Financial Wellbeing: Money troubles
Financial difficulties and the worry that unmanageable debt brings can greatly impact on your work and family life.
We are working with MoneyHelper (previously the Money Advice Service) to provide a range of resources to help our members maximise their income and work through their financial issues.
We suggest that you use the online guidance to see what strategies you can use to improve your situation.
RCN members can also benefit from one to one support and advice from the RCN Welfare Service.
Get an overview of your financial situation
As soon as you start feeling anxious or concerned about your financial situation, it's important to take some time to do a proper overview of the money you have coming into your household and what your financial commitments are.
Once you have a clear understanding of your current financial situation, you can decide what steps need to be taken.
Try using the budget planner or have a look at our advice and tools.
MoneyHelper debt advice
MoneyHelper can advise you where you can find free debt advice including how to speak to the people you owe money to, tips to help you pay back your debts in the right order, and help on getting out of debt faster.
They've also got online guides to explain the different ways you can pay off your debts, so you can understand more about the journey towards being debt-free, including information on:
- Help with bills and payments
- Dealing with courts and fine
- Getting debt help
- Ways to pay off debts
See at moneyhelper.org.uk to find a free debt adviser near you, online or on the phone.
The National Debtline "How to deal with debt" guide
The National Debtline is a charity providing free, independent and expert debt advice to people across the UK.
Their guide has information to help people in lots of different debt situations.
How the RCN Welfare Service can help
To speak to the RCN Welfare Service, see our page on booking an appointment.
Before contacting the service, we encourage you to look at our online advice and complete any relevant tools/checkers, as this may answer your query without the need to wait for an appointment.
If you've already used the online advice pages and completed any relevant tools/checkers, or if your physical health / mental health / personal circumstances prevent you from doing so, we can offer:
- Advice and assistance with benefits decisions (e.g. if you're confused by a change/stop/underpayment of benefits, or need help challenging a benefit decision)
- Advice if you're struggling to manage your finances and have problem debts (such as rental arrears, overpayment of wages/NHS Pensions/DWP Benefits/HMRC Tax Credits)
Please note, at the current time the RCN is unable to offer FCA Regulated Debt Counselling. If you are seeking advice with consumer credit debts such as credit cards, bank overdrafts, and Hire Purchase then please see the Debt and Money management page for information on the steps you can take and how to access support.
Mental health and money advice
If you are experiencing mental health and money problems you may find this resource helpful:
Charitable funding and other sources of help
Our page Charitable funding and other source of help has information on charitable grants, getting help to pay your bills, free furniture, assistance from local authorities, food banks, and more
The RCN Counselling Service
If your financial situation is impacting on your mental wellbeing, seek support. RCN members can access the RCN Counselling Service as part of their membership.
Increasing your income
If your household income feels tight or you've had a change in circumstance, check your entitlement to benefits, or look at other ways to increase your income.
Financial Wellbeing quick links
Advice guides:
- Everyday money management
- Money troubles
- Applying for benefits
- Increasing your income
- Are you on sick leave?
- Worried about meeting housing costs
- Managing energy costs during the crisis
- On a low income or looking for work
- Charitable funding and other sources of help
- Short-term cashflow issues
- Adult children not paying rent
- Entitlements for carers
- Entitlements for self employed or agency workers
Tools and calculators:
Booking an appointment:
Welfare Service
Budget Planner
We want to help you know exactly where your money is being spent, and how much youÃÛÌÒÖ±²¥™ve got coming in. Knowing where every pound is being spent is a great first step to starting your savings, getting out of debt or preparing for retirement.
Our Budget Planner can help you to:
- record all your spending
- get a breakdown of your finances by category
- get personalised tips
Help with the cost of living
Money Helper has a "Help with the cost of living" section for easy ways to get on top of your finances, including:
- how to boost your income
- which bills to deal with first
- getting urgent financial help.
