MILLIONS of households across the UK are struggling with a higher cost of living.
Food, fuel and energy are more expensive than usual and rising interest rates are increasing pressure on mortgage owners.
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But there are ways to help you financially during the winter, whether through special broadband deals, benefits and grants, and more.
Below, we break down the four different ways to get extra cash and lower your bills over the next few months.
Social broadband tariffs
Social broadband tariffs are available to people with certain benefits, including universal credit – they can reduce bills by hundreds of pounds a year.
But you will need to contact your provider to get one. If your supplier does not offer one, you can change company.
This month, figures revealed by Ofcom showed that the number of households benefiting from social broadband tariffs had risen from 55,000 to 136,000 since January.
This means millions of people are still not benefiting from tariffs, which could reduce bills by £230 a year.
In August, Sun Money called on the government, regulator Ofcom and providers to do more to support struggling customers.
We’ve launched a tool with cost-of-living champions Us to help highlight how much customers could save.
We have also called on companies to make it easier for customers to switch to tariffs.
How you apply will vary depending on your provider, as each will have their own eligibility rules.
Prices also vary, so it’s worth checking out different providers using price comparison sites such as Moneysupermarket.com or Uswitch.
Find lost pensions
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has estimated that around £19.4billion is unclaimed in workplace pensions.
This equates to a staggering average pot of £13,000 per person.
We previously reported on a worker who tracked down an old retirement jar only to find it had multiplied.
So it’s definitely worth browsing through old work pension pots to see what you’re entitled to and it shouldn’t take more than an hour.
To find your old pensions, you can use the government’s pension search service.
Benefits and Subsidies
Millions of people receive government benefits, but there are also many who are eligible and missing out.
It’s always worth checking with the benefits office to see what you might be in line for.
But before that, you can always use a benefits calculator.
Citizens Advice also has a full list of all the benefits you can claim on their website.
One benefit to which thousands of people are entitled but do not claim is care allowance.
According to the National Audit Office (NAO), around £230million has been underpaid to claimants over the past year.
This means that Attendance Allowance is the benefit with the highest underpayment rate.
In addition to benefits, there are a number of subsidy programs set up by companies and the government to help households.
The government distributes a number of cost of living payments to millions.
For the full list, you can read our guide here.
In addition, there is the Household Support Fund, Council Fiscal Support and Targeted Council Support.
Energy companies often provide subsidies to struggling customers as well.
For a full list of companies that do, you can read our article here.
Choose the right savings accounts
Banks raised interest rates after the Bank of England raised base rate multiples this year.
They have been fighting for the last few weeks to offer customers the best savings rates.
This has led some experts to suggest that savings rates could hit 5% within months. This is good news for people looking to save money.
Atom is a bank offering its customers competitive savings accounts.
It currently offers savers a return of 4.11% on savings of £50 or more in a year.
This means that if a customer saves £1000 over the year, they expect to earn an additional £41.10 over that time.
Again, it’s worth searching for the best deal using price comparison sites.
Because interest rates change so often, there’s no need to rush to buy a savings account, especially with rates expected to rise.
