Advice

Lift Up Summer 24

The Lift up Project is here to help you to manage on the money you have and maintain financial resilience through Financial Capability Coaching sessions. As part of this process, we can check your eligibility for a one-off grant.

What is financial capability coaching? Financial capability coaching offers you a space to look at your relationship with money and support you in developing greater control.

Through these coaching style sessions you will look at and receive help to improve your ability to keep track of your finances and plan ahead. The aim is to enable you to make positive decisions about money in the future and improve your money management skills. It’s about helping you to bridge the gap between financial knowledge and behaviour.

The Coaching will be delivered on a 1:1 basis but we are also running a series of one-off workshops that will explore some of its themes. You are welcome to attend either a workshop or the coaching or you may want to do both. Watch this space – workshop dates coming soon! See below for the eligibility criteria and how to register your interest in Coaching and/or a Workshop.

In the 1:1 Coaching and the workshops we will look at your eligibility for a one off grant to help with unexpected costs.

Who can access the project?

The aim is to assist those that are just about managing and must be in one of the following groups:

employed

self-employed

moving into employment, (you have received a job offer or are waiting to start work)

The household must have no more than £2000 in savings.

Get in Touch
If you would like further information please email Liftup@moneyadviceplus.org.uk or call 08081 963 699 and ask to speak to Nikki.
To apply for 1:1 Coaching or to express interest in attending a workshop please complete Lift Up Application Form referral (new) 24 and email to Liftup@moneyadviceplus.org.uk

If you are experiencing mental ill-health and live in Brighton and Hove our specialist Mental Health and Money Advisers are here to help. We can help make sure you are getting all the benefits you are entitled to, and find solutions to any debt worries you have. Due to funding restrictions on this project we can currently only work with you if you are receiving secondary mental health services from Brighton and Hove but we have other projects that can help you too so please do contact us and we will do what we can to find the right adviser for you.

We have been working with in-patients at Mill View Hospital and people in the community with mental ill-health for over 20 years. We understand that it is difficult to pick up the phone or talk to us some days and we will find ways to make sure you can use the help we can give you.

We know there is always a solution to debt worries, even when your finances feel out of control and you are scared to think about them. Getting into debt can happen to any of us and it is nothing to feel ashamed of.

We are part of the UOK Brighton and Hove, which offers a whole range of help and support for people in Brighton and Hove who are experiencing mental illness – more details can be found on their website:  https://www.uok.org.uk/  or by phoning their central access point on 0808 196 1768.

You can contact us directly to make an appointment for debt and/or benefit help on 0808 196 3699 or email us at info@moneyadviceplus.org.uk.

Money Management Support Service

This is what we call the ongoing help and support service we give our clients, and this includes money handling where it’s needed. Helping you manage your money means you can keep as independent as possible, while tackling the issues in a calm and practical way.

People find money handling useful for different reasons. Some examples are:

• people who can’t get out to the bank to access cash – we can receive your benefits, and deliver money to you in your home
• people with substance misuse issues – we can receive your fortnightly and 4-weekly benefits, and give you a smaller, more manageable amount a couple of times a week to help you budget
• people with learning disabilities and people with mental illness, or dementia – we can support by paying your bills for you, so you don’t have to worry

We support people in lots of different ways, depending on what’s needed. Everyone’s needs are different and so our help can range from simply offering advice to filling in benefit claim forms, handling money or visiting you at home to bring your money. We help take the stress out of the situation and can give you the skills and information to manage your finances in the future.

This service is available to Sussex residents referred to us by professionals working on their behalf, like Social Services. Funding is needed to take on a client for this service, which is normally arranged by the referring professional (more information here) . Our service is normally free to clients, but where funding is not available, clients can choose to pay directly for a service. Money Guardians is what we call our service for self-funding clients.

Everything we do is:

• confidential
• impartial

Appointees

We are recognised as a Corporate Appointee by the Benefits Agency. This allows us to claim and receive social security benefits for those unable to do so themselves.

We do a drop in advice desk every 2 weeks on Thursdays, at the BMECP . (The sessions fall on the even weeks of the year)

Where to find us: Refugee One Stop Shop, BMECP Centre, 10a Fleet Street, Brighton BN1 4ZE.

Drop-in desk between 11am and 2pm.  Call 01273 664000 to find out when the adviser will next be there.

If your landlord is a housing association you may be able to access our telephone advice & casework services. We currently work with residents of: Hexagon, London and Quadrant, PA, Sovereign and Victory Housing Associations. Please call us on 01323 635999 or email advice@moneyadviceplus.org.uk for more information.

The Financial Support Line for Victims of Domestic Abuse is run by Money Advice Plus and is part of our partnership work with Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA). It offers specialist advice to anyone experiencing domestic abuse who is struggling with their money.

Surviving Economic Abuse have resources and guides that can support you.

If you live anywhere in East Sussex and you or a family member have been affected by cancer, our specialist welfare benefits advisers may be able to help you adjust to changes in your financial situation. We offer in-depth telephone advice & home visits. For more information call 01323 635989.

If your landlord is Brighton & Hove City Council; or you are a leaseholder of the Council (you own a flat and pay the council for maintenance and ground rent), we can arrange a telephone or face to face appointment with you to help you with any personal debts or benefit issue. We can advise you on things like:

• whether an IVA is a good way to deal with your debts (it probably isn’t),
• getting your debts written-off with a Debt Relief Order,
• working out what you can afford to pay and what you need to pay to people you owe money to,
• making a claim for disability benefits,
• finding out whether you would be better off on Universal Credit,
• appealing a benefit decision you don’t agree with
• working out a way to pay your water bill

We are able to see people face to face again at our office in Hove and hope to be back at other places around the city soon.

If you are a council tenant or council leaseholder and would like help with debts or benefits please call 01323 635999 and ask for Nikki or Alison. Alternatively, please email tenants@moneyadviceplus.org.uk.

The Moneyworks Adviceline is a telephone advice service run on behalf of the Moneyworks Partnership providing free and independent advice to residents of Brighton and Hove on a whole range of money issues including dealing with welfare benefits, debt and maximising income.

The best way to contact us is to use our online form to request a call back or email from one of our advisers.

Or you could call: 0800 988 7037 during our opening hours:

Monday 2-5
Tuesday 2-5
Wednesday 10-1
Thursday 2-5
Friday 10-1

An adviser will give initial advice and may refer you to an appropriate project within the Moneyworks Partnership or signpost you to an external organisation.

If you are struggling to get through and just require Debt Advice you can call National Debt line Tel 0808 808 4000, Step change Tel 0800 138 1111 or Payplan Tel 0800 280 2816. These are national, free and impartial services