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Too much month at the end of your money? Memuna may be able to help you

Memuna supports residents to increase the pounds in their pocket.
Tower Hamlets Homes -
19 May 2022

Are you struggling with too much money at the end of your money? Financial Inclusion and Tenancy Support Officer Memuna may be able to offer some help. She is a Welfare Benefits expert, and she helps to increase people’s money. She estimates that as many as 2,000 benefits Tower Hamlets households do not receive all the benefits they are entitled to and would like you to contact the Financial Inclusion team for a detailed benefit check. This simple check could help to put more pounds and pennies into your purse. 

Memuna explains how she recently helped a resident:

“Marion told me that that someone had helped her to make her Universal Credit claim and she was correctly receiving full housing benefits of £105.59/week for her rent. She was also receiving Employment Support Allowance (ESA) which is where I spotted something was wrong. 

Marion is single and lives alone, her long history of mental illness means that she qualifies for the severe disability premium of up to an additional £69.40 week.

I checked all her paperwork and discovered that this element of Severe Disability Premium was missing from her award. She had been underpaid since 2019 and my calculations suggested that she was owed a lot of money. With Marion’s consent I spoke to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). They had no record of Marion’s Disability Living Allowance Benefits, so the additional disability related premium of Employments Support Allowance Income based Benefits, she qualifies for were missing from her original claim.

Her ESA claim was updated immediately so her weekly income increased from £131.75 to £201.15. However, there was a delay to the back payment because of the DWP processes. However, once the DWP processed their manual calculations Marion was amazed to learn that she was owed over £10,000 in backdated payments.

For a long time, Marion lived hand to mouth, barely surviving on the money she received. Her fragile health suffered from the poor-quality meals she frequently ate, and the constant money worries had added to her anxiety and made her fragile mental health worse. 

She cleared her arrears when she received the payment and I’ve helped her to put a budget together.” 

The benefits system is complicated, and this is just one of many cases Memuna has worked on. You may be one of the estimated 2,000 residents with benefits underpayments so, if you are struggling, contact us to arrange a free benefits check by calling 020 7364 5015.

*Name has been changed. 

Picture of a coin jar turned on its side with coins spilling out.
Picture of a coin jar turned on its site with coins spilling out.
Tower Hamlets Homes -
19 May 2022