Financial Wellbeing

Financial Wellbeing

Financial wellbeing resources

Here is a roundup of a range of support resources that you might find helpful.

Car sharing to reduce travel costs – as driver and/or passenger you can log your journey on this free website Liftshare and contact others who might be travelling on sections or all of your route.

https://liftshare.com/uk/how-it-works

Act on Energy can provide a full home energy support service and free, impartial advice with the householder at the centre. Act on Energy is a non-profit organisation and a registered environmental charity based in the region.

https://actonenergy.org.uk/

Make the most of the University of Worcester Employee Benefits platform and save on everyday shopping – Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, and M&S, also for special purchases, travel, and days out. There is also a scheme for ‘cycle to work’ giving access to a bike purchase scheme and EV vehicle purchase.

https://myworcesterrewards.employeebenefitsplatform.com/

Sign up for a Financial Wellbeing workshop on MSTeams to help you understand and take control of your daily finances. A qualified external adviser runs the session, and it covers the basics of budgeting; taxation; borrowing; mortgages; and savings. Email to training@worc.ac.uk to express your interest and we’ll let you know when sessions are running.

Contact the Employee Assistance Programme – PAM Assist – and explore the financial advice resources there and/or speak to an adviser, in confidence.

www.pamassist.co.uk

Username: uniofworc1   

Password: staff

Citizens Advice provide local services as well as a national helpline. They also recruit and train volunteers to become advisers.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/contact-us/chat-service-money-and-debt/

Explore the advice and tools available through HM Govt

 https://moneyandpensionsservice.org.uk/ and

 https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en

There are other forms of support from local and central Government set out below.

  • Energy Bills Support Scheme doubled to a one-off £400: through the Scheme, domestic electricity customers in Great Britain will receive a £400 grant which will appear as a credit from energy suppliers from October 2022 onwards. This will not need to be repaid.

 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/energy-bills-support-scheme-explainer

  • Council Tax rebate of £150 for households in England in Council Tax bands A-D. Local councils are responsible for determining who is eligible and making payments. These will be made from April 2022 and will not need to be paid back.
  • The Spring/Summer 2022 Household Support Fund offers qualifying residents across the county of Worcestershire support with their energy costs, fuel debt and where required assistance to replace broken boilers and heating systems, subject to funding. If you:
  1. live in the following district council areas – Bromsgrove, Malvern, Redditch, Wychavon, Wyre Forest, or Worcester City
  2. Have a combined household income of no more than £30,000.00 per year
  3. Have no household savings
  4. Have someone living with a vulnerability

https://actonenergy.org.uk/project/worcestershire-household-support-fund/

  • Cost of Living payment You may be able to get a payment to help with the cost of living if you’re getting certain benefits or tax credits. You could get up to 3 different types of payment depending on your circumstances on a particular date or during a particular period:
  1. a Cost-of-Living Payment if you get a qualifying low-income benefit or tax credits
  2. a Disability Cost of Living Payment if you get a qualifying disability benefit
  3. a Pensioner Cost of Living Payment, if you’re entitled to a Winter Fuel Payment for winter 2022 to 2023

You may get a payment of £650 paid in 2 lump sums of £326 and £324.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cost-of-living-payment

Here is some advice from Citizens Advice about keeping your finances safe from scams:

https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/9b037904-9434-4dad-b009-f8a35d1e33f0

            

Staff at the University are able to sign up to a TOTUM membership using their worc.ac.uk email address. Anyone signing up can select University of Worcester as their institution.

There are two types of membership for TOTUM – free and paid. Free membership gets you a ‘basic’ package with a small number of deals and discounts. All the discounts are accessed online or via the TOTUM app. Paid memberships offer bigger discounts and some exclusive deals not available through the free membership. As well as accessing discounts online and through the app, paid membership also gets you a physical TOTUM card.

The costs for a paid membership are:
1 year - £14.99

2 years - £24.99

3 years - £24.99 – this price is only for a limited time 

Staff can get their cards delivered to the SU free of charge and delivery usually takes about a week.

All the latest deals and info on memberships is available at www.totum.com.