Government cost-of-living help in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
If you live in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland and you’re struggling with the rising cost of living, you may be able to get government help.
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Wales: discretionary assistance fund
People living in Wales may be able to get help from the discretionary assistance fund. This fund offers two types of grant:
1: If you’ve missed one or two payments
At this stage, you’ll get letters and calls from your lender, asking you to catch up with your payments. Lenders have a responsibility to help customers in financial difficulty. This means they may well ask you about your situation and suggest ways they might be able to help.
2: If you've missed three or four payments
By the time you’ve missed three or four payments, your lender may well start suggesting that you get debt advice. We can help with this.
If your debt falls under the Consumer Credit Act, you’re likely to receive a default notice in the near future.
Debts covered by the Consumer Credit Act include:
- credit cards
- personal loans
- store cards
- store finance
- hire purchase
- payday loans
- catalogues
Debts that aren’t covered by the Consumer Credit Act include:
- household bills e.g. council tax, water, gas and electricity
- benefit overpayments
- upaid taxes
- some credit union loans
- mortgages
A default notice will seriously affect your credit rating. You’ll probably find it a lot harder to borrow in the future.
By this point, lenders may also be starting to consider closing your account and taking further action. They may pass your debt to a collection agency.
3: If you’ve missed five or six payments
By this stage of the debt collection process, you’ll have had a lot of contact from your lender. You’ll probably have received a default notice if your debt is covered by the Consumer Credit Act e.g. credit cards and personal loans. These lenders may also have taken further action, such as passing your debt to a collection agency.
By this point, lenders may be considering applying for a county court judgment against you. Your credit rating will have been seriously affected.
But don’t despair! There is help available. If you haven’t already done so, it’s extremely important that you get debt advice. We offer advice over the phone and 24/7 online. It’s never too late to get help.
2. Catch up with priority bills
If you’ve fallen behind with any priority bills, get in touch with those lenders to try and agree an arrangement to pay back what you owe. You could offer non-priority lenders a token payment of £1. Then use the rest of your leftover income to put towards your priority bills.
If you’ve had debt advice, you may have a standard financial statement (SFS). This is a document showing your income, living expenses and debts. The final page lists all the priority bills you’re behind with, as well as all your non-priority bills.
This is a useful document to have when sorting out payment arrangements with your priority lenders. They may ask to see a copy. Most will accept a photo or screenshot by email.
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What to do if you’re a victim of financial abuse
It’s important to think about your safety when dealing with financial abuse. You should seek help but take steps to make sure you can do this safely.
If you think your abuser could be monitoring your devices, try and get help on a computer or phone they don’t have access to. You could use a work or library computer or borrow a phone from a friend.
Remember messages and other files from your mobile might be automatically stored in the cloud. If necessary, change your password so your abuser can’t log in and view them.
FAQ Panel
When you’re made bankrupt, your details will be added to the public insolvency register. They will stay on there until three months after your bankruptcy ends.   
You can ask to have your address removed from the register if publishing it puts you at risk of violence.
Once you go bankrupt, you may be asked to make payments towards the debts included in your bankruptcy but only if you can really afford to. Your lenders will stop chasing you for payment.   
When your bankruptcy ends, usually after 12 months, any outstanding debt included in your bankruptcy will be written off. 
There are certain rules you’ll have to follow while you’re bankrupt. One of these rules is to co-operate with the official receiver (the person dealing with your bankruptcy). This means making sure you give them any information they ask for etc. 
While you’re bankrupt, you won’t be able to: 
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set up a company or act as a director without permission from the court 
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do business under a different name without telling everyone you do business with the name under which you were made bankrupt 
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borrow £500 or more without telling the lender you’ve been made bankrupt 
You could be sent to prison for doing any of things.
You can include some secured debts in your bankruptcy in certain situations. 
  Mortgages and secured loans  
These can be included in your bankruptcy if: 
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you give up your house 
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your house gets repossessed 
If you stay in your home, you’ll need to keep paying the mortgage and any loans secured against it. You may lose your home if you don’t. 
Hire purchase and logbook loan agreements 
A finance company will often cancel hire purchase or logbook loan agreements if you go bankrupt. This means you’ll have to hand back the car or other item, but the debt will be included in your bankruptcy.  
