Hi, my name is shadowraven!

shadowraven

im wondering if anyone can help me with carpeting or cut offs as im on benefits due to paranoia and anxiety and  don't have enough to get carpet myself and i have nowhere else to go. i live in Threemilestone in truro Cornwall uk. the council i rent from  (housing benefit) was supposed to help with this but ive had no luck so far as they refuse to help due to the fact i have no dependants (children) through no fault of my own as i cant have children.

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poppy123456

HI and welcome,

Have you tried looking on gumtree at the freesites for your area? People often give things away for free. If you also have facebook then there will very likely be freesites on there, or even people selling some off cuts very cheap.

I don't know of any grants available for carpets. Unfortunately, all local councils have their own criteria for things like grants etc and it really depends on the funding they have.

If you're claiming certain benefits like Income Related ESA/JSA or Income Support then there's also a budgeting loan that you can apply for. How much you can apply for will depend on your circumstances but it does need to be repaid back from future benefit payments. https://www.gov.uk/budgeting-help-benefits if you're single then the maximum amount you can have is £348.

If you're claiming Universal Credit then it's an advance loan with similar criteria and the amount you can borrow is the same as a budgeting advance, which also needs to be repaid back. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/on-universal-credit/budgeting-advance/

Hope this helps.

chiarieds

Hi @shadowraven - & welcome to the community. I'm sorry you are having difficulty with this. Are you able to visit a carpeting supplier who may have some carpet/carpet tiles that you can use; this might be an option?

What benefits are you on? With Universal Credit you can get an advance payment equivalent to your first payment, tho you do have to pay this back within a year, which might help.

poppy123456

chiarieds said:

 With Universal Credit you can get an advance payment equivalent to your first payment, tho you do have to pay this back within a year, which might help.

This advance payment is only available when you first claim UC or sometimes when you report a change of circumstances.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-advances

Budgeting advances are available for those claiming UC but you must have been claiming certain means tested benefits for at least 6 months. The maximum a person can borrow if single with no dependents  is £348. https://www.gov.uk/budgeting-help-benefits/what-youll-get

Geoark

Hi @shadowraven sorry to hear the council are not being very supportive.

I noticed you particularly mentioned having children, but don't want to assume, are you female? Please don't fee you have to answer. If so there is a charity which may be able to help you. The Eaton Fund provides small grants to certain people and if female you may well qualify. The application would need to be made by an independent referee, this could be a social worker, housing officer or other key worker.  You can find out more at http://www.eaton-fund.co.uk/help-women.asp

If this is not right for you please let me know and I will see if I can find other grants that may be of help.

Cher_Alumni

Yaz1 said:

Thats well out of order.. 

@Yaz1 I'm inclined to agree; that the council won't help you @shadowraven because you don't have children seems really unfair. 

The advice you have received from our members is great and I'll do some research for other sources of help.   Good luck

emmarenshaw

Welcome to the community @shadowraven I’m so sorry you’re being treated this way, how awful. Please let me know how you are getting on and if you need help with anything else. I hope it gets resolved for you. If it doesn’t, I’d suggest contacting your nearest CAB to see if they can give you any advice on the council’s responsibility.