Benefits- Fiona’s Story

Fiona has recently been widowed and lives in Social housing. She receives Universal Credit (UC) and Housing Benefit (HB). Fiona is unable to work due to her severe health problems, she was referred to us by a friend.

Reason client needs advice: Unable to work due to severe health issues, Fiona was struggling to make ends meet and could not afford to heat her home or pay for food.
Fiona had very limited digital capabilities and struggled to understand her income and expenditure as her life partner had taken care of all of this. We managed our time with Fiona carefully so as not to overwhelm her and prioritised her issues so we could help her tackle things at a comfortable pace.

What we have done to help the client: Citizens Advice Epping Forest was able to immediately support Fiona with fuel and food bank vouchers to help her in the short term . We made her an appointment with our benefits adviser who helped her with Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment issues. The adviser supported her to make a mandatory reconsideration application for PIP. Our Department for Work & Pension partner also helped Fiona reset her password so she was able to access her journal.

Outcome: Fiona has been awarded the higher rate for PIP. She can also now access her UC journal so she can manage her benefit better. She is also now receiving  LCWRA payments.  

Fiona is now better off by £1,153.39 per month.

Fiona is now in a place where she is less anxious, more confident, and will engage in social conversation and she now has enough income to manage her day to day living costs. This improvement has meant that Fiona can now see a brighter future for herself.