Financial Wellbeing Toolkit

• Budget Planner Tool: This free Budget Planner puts you in control of your household spending and analyses your results to help you take control of your money. It’s already helped hundreds of thousands of people.
• Budgeting and managing your money: Advice on running a bank account, planning your finances, and cutting costs.
• Help with scams: Advice for spotting, avoiding and recovering from scams.

See 'your pension' section for specific support about getting proactive about your pension. 

Here are a few websites that can help you proactively look at your finances during the cost of living crisis and beyond:

• Energy Saving Trust provides a variety of energy saving tips.
• Love Food Hate Waste provides food saving tips, helping to look after your money and the environment.
• Explore the Citizen's Advice budgeting tool to help you understand what you’re earning and spending and where you might be able to cut costs. 

• StepChange provides free, impartial and non-judgmental advice. Visit their website or call them on 0800 138 1111 (Mon-Fri 8am-8pm/ Sat 8am-4pm) to take the first step towards taking back control of your finances. They also have a range of web resources you can explore including:
  • A debt library for everything you need to know about debt.
  • Breathing Space information pages: to explain how the 60-day statutory Breathing Space scheme works and whether you could be eligible.
  • Life changes guide: to help you if you have experienced financial difficulty due to a change such as bereavement, long term illness, divorce or separation, or job loss.
  • Emergency funding: to give details of where to get help now and over the longer term if you've had cash crisis.
  • A guide to paying off a persistent debt: to provide help building a budget.
  • Debt stress guide: to help you deal with the stress debt causes.
  • Cost of living crisis pages: to provide support dealing with bills, emergency funding and dealing with the rising cost of living.

• Spectrum Life is our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) which is a confidential, neutral service provided by an external company to support colleagues at the University. Two of the support offerings they provide include financial and legal advice. 
• Find a free debt advisor with MoneyHelper, either in person, online or over the phone. 
• MoneyHelper also offer a variety of 'money troubles' support including dealing with debt, managing your money in uncertain times and scams.
• National Debtline provides free and independent debt advice over the phone and online.
• The NHS Web Pages have information and advice on coping with financial worries.
• Turn2us is a national charity providing practical help to people who are struggling financially, including a helpline. 
• The Citizens Advice Bureau has advice and resources to help with financial matters, including debt.
• The charity Mind has a money and mental health section on its website, which includes advice on how to manage debt. Mind also did a great feature called 'cost of living crisis' recently. 
• Mental Health & Money Advice offers information and advice for anyone struggling with money because of mental illness, or whose financial situation is affecting their mental health.

There is a significant link between money and mental health as each factor can really affect the other. For example being in debt can make you feel very anxious and if you are already experiencing depression you may lack motivation to manage your finances. To explore this link further do visit this webpage created by the mental health charity Mind.