18.03.22

A fairly standard week this week, albeit with the looming horror of 8% inflation and rumours of energy bills going up yet again in October.

Debt advice isn't a solution to this. Even if you manage to get a DRO, they'll just build up again - and you'll quite probably have cut off any access to credit that could help keep your priority debts from accruing. And you can't get a DRO for another six years.

Anyway. The highlight of the week was finally getting somewhere with one of my most vulnerable clients, by providing Housing Benefit with evidence of her son's receipt of Universal Credit. He'd previously been self-employed, with unfortunately absolutely no proof of his earnings - but at least we can get her Housing Benefit resolved since the point he went onto UC, and staunch the build-up of arrears that's been going on since last April. This client has so far been remote-only due to her health problems, and her mental health has meant gathering the evidence has been quite a challenge for both of us. But I'm hopeful we've got there.

A close second was another client being over the moon at getting a goodwill payment from a company I'd helped him complain to (a bit speculatively, from my perspective!). It's a reminder that's it's not just the big wins that matter - sometimes just feeling like a wrong has been righted can make a big difference.

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