Families with disabled children will be amongst the hardest hit by the cost-of-living crisis according to Contact, the charity for families with disabled children, with a third of families already in debt due to the Covid-19 pandemic (Contact, 2022). More than 72% of disabled households have been plunged into debt this year by the cost-of-living crisis (Sense, 2022) and the constant worry about money is having a profound effect on people’s mental and physical health, with 48 per cent reporting the rising prices as worsened long-standing health condition and 51 percent saying their mental health has worsened as a result of recent rising costs (Scope, 2022), and 55 percent said they felt anxious, depressed or hopeless about financial worries and problems (Leonard Cheshire, 2022).
In May this year, the government announced a package based on a predicted 42% rise in the October to April energy price cap to of help households with the cost-of-living crisis, however this has now been totally swallowed up by the October price cap rise — and thousands remain understandably anxious about the future.
Money saving Expert founder Martin Lewis has continuned to call out and pressure the two remaining Conservative Party leadership candidates, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, to take immediate action over spiralling energy costs on the day they enter Number 10 and become Prime Minister – otherwise “people will die this winter”, he warned.
Martin’s pleas came as energy regulator Ofgem confirmed in August that the energy price cap will rise by 80%.
To help, we’ve put together a 10 steps that every parent carer can take now to ensure they are in the best possible position to cope with rising costs.
1. Benefit Calculator
Millions of people are missing out on thousands of pounds. Use the Turn2us free and confidential Benefits Calculator to check what benefits you are entited to claim.
2. Energy Saving Tips
You may struggle to find tariffs cheaper than the current cap, but that are still measure you can take to help you out. Within disabled and parent carer households this isn’t alway possible, but Money Saving Expert tips can still be useful. Check them out by clicking here.
3. Help With Household Bills
There are a number of schemes and grants to help you with water, fuel and other utility bills. Citizens Advice have put a helpful list. Find out whether you’re eligible and how to apply by clicking here.
4. Local Council Support
The Department for Work and Pensions introduced the Household Support Fund in October 2021 to support vulnerable households with essentials over the winter period. The government have now extended the scheme to 30 September 2022. You can apply for a cash grant of between £50 and £160 if you are in crisis or have an emergency that’s out of your control. For more information contact your local council. Click the following link to see if you are eligible and how apply to Manchester City and this link for Salford Council.
5. Grant Search
Use the Turn2Us grants search tool to search for grants and financial help. Remember that charitable grants do not have to be paid back. Click here to use the search tool.
6. Find Out How Much Your Electrical Appliances Cost To Use
Check how much your electrical appliances cost to use. Use the Citizens Advice calculator to help you better understand how much money your appliances cost to us and which appliances are costing you the most money. Click here to use the calculator.
7. Check Your In The Right Council Tax Band
Council tax bills rose by around 3% for millions of households earlier this year, with some boroughs of Greater Manchester seeing increases of over 7%, heaping even more financial pressure on families. It is more important that ever therefore to check that your property is in the right council tax band. If it is not, you could be vastly overpaying and could claim some or all of the money back. For information on challenging your council tax band, click here.
