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 free debt advice 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 How to deal with debt 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)
• Information to help you understand your financial situation, including encouraging and empowering you to take control of your finances
• Exploring ways for you to increase your income and/or reduce your expenditure if you're struggling financially (including welfare benefits and tax credits)
• Signposting you to additional services or resources

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: Mental Health & Money Advice (mentalhealthandmoneyadvice.org)

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.

Budget Planner

We want to help you know exactly where your money is being spent, and how much you’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  

Money Navigator

If you’ve got money worries because of coronavirus, you’re not alone. The Money Navigator can give you guidance based on your particular situation. Whether your income is down and you’re worried about your future finances, you’ve lost your job or are facing redundancy, or are self-employed and can’t do your job, Money Navigator can help. Find out:

• what issues you need to deal with first
• ways of to staying on top of your bills
• how to find extra support you’re entitled to where to get extra help.

Money Manager for Universal Credit claimants

If you’re on Universal Credit or think you might be using it in the future, this tool could help you if:

• you’re making a new claim
• you're moving to Universal Credit from another benefit
• you need help budgeting while waiting for your first Universal Credit payment
• you've recently had a change to your benefit payment