Independent living | Cost of living advice with Citizens Advice Bureau
As part of our work to provide cost of living support to our tenants, we invited Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) to 3 of our independent living schemes.
Lancashire West CAB (South Ribble) visited Lostock Court, Bridge Court in Lostock Hall and Lowerfield, in Farington, to talk to tenants about budgeting, understanding bills, benefits and other general advice.
Elaine, Area Housing Officer, said: “We work quite closely with CAB to provide as much support and information that we can to help our tenants.
“So Independent Living Coordinator Mel and I invited someone to chat to tenants so they could have one-to-one conversations and get the best possible help to suit their needs.
“We plan to organise more sessions at other schemes and hope tenants join us as they could end up finding out new information which could save money or boost their income.”
How useful was the session?
Alan, a tenant at Lostock Court, said: “It is good of Progress to do something like this.
“There are things I don’t know about so I thought as I am here anyway, I may as well get CAB to check my benefits. I found out there were other things I could apply for, which is a bonus.
“A lot of people don’t know all this extra information, so it is well worth going.
“With it being in our communal areas, where we live, it helps people to come down, mix with people and have a brew and some cake.”
Tony, who lives at Lostock Court, even made cakes for the session. He added: “It’s brilliant. I was given advice to take forward and I have a future appointment to talk about my energy tariff. I have been worried about the energy prices going up and going into debt so this will help me.
“I feel reassured that I can ring up and get support.”
- For more support and advice on the cost of living, visit our website Cost of living hub | Progress Housing Group