Laurence Carr has worked at Yorkshire Housing for six years and in his role as a money coach, he helps customers manage their finances. He spoke to Inside Housing about how his team supports customers and how his role has evolved during the cost of living crisis.
How did you get into your current role?
I started off as a support worker with a housing association in Essex. I gradually progressed in that role, and then I became a benefit and debt advisor, before I moved to Yorkshire in 2016.
I’ve been here for six years and the role has evolved from benefit and money advice into what we call "money coaches". We’re basically trying to empower our customers and provide them with tools and advice to help with managing their finances.
Some people really want practical support, and others just want someone to listen to their situation and see if they can be signposted in the right direction towards some additional support.
How are customers referred for your support?
We accept referrals self-referrals from customers directly, usually via our website. But they can also come in through places like our customer experience centre or income department as they’re the teams that might notice someone in rent arrears, for example. Then we’ll do an initial assessment of needs, but that doesn’t just focus on the referral – we take a more holistic approach.
We’ll ask questions about the customer’s whole financial circumstances alongside their health and employment status, to try to get a full picture of what advice or coaching is needed.
Have you seen much change over the past year in the demographics of the people who are coming to see you for advice?
In the past, the more common type of referral would be someone whose benefits are their sole income. But in the past few months especially, I would say that we’ve been seeing more people who are employed coming to us and asking for help and advice, which I think is a sign of the times.
The cost of living crisis is impacting lots of different people who are struggling financially at the moment, whether that’s a single-person household, a couple, or a family who are worrying.
The cost of living crisis has really brought our team into the spotlight. We’re not just focusing on the support we can provide to our customers through what we’re doing, we’ve also got workshops set up for our colleagues and our frontline staff.
So on the one hand we can support colleagues who might be struggling, and we can also pass on more of this knowledge to them, which helps get this support and advice to customers.
What does the support you offer look like?
Initially, it involves trying to help stabilise people’s finances with a budget plan, to find out what’s coming in and what’s going out.
If the budget doesn’t balance, then we discuss whether there’s a way to focus on the essentials and the priority bills, and look at ways to maximise the customer’s income.
That’s why it’s important to understand things like their employment status and any health conditions, as they may be able to claim some additional benefits they didn’t know they were entitled to.
You might speak to someone who is struggling with an addiction or trying to get back into work after some time off with an illness, and if there’s a need for more specialist advice, then we can work together to create an action plan and point people in the direction of that support.
It’s important to have that immediate relief for people through food banks and energy top-ups – those are great and can be really useful at that precise moment. But it’s really about seeing what we can do over the longer term to try to help ease some of that pressure that the customer might be under.
Some of our customers struggle on a day-to-day basis and have limited reserves to fall back on when something unexpected occurs. To help with that, we’ve got a number of funds that customers can apply to, such as the Independence Fund, and we’re also finalising the details of another, which is called the Help Out Fund.
So that will hopefully be an extra bit of funding to help with increases in the cost of living. The issue with this role is that I’ve always worked with people who might be struggling, but now it’s affecting the whole nation.
That’s a big shift for us as a team – all of a sudden there are a lot more people trying to access our services and the same funds that are available. So I do think there is a danger that once we get to Christmas, these pots of money that used to last the entire financial year could start drying up, but that’s also where this new fund comes in.
How do you wind down after a difficult day?
When you’re speaking to people who are in crisis all the time, it can drain you emotionally, so, I’ll go for a walk. I’m lucky to live where I do – it’s a rural area, so I’ll go out and clear my head for a bit.
One of the things that's changed since lockdown is less time at the office, but as a team we still meet up about once a week to provide each other with support.
First published by Inside Housing in November 2022.
How much money has Yorkshire Housing helped customers claim so far this year?
As of November 2022, so far this year our money coaches have helped customers claim over £500,000 in benefits and grants they were entitled to. Our money coaches are on hand to speak to customers before they reach a crisis point, and work with them to help with things like bills, shopping, employment, health, wellbeing, and much more.
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