Pat Fernandes It’s All About Money Project Manager Pat.Fernandes@Advice4Renters.uk Diana Young

1. Pat Fernandes It’s All About Money Project Manager Pat.Fernandes@Advice4Renters.org.uk Diana Young Under One Roof Project Manager Diana.young@advice4renters.org.uk

2. Debt Causes Mental Health Problems and Mental Health Problems Cause Debt! A 2017 Christians Against Poverty survey found that 73% of those seeking debt help said debt made them ill. 1 in 3 people who are in arrears go on to develop a mental health issue.* You are 4 – 6 times more likely to have a debt crisis if you have a mental health issue.* *Martin Lewis - MSE

3. Research by the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute has shown that mental health problems can also make it difficult to deal with money day to day. Mental health problemscan affect motivation, judgement and income as well as your ability to do things like make calls or even open post.

4. & It’s all About Money is an Advice4Renters project designed to tackle financial exclusion in Brent by empowering people to take greater control of their money, stay on top of their day to day finance and get back on track. Under One Roof is a longer term (up to 6 months) befriending and mentoring project designed to assist all Advice 4 Renters visitors and clients to better manage their tenancy, finances and their lives beyond their initial legal matters.

5. Dedicated to improving the financial well-being, capability and resilience of the community.  • Providing Community Money Mentors to assist with managing money wisely, budgeting, grant applications, switching utilities and meeting needs for less. • Providing access to fair financial services through Brent Mutual (part of Hillingdon Credit Union). • Helping people to save and offering affordable access to credit - particularly for those on a low income.

6. Supporting Communities to Support Their Community • We provide community money mentors 1:1 at several outreach centres to work with anyone seeking to improve their financial situation by helping them to put together their own realistic budget, helping clients to track day to day spending, understanding their spending habits, identify where they can make savings, get the best deals, maximise their income and start to build financial resilience. • Our educational program provides a series of workshops right in the heart of communities, schools, low income employers, faith groups and tenants associations to help clients better understand their financial options and training their community volunteers to refer and signpost to free integrated money management and debt advice.

7. “Households who operate solely on a cash budget are unable to make savings via direct debits on utility bills, are more vulnerable to loss or theft and they are far more likely to use the alternative credit market and pay interest several times higher than standard personal loans, often leading to unmanageable debt.” Brent Financial Inclusion Strategy, 2015

8. It’s All About Money offers communities the opportunity to establish a culture of saving through community banking and financial services in the heart of their community by setting up and running their own Community Savers’ Club through Brent Mutual (part of Hillingdon Credit Union). In collaboration with Brent Mencap we plan to set up the first ‘branch’ of a Credit Union for and run by people with learning disabilities this autumn.

9. Matches trained volunteer mentors 1:1 for up to 6 months with people who are isolated, have English as a second language, lack confidence and need help with day to day challenges. Many have long-term health problems combining high stress and low income with few or no social networks. Some health problems are exacerbated by damp and mould in their homes. Feeling powerless to make any difference to their lives, many see little chance of change in the future for themselves and do not know how to begin to tackle their circumstances.

10. The pairs meet weekly in a neutral space to work on pre-agreed goals such as negotiating with landlords, advocating at meetings, searching for more suitable accommodation, being a ‘listening ear’ when many have no-one to talk to. • Although the work of the volunteers is largely practical, we find our clients make most improvement in their stress levels, mental health, self confidence and ability and motivation to make changes in their lives.

11. Working Together These services are integrated For many an It’s All About Money financial overhaul and review, new found awareness, new skills and where possible, a supportive community culture of savings, financial capability and resilience are all they need to better manage their money and aspire to financial goals they may never have dreamed of.

12. Working Together However for those needing ongoing support Under One Roof comes into its own picking up where It’s All About Money leaves off – assisting those overwhelmed by their situation, making use of the good work already done and help our clients continue on the right path.

13. What difference do these services make? Let’s take a typical case that actually happened. Meet Angela, a full-time working single parent with an 8 year old daughter. Her landlord is harassing her, she is scared of him and he has now served her with a notice to quit. On top of this, Angela is training to be a nurse but this involves working night shifts much of the time.  So she doesn’t get regular nights’ sleep and spends little time with her daughter, leading to arguments and a fraught relationship. 

14. Although earning a reasonable income, Angela was paying for some overnight childcare and for someone to take her daughter to school. She was incurring financial problems caused by high childcare costs, was regularly using a food bank and her debts were increasing. On top of it all, her boiler broke down! Time for the mentors.

15. Ellie boosted Angela’s confidence to negotiate to reduce her night shifts. This cut her childcare costs and also meant Angela spent more time with her daughter, so their relationship greatly improved . Ellie helped with searching and finding accommodation, planning for the move and settling into her new flat. And meanwhile, she referred Angela to It’s All About Money. Steve helped to review all her spending and create a weekly budget so that Angela could track all her spending and understand where all of her money was going.Steve did a grant search and found that Angela would be entitled to additional funds through Universal Credit and could access a grant to help with white good for her new flat. Angela actually found that she could put some money away every week into her credit union account and is now saving for a short break holiday with her daughter next year.

16. + = • Giving support financially, practically and emotionally • Offering hope, motivation, self belief and a way forward • Giving people dignity when they are at their lowest • Preventing people spiralling into hopelessness & depression • Our clients then can become …. our volunteers • Supporting community

17. “The big problem has gone and now I have a safe home and I’m talking to family and friends” What our clients say “I didn’t think that you could possibly find me any spare money to save” “It was good having someone to talk to” “It’s like talking to a friend. I felt a connection with her straight away” “I just got into a mess with money when my partner left me. I didn’t know what to do. Now I feel more in control, thank you” “I’m so glad I found you. I don’t know what I would have done – I feel positive now” “I learned so much on the money management workshop – lots of tips and how to talk to my kids about money”