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Supporting residents' financial wellbeing

When money is tight, it can affect every part of life - including health and wellbeing.

Our aim is to help those most in need get the support they’re entitled to, so that they don’t have to choose between heating or eating.

By teaming up with local partners, we’re improving access to help in our communities - making it easier for residents to boost their income, stay well, and feel more financially secure.

Have you heard from us?

We’re contacting residents that we believe are eligible for Pension Credit, social tariffs, and other financial support.

If you received a letter, phone call or text, and have questions, you can speak to our customer services team for more information, or contact Citizens Advice to check your eligibility and apply.

If you, or someone you know is struggling with money, it can be hard to know where to start. Visit our help and support page, or contact us for information on support in your area

How we’re proactively helping households

Each year, over £24 billion in benefits go unclaimed across the UK.

We’re working with Policy in Practice to identify households with low incomes who may be missing out on support they’re eligible for, and making support more accessible.

Contacting households that we believe are eligible to help them apply for:

Referring households to support they are entitled to:

Raising awareness and uptake of:

Supporting tenants who live in temporary accommodation, sheltered accommodation, or have rent arrears or council tax debts to:

  • Manage and reduce their debts
  • Boost their income
  • Get employment support
  • Be digitally included
  • Keep their tenancy

Recent examples of how we’ve supported residents

Severe disability premium (SDP)

SDP is an extra weekly payment that is automatically added to certain benefits if an individual is eligible. Sometimes people miss out, for example if they didn’t report that their circumstances had changed.

We recently checked whether any residents were eligible but not receiving the payment, and after updating their details, the additional payment of around £80 per week was automatically added to their benefit.

Pension credit

Pension Credit gives people over the State Pension age who are on a low-income extra money to help with their cost of living. It can also help with housing costs such as ground rent or service charges.

It’s estimated around £1.6 billion of Pension Credit is unclaimed in the UK (according to Policy in Practice).

We wrote to households who may be eligible but were not receiving it and offered one to one support to help them apply.

Beware of scams!

If you’re unsure about a message or letter you have received, view tips from Citizens Advice to check if something might be a scam

You can also:

  • Phone us to check: call our customer service team and ask them to confirm if the person who contacted you is an employee or if the letter or text was from us. Or visit a customer access point if you’d like to speak to us in person, our team always wear staff ID cards.
  • Look to see who sent the email: if we sent you an email, it would be from our official government address: @babergmidsuffolk.gov.uk
  • Don’t give out your personal details if you’re unsure:
    • Card payments: Our staff will never ask you to tell us your card details over the phone. If you need to make a card payment one of these council services, you’ll be transferred to our secure automated payment line.
    • Bank details: Occasionally, we may ask for bank details as part of applying for benefits, grants and financial support or to set up direct debits. If you’re unsure, phone us back to check.