If you’re allowed to keep the car or other item, you’ll have to keep making the payments. 
The cost of bankruptcy varies slightly depending on where you live in the UK. 
  In England and Wales, it costs: 
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£130 for the application fee 
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£550 for the bankruptcy deposit 
  In Northern Ireland, it costs: 
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£151 for the court fee 
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£525 for the bankruptcy deposit 
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about £7 for the solicitor’s fee 
The court fee may be waived in Northern Ireland if you’re on a low income or you get certain benefits. 
Can my IVA application be declined?
It’s possible that your individual voluntary arrangement application could be declined. But don’t worry - the insolvency practitioners we work with will only submit a proposal to your creditors if they believe it’s likely to be accepted.
Some of the main reasons IVA applications get rejected are:
- incorrect/incomplete information
- creditors don’t believe you’ll be able to stick to the proposed budget or payment plan
- creditors have had a bad experience with you in the past and aren’t convinced you’ll manage your finances responsibly
- the payments you’ve offered are too low. Creditors will be looking to recover as much of what they’re owed as possible
IVAs are most likely to be accepted when creditors can see you’re paying as much as possible without causing yourself financial hardship. The detailed information about your income and spending contained in your proposal will show this. Your IVA is also more likely to be accepted if everyone is treated fairly. That means all creditors should be included.
Many creditors have signed up to something called the IVA protocol. The protocol contains guidelines on drawing up an IVA proposal. Creditors are expected to accept a proposal that follows these guidelines.
FAQs
There are two types of bills: priority and non-priority. Priority bills are the ones that could have the most serious consequences if you don’t pay them.
They include:
- gas and electricity bills
- rent and mortgage
- secured loans
- council tax
- court fines
- child support and maintenance
- benefit overpayments
- some essential hire purchase items e.g. kitchen appliances
If you don’t keep up with priority debt payments you could lose your home, be visited by bailiffs, have your energy supply cut off or be forced onto a prepayment meter or lose essential hire purchase items.
Non-priority debts include things like:
- credit cards
- buy now pay later
- personal loans
- store cards
- catalogue payments
- overdrafts
- money owed to family/friends
The consequences of not paying non-priority debts are usually less serious than for priority debts. But creditors may still take action to try and get their money. They may pass your debt to a debt collection agency or try and get a county court judgment against you, among other things.
Our debt advice is free but that doesn’t affect how good it is. And don’t just take our word for it, see what our customers say.
How you access our advice is down to you – our friendly advisers can chat to you over the phone or you can go through the entire process online. Whichever you prefer, we’ll only make a recommendation once we’re happy it’s what’s best for your individual situation.
If you prefer to speak to us, you can be sure you’ll be dealing with someone who is patient and non-judgemental. When choosing new recruits to the Money Wellness team, we look for warmth and a drive to help others.
Our advisers understand that everyone faces their own challenges and anyone can experience financial difficulties. We get to know the person behind the money worries. We consider your long-term financial wellbeing, as well as your immediate concerns.
Whether you need budgeting help or a formal debt solution, we’ll be by your side for as long as you want.
After getting to grips with your situation, we may recommend a debt solution. Some solutions are free. Others have a fee. We’ll make sure you’re aware of any costs up front.
Being a homeowner and having a mortgage doesn’t stop you from getting an IVA. If there is more than £5,000 of equity in your home, you’ll usually have to remortgage to release money to be paid into your IVA. Equity is how much money you’d make from selling your home once any mortgages were paid off. If you’re unable to remortgage, you’ll carry on making your IVA payments for up to another 12 months. This means your individual voluntary arrangement will last up to six years instead of five.
An individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) is a legally binding agreement between you and your creditors to pay back your debts at a rate you can afford.  
It usually lasts for five or six years. After that time, any remaining debt included in your IVA is written off meaning you don’t have to pay it back. 
During your IVA, providing you make the agreed payments, creditors aren’t allowed to charge interest or fees on your debts. They also have to stop chasing you to pay.  
An individual voluntary arrangement must be set up by a qualified insolvency expert. 
Is an IVA right for me? 
This depends on your situation. It might be a good idea if you: 
 
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can’t pay your debts at the rate you originally agreed to, but you can afford to pay something each month 
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owe money to more than one creditor  
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want to write off some of your debt.  
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