What can you do to increase your income?

Find out how to check if you can increase your income.

👆 This linked page covers:

• How to check if you are receiving all the benefits you are entitled to
• How to check if the wages you are receiving are correct
• Further support for bills and childcare

You could also look into ways to make your income go further by:

• Reducing your regular living costs
• Asking your local council if they can advise you on income maximisation

Need more help?

• If you are applying for Universal Credit, Citizens Advice can help with the early stages of your claim.
• The Turn2Us Find an Adviser tool allows you to search for local advice and information on benefits, housing, and jobs. Additionally, you can search for grants, funds, and help using their get support page.
• You can request a support visit from a DWP officer if you need help to claim benefits. Find out how to do this here.
• Money Helper’s page on living on a squeezed income provides information on the support available, and what you can do to make your income go further.

🤔 Not sure where to start?

If you think you need help and aren’t sure how to move forward you could follow our suggested next steps below to help you make a start.

1️⃣ Get in touch with us if you feel you need help

It’s really important to let us know if you’re struggling and feel you need more support. Please email us at support@ophelos.com, or respond to any messages we’ve sent you, and tell us you need help.

We will never put pressure on you to agree to payments you can’t afford, we simply want to be aware of your situation so we can assist you.

If you talk to us we can:

• Suggest resources that may help you
• Discuss your options to find something to suit you
• Give you some space if you need time to look into the support available
• Keep your lender or supplier up to date so you don’t have to (please note we can only contact companies who have passed your account to us)

2️⃣ Consider whether you could manage making payments in the meantime

If you can afford it, keeping on top of payments may help prevent problems in the future, particularly for your energy bills. If you feel able to make manageable payments for the time being you can set something up through your Ophelos account or talk to our team.

If you don’t think you can manage to pay anything right now please let us know. There is help available, and if you are struggling our team will give you space to look into support.

3️⃣ Take some time to think about what you should deal with first

There is a lot of information out there and it may be difficult to know where to start.

Here are some tools which may help you think things through:

• Work out which bills to prioritise
• Work out which debts to deal with first
• Find welfare, benefits, and grants that are relevant to your situation
• Check what benefits you could be entitled to

Your first step could simply be deciding to talk to someone for more advice. You can find a local adviser for benefits, housing, jobs, and legal issues here. You can find a list of free debt advice organisations here.

4️⃣ Don’t forget to reach back out

While we are managing your account it is important to keep us up to date. If we give you some space we’ll always let you know how long the hold will last. This is so you’re aware when you need to get back in touch to let us know how you have got on.

When you update us we’ll be able to clarify next steps for you.

This could involve:

• Revisiting your options
• Giving you more space
• Suggesting further resources to look into
• Letting you know what to expect with regard to your account