Coping with the Cost of Living

"We're all feeling the pressure of rising prices". John Casson, L'Arche UK National Leader, speaks on coping with the cost of living. Here are some things that could help.

What L'Arche can do

Pay. In April we moved to Real Living Wage for the first time. Keeping pay fair will remain a top priority for the L’Arche Board.
Interest free loan: L’Arche can give you an interest free advance up to 50% of your salary. Ask your Assistants Coordinator (AC) for the application form.
L’Arche Benevolent Trust: Our sister charity gives grants to L’Arche employees facing hardship. Details on the intranet or from your AC.
Free and independent financial advice and counselling through CareFirst, 24/7. Call 0800 174319.
Professional fees: L’Arche pays your DBS and PVG vetting costs, and will now also pay SSSC fees in Scotland.
Blue Light Card: L’Arche will reimburse the cost of this discount card for Live Out assistants.
Childcare vouchers (Busy Bees vouchers): you may be eligible for tax-free childcare if you work more than 16 hours a week. Your AC can talk to Payroll about it for you.

Help outside L'Arche

Blue Light Card gives discounts to care workers online and on the high street. £4.99 for 2 years which L’Arche will reimburse.
Discounted broadband is available if you are on Universal Credit. Search for ‘broadband social tariff’ on Which?.
The Care Workers' Charity gives grants to care workers in financial hardship.
Citizens Advice will help check you are getting the help you are entitled to with energy bills and from the Government.
The Money and Pensions Service for money and pensions guidance.
Money Saving Expert for lots of tips on keeping fuel bills down, and what to do if you are struggling to pay.
Debt Advice from charities like Step Change and National Debtline.

Helping each other in L'Arche

Do keep talking about your experiences and ideas. Everyone is facing cost of living pressures and we want to be there for each other

Please share your ideas and experiences with others in your Community, and in the comments below.

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Encourage the use of thermal underwear, woolly socks and jumpers and keep the heating at a moderate level. Of course everyone needs to be warm enough but wearing winter clothing and especially layers really helps. Also make sure that all assistants know how to use heating controls and know to keep heating low or off if people are out. Setting thermostats just a degree lower really makes a difference and younger assistants who haven’t previously run a home may be less aware of this.

From: Louise Heatley

Published: 07 November 2022
We probably as a community can gather all together and first find the way how to have a care package increase for people with learning disabilities in accordance with prices increase. Then from then starting how could we manage to help workers in this difficult time the whole world is going through. Bonus package weekends bank holiday late nights or night up is one case it should be looked into long time ago in all care sector system

From: Alkina Dema

Published: 04 November 2022
Hi Megan Thanks for raising this. If you received childcare vouchers in 2018, you are still entitled to them now. If you didn't, you can still get help with childcare from the Government. There is advice on it here: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/ It has a section to help you decide if it is for you and also a link to apply

From: Debbie Walker

Published: 03 November 2022
Hi, I thought childcare vouchers were discontinued in 2018, am I right? Just so everyone knows exactly what they are entitled too. :)

From: Megan Heatley

Published: 02 November 2022
Thanks @JulieG - i like the idea of structured community building activity where we support each other. One of the other ideas like that came up when the Community Leaders discussed this was the idea of a monthly batch cooking event, where assistants and houses alike get great value great tasting food to put in the freezer for the month ahead. I'd be interested to know whether people would welcome these kinds of things, and if you know of anyone who is doing batch cooking or wholesale shopping that we can learn from?

From: John Casson

Published: 02 November 2022
I've no idea whether this is financial or practically viable, but I wonder whether, instead of doing weekly 'Tesco' shops, we could use our size and collective buying power as communities to buy staples in bulk, not just for houses but also to pass the savings on to assistants? Could buying items from a wholesaler and having a mini 'shop' for dry and tinned goods and household items be something that core members could be supported to do? There are also various apps such as OLIO that encourage redistribution of food from supermarkets. I'm thinking of this as a semi-structured daytime activity rather than just an 'add-on' for already busy assistants to support.

From: Julie Gittins

Published: 01 November 2022
Thanks for posting this Laura - it’s important point. For core members living in supported housing they’ll certainly be seeing their food and other shopping bills go up and up. In most cases their rents and electricity/gas bills won’t go up until next April, but there will be a steep rise then. So it’s even more important to support people to budget well so that they don’t hit a financial crisis. Maybe it’s a topic for house nights or listening groups - ideas on how to live well when prices are high. There are good accessible resources on the Learning Disability England site www.learningdisabilityengland.org.uk/cost-of-living-resources/ to get the conversation started. I’d love us to share suggestions and tips that come out of such discussions - and I hope people will post them here.

From: Kathleen Boyle

Published: 28 October 2022
Energy provider "Octopus" has got lots of advice; BBC Radio 4 "Moneybox" programme has got lots of advice; "Look after my bills" has got lots of advice; as we are very stretched in the community most of our personal energy is used to get as little ill as possible, support those who do by filling gaps; to spend additional free time to get together and talk about it and come to some recommendations/decisions as a community does not seem very realistic at present; with Covid we had lots of recommendations and decisions were made and emailed around; not so with this crises; (Agnes from l'Arche London)

From: Agnes Ziebarth

Published: 28 October 2022
Laura that's a great point - @KathleenBoyle can you point us to the resources to help people get the extra money that is available? And beyond that I'm really keen to hear what's the best way to share practical things we can do with everyone in our Communities - @LAuraBlundo @LucyWInter @AgnesZiebarth??

From: John Casson

Published: 28 October 2022
Tom & Abiodun, you are right that L'Arche hasn't traditionally paid a higher weekend or overtime rate (or only in rare situations). From what I understand that was partly about keeping the idea that we are here for each other on special days as a community, not just because someone pays us to be there. But there is certainly a case for saying that we want to be BOTH great community AND great employers so we should follow what other good employers do. If so, we need to choose how we use any additional money we can find for pay - is it better to use it to increase the basic hourly rate overall, or to spend it on paying enhanced rates for overtime / weekends & holidays / lone working / challenging work? I'm really interested in what you everyone thinks about that?

From: John Casson

Published: 28 October 2022

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