Single Parent FAQs: Cost of living increase

21/04/2022

Our advice and information team who work on our Lone Parent Helpline, webchat and Ask a Question feature, receive questions from single parents around Scotland every day.

Our new feature – Single Parent FAQs – on our newsletter and blog spotlights Frequently Asked Questions on a different topic each month.

This month, our advice team have been receiving a lot of calls from single parents regarding the rising cost-of-living.

Take a look at the FAQ's

I have no idea how I am going to pay my fuel bills; I’m already struggling and there is a rise now for April and then in October?

Home Energy Scotland can give advice about reducing your fuel bills more info can be found on its website.

My children go to a school out with the catchment area and the bus fares have gone up in price, is there a grant that could help towards their fares?

From the 31^st of January this year children and young people up to the age of 21 can apply for free bus travel around Scotland.

See more information and how to apply.

Is there anywhere I can get help to buy a washing machine, it’s costing me a fortune using laundrettes?

You can apply to the Scottish Welfare Fund for a washing machine you can also search for grants from Turn 2 Us.

Can I can check to see if I’m on the correct benefits to see if there is anything else I can claim?

You can get in touch with one of our advisers and we could do a benefit check to check entitlement.

I own my home and my boiler and radiators are not fit for purpose, both myself and my son have a disability and we cannot afford a new boiler can I get a grant for this, as a new boiler and new radiators would make the new energy increases a little easier to deal with if the boiler was efficient.

Home Energy Scotland have information on grants to make your home more energy efficient to save money and make your home greener.

Are there any other places that I can get cheap food for my family, we are regulars at the food bank, but they have said they are really struggling for donations, and they are going to make it referral only and limit the use of their foodbank to 3 times?

There are local pantries that offer reduced price foods to reduce food waste you can find details of your local pantry and how it works.

I have just applied for benefits and received a letter to say the DWP are going to be taking an overpayment of tax credits from 3 years ago, is there any way to reduce the amount they are taking off?

You can get in touch with DWP and send an income and expenditure and ask them to reduce the overpayments and take longer to pay them off, in some cases depending on circumstances you can ask for the amount to be written off, more info on recovery can be found here.

Will there be any help this year like the Warm Home Discount Scheme?

The Government are making some changes to the scheme for 2022/2023 so keep checking with your supplier nearer the winter to see criteria.

I have fuel debt of £600 and I just don’t see a way of paying this back on top of the current increase in fuel, is there any grants or schemes that I can apply to help me clear this debt?

It is always worth speaking to your own supplier, sometimes they have grants that can be applied for to reduce energy debt. British Gas Energy Trust can also help even if you are not a British/Scottish Gas customer. Grants are issued straight to the supplier if successful more information and how to apply can be found here.

See our previous issues of Single Parent FAQs on:

Remember you can submit your own question via the Ask A Question feature on our website any time and our expert advisers will respond.