prompted me to look after my money more carefully ■ I would now think twice about high-interest loans ■ I learnt what is happening to my benefits/pension ■ After reading something, I realised I might need help

After reading something, I decided to get help

After reading something, I got help

I acted on advice I read in Quids in!

USEFUL NUMBERS

LOAN SHARKS

The Illegal Money Lending Team tackles loan sharks. Call anonymously on ✆ 0300 555 2222, text LOAN SHARK and your details to 60003 or email them at reportaloanshark @stoploansharks.gov.uk. In Wales call ✆ 0300 123 3311 or email imlu@cardiff.gov.uk Scotland: ✆ 0141 2876 655, or email loansharks@glasgow.gov.uk

CREDIT UNIONS

Credit unions are not-for-profit organisations that provide bank accounts, loans and savings. They may help people the banks won’t. To find your local credit union call ✆ 0161 832 3694 or visit www.findyourcreditunion.co.uk.

BENEFITS

• People with disabilities or carers should contact the Disability Benefits Centre (✆ 0345 605 6055) . For Child Benefit/tax credits: Inland Revenue (✆ 0845 300 3900).

• Council Tax and Housing Benefit is

dealt with by your local council.

• Benefits calculator www.entitledto.co.uk

• Pensions Service: ✆ 0800 99 12340

DEBT ADVICE

For free debt advice and help, contact any of the organisations below.

SAMPLE SAMPLE

• National Debtline ✆ 0808 808 4000 www.nationaldebtline.org

• StepChange Debt Charity ✆ 0800 138 1111 www.stepchange.org

• Citizens Advice www.citizensadvice.org.uk. In Wales call ✆ 08444 77 20 20 England call ✆ 08444 111 444

• Citizens Advice Scotland www.cas.org.uk. ✆ 0808 800 9060

• Debt Arrangement Scheme (Scotland) www.dasscotland.gov.uk ✆ 0300 200 2770

• Advice NI (Northern Ireland) www.adviceni.net ✆ 0800 915 4604

Readers Club

Pleased to receive your free Quids in! every three months? Now you can stay in touch all the time with our Readers Club. Join the growing crowd of money-saving, savvy-shopping, debt-beating, cash-boosting Club members and receive freebies and top tips throughout the year by email.

Sign up here: qimag.uk/QIClubReg

COST OF LIVING

HERO

The Repair Shop’s Jay Blades learned to read as an adult. In a cost-of-living crisis, people like Jay need support more than ever

Jay Blades, host of The Repair Shop, has friends in high places. In autumn we watched him meet the now-King Charles in a special episode of the show when they bonded over antiques.

The king was bowled over by the team’s work to repair the chimes on a royal clock.

Jay was later seen asking if he was happy with it. “Oh God, yes. I am so grateful to you,” Charles replied.

With his superb skills set, it’s no surprise that Jay won royal approval. But what is surprising is that he only learned to read at the age of 51.

Jay left school without passing any exams and found out at the age of 31 that he is dyslexic. For him, this means the words move around the page as he’s trying to read them.

“I never told anyone at secondary school that I couldn’t read,” he said in an interview. “I’d ask people to read stuff for me. I’d taken a hospital letter that I knew was an important one into the street because I had no one at the house. I’d just say, ‘can you read this for me?’

“I probably messed up quite a lot not being able to read, and it’s quite a sad thing really.”

JAY’S NOT ALONE

In a special programme he made about it, he used coloured filters to stop the words moving on the page. And he achieved his ambition of reading a story to his daughter. Even though she’s now a teenager, it was a proud moment for both of them.

The show shone a light on a big problem and showed that Jay is far from alone. Across the country a massive eight million adults

find reading really hard.

It affects our chances of getting and keeping a job, and it means we’re more likely to have to take low-paid work.

MISSING OUT ON MONEY

But in a costof-living crisis problems with reading can be even more serious. We’re all getting support from the government this winter to help with rising bills (see page three). But those of us who find reading hard are at risk of missing out.

SAMPLE SAMPLE

If we can’t read the news, or don’t understand the letters on the doormat, then how can we be sure we’re getting everything that’s out there? We can’t get the most out of money-saving tips, like the ones in Quids in! Then there’s the risk of falling into arrears because we can’t read our bills and don’t understand what’s being asked of us.

People might assume that after we’ve left school it’s too late. But that’s not the case. Like Jay, lots of people master reading when they’re adults – and never look back.

If we know someone who can’t read, or if we struggle ourselves, we should ask at our local Citizen’s Advice, GP or library. They may be able to refer us to Read Easy, the charity that helped Jay, or other similar groups. Their help is usually free and won’t take up loads of our time.

Now that he has thrown off the shame he used to feel, Jay has said how happy it makes him to inspire others.

“I’m going to make a change for people like me,” he said.

One more thing…

At Quids in! we make sure all our stories are easy to read. But we also have a function on our website that can read the words aloud – it translates our articles into other languages too. It’s because we don’t want anyone missing out on the news and advice we share just because they struggle to read. Just click on ‘Easy Read’ at the top of the Quids in! website to see how it works.

■ Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51 and The Repair Shop are on BBC iPlayer

There’s a risk of falling into arrears because we can’t read our bills

© BBC / Hungry Bear / Ben Gregory-Ring