Benefits, money and debt
There is help available to support you:
- Turn2Us - Advice and support to help maximise your income and manage your Budget
- Credit Unions - These can help you with affordable loans
- Citizens Advice - For free and impartial advice on all aspects to support you through difficulty
Benefits
You may be able to claim benefits if you need more support to live independently.
People who may be eligible to claim benefits include:
- job seekers
- low-income families
- carers
- disabled people
Benefits are paid by the central government, not your local council.
You can read more about how benefits work on GOV.UK.
If you're not sure if you'd be able to claim benefits, you can use a benefits calculator to find out.
Debt advice
There are lots of organisations and services who can support you with debt advice, including:
You can also find debt advice services on our Suffolk InfoLink website.
They can help you with advice about:
- your legal rights
- managing your money
- how to deal with financial problems
Grants
A grant is an amount of money that a government or local authority gives to an individual or an organisation for a particular purpose, such as support with housing costs.
If you are struggling financially, there are grants available which you may be eligible to apply for which can help lessen the burden. The following support is administered by Suffolk County Council:
Household Support Fund
You can visit our Household Support Fund page to find more information.
The Local Welfare Assistance Scheme
The Local Welfare Assistance Scheme (LWAS) helps those experiencing financial hardship. There are lots of reasons why you may be in hardship and if you are eligible, we can provide financial help.
The scheme is not intended as emergency support and only one application can be made per household. LWAS is not intended as long-term support. The quickest way to make an application is via the webform, using your smartphone, tablet or computer. If you have all the information required to make an application the webform will take approximately 15 minutes to complete.
To make an application and find out whether you are eligible for support, please visit the Local Welfare Assistance Scheme webpage.