Meet Mathew

Mathew lives with his partner and together they have two small children. Before the Pandemic, Mathew had been off work with mental health issues, was receiving sickness payment from his employer and he was hoping to go back to work when he was well enough. His partner had been working 16 hours a week. However, she was unable to continue working, which meant the family found themselves struggling financially.

Our Income and Support team contacted Mathew and talked to him about applying for Universal Credit. We explained the process for him to apply online and gave him information such as, his rent could be paid from his Universal Credit payment. Mathew managed to complete the process himself, but he was very worried by it all and needed reassurance that it would be ok. Mathew was also worried that he was a little behind with his rent, so we spoke to the rents team and made them aware of the situation. There was only a small amount of arrears on his account and that would be cleared as soon as he received his first Universal Credit payment. We spoke to Mathew about other ways we could help him and his family, for example, foodbank deliveries or assistance with fuel. He told us he was concerned about how he was going to afford his fuel bills for the next few weeks, so we helped him contact his suppliers. That phone call resulted in Mathew receiving credit on his meter.

If you or anyone you know is in need of support or assistance please give our team a call on 0300 303 1717 or drop us an email at TalkToUs@taicalon.org