Money advice (Money Smart)
The Money Smart team works closely with the Income team, providing budgeting advice and support regarding rent arrears and other debts, to help customers maintain their tenancy. Treating customers with fairness and respect, the team works with customers to ensure they are accessing all the benefits to which they are entitled, maximising their income and supporting them to sustain their tenancy.
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What the team does
The Money Smart team help customers with budgeting advice and support with rent arrears and other debts.
The team can also advise about other areas of support, such as requests for food parcels, help with sustaining their tenancy, consideration to apply to the hardship fund or any other social funds, all new Universal Credit claims. It can also help when customers wish to downsize their home.
Referrals to the Money Smart team can be made at any time, by WH staff and from other agencies.
Any new household that has signed up for a tenancy receives contact from an Income Officer within four weeks, to see how they are settling in and to offer any required additional support.
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How this benefits customers
The team is committed to supporting customers with the cost-of-living challenges. In 2023-2024, the Money Smart team helped 6,600 customers access £310,000 in additional support funds.
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What customers can expect
The Money Smart team responds to customer referrals within ten working days.
The team will deliver restorative practice when supporting customers to ensure we build financial resilience, not reliance.
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How we measure success
- Customers know how to contact Money Smart team for help and support with budgeting advice, access to benefits and sustaining tenancies
- Number of customers completing Income and Expenditure forms to access the service.
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How we continue to improve
- Understand changes in benefits and the impact on customers
- Support CWC’s Financial Wellbeing strategy to deliver restorative practice for our customers, i.e. match funding
- Access to funding streams and charities to support customers.
- How the team's work fits within the Consumer Standards