Financial hardship advice

We are here to help and support you in times of financial difficulty by offering a variety of advice from finding housing, the benefits you may be entitled to receive to free local leisure activities.

Benefits

Make sure you are receiving the right benefits for your needs

• Benefit calculator - Get an instant entitlement quote online.
• Council tax benefit - If you need financial help to pay your council tax bill.
• Housing benefit - If you need financial help to pay all of or part of your rent.

Direct gov website has some useful benefits pages

• Benefits and financial support - General overview about the types of support available.
• Beginner's guide to benefits - See if you are entitled to receive benefits.
• Pension credits - The Pensions Service is a dedicated service for current and future pensioners. Pension credits could mean extra money for you every week.
• Citizens Advice Bureau - Information on benefits and tax credits for different groups of people such as unemployed, sick or disabled.
  
• Age Concern benefits calculator - This is an online calculator to help older people work out what benefits they are entitled to.

Jobs and training

Find out more about the opportunities available in Brent.

• Brent council job vacancies - See what opportunities are available with the council
• New deal traineeships - See details about personalised programmes of work and skills training opportunities.
• Sports qualifications - If you are considering a change of career we have some excellent courses in sports and fitness coaches or officials.
• Adult education (2129Kb.pdf) - On page 11 of the Brent Adult Education (BACES) brochure is a section called Improve your job prospects with BACES.
• Debt counselling - This page contains a directory of useful organisation that may be able to offer you advice and solutions to debt.
• Brent in2 Work - Our partnership programme.

Housing

See what your options are if you have concerns about your living arrangements.

• Apply for housing - Find out if you are eligible for council housing.
• Rent arrears - Some useful advice is available if you are having trouble paying your rent.
• Eviction - If you are facing eviction from your home see what advice is available.
• Shelter - Top ten tips to avoid repossession - Shelter provide free housing advice on 0808 800 4444.
• Mortgage help on Direct Gov - This information will give you the tools you need to prevent your home being repossessed.
• Rent arrears, evictions and homelessness - Directgov has general information about evictions and homelessness.

Business help

See what assistance is available for your business.

• Business advice - If you have concerns about your business you may find the links on this page useful.
• Employers - help with redundancies - Job Centre plus can provide solutions to suit your business circumstances.
• Help and support during the recession - The Business Link website contains a wealth of information and advice for businesses during this uncertain time.

Leisure activities 

• Free swimming sessions - Children under 16 can swim for free until March 2011. 

The environment

• Sustainable purchasing - Buying a sustainable product can help both to reduce our environmental impact and it won't cost the earth.

Health

• NHS Credit Crunch help - If you're feeling stressed because of job insecurity, redundancy, debt or financial problems, don't wait for things to get really bad before seeking help.