If money is a worry right now

MoneyHelper

Best first call for general money worry, benefits checks and "where do I even start?"

MoneyHelper is the free guidance service backed by government (run by the Money and Pensions Service). It covers every money topic — bills, benefits, debt, pensions, housing costs — and can point you to a free local debt adviser if you need one. Nothing is sold, and you don't have to give your name.

Call 0800 011 3797 (Mon–Fri) · webchat and guides at moneyhelper.org.uk

StepChange

Best when the problem is debt and you want someone to take charge of a plan with you.

StepChange is the UK's largest debt charity. They give full, regulated debt advice: they'll go through your income and debts, tell you which solutions fit — from a budget rework to a debt management plan or formal options — and can deal with your creditors. Their online tool gives you a personal action plan in about 20 minutes if you'd rather not phone.

Call 0800 138 1111 (Mon–Fri, Sat morning) · online debt advice at stepchange.org

National Debtline

Best if you want expert advice but prefer to handle things yourself, with templates and a plan.

National Debtline is run by the Money Advice Trust, a charity. Their advisers give free, independent debt advice over the phone and webchat, and their site is full of practical tools — sample letters to creditors, a budgeting tool, and fact sheets on everything from council tax arrears to bailiffs' powers (what they can and cannot do).

Call 0808 808 4000 (Mon–Fri, Sat morning) · tools and webchat at nationaldebtline.org

The adviser builds a Standard Financial Statement with you — the common budget format that creditors across the UK have agreed to accept — and works out your available income: what is left after the things you cannot stop paying. Then they use that figure to deal with your creditors. Here is the shape of it, with illustrative figures.

Sam takes home £1,750 a month. The costs Sam cannot stop paying come to £1,522:

• Rent £720
• Council tax £140
• Gas and electricity £125
• Water £38
• Food and household £320
• Travel to work £120
• Phone and broadband £45
• Contents insurance £14

That leaves £228 a month of available income. But Sam owes £2,400 on a credit card, £600 on a store card and £4,000 on a personal loan — £7,000 in total — and the contractual minimum payments on those come to £265. Sam is £37 a month short before a single unexpected bill arrives.

What a debt adviser does with that is make pro-rata offers: each creditor is offered a share of the £228 in proportion to what they are owed, and asked to accept it and freeze interest.

• Credit card — £2,400 of £7,000, so 34% of the money: £78 a month
• Store card — £600 of £7,000, so 9%: £20 a month
• Personal loan — £4,000 of £7,000, so 57%: £130 a month

The offers add up to exactly £228, all of Sam's available income, shared in proportion to each debt. Sam now has one affordable figure instead of three demands, and if the interest is frozen the balance starts falling. (Illustrative figures. Your own numbers, and the solution that fits them, are what the adviser will work through with you — that might be pro-rata offers, or a debt management plan, or a formal option such as a Debt Relief Order, an IVA or bankruptcy.)

If you want to see your own version of the first half of that sum before you ring anyone, our survival budget calculator works out the floor your life costs each month. It is arithmetic, not advice, and nothing you type leaves your device.

In England and Wales, the Debt Respite Scheme — everyone calls it Breathing Space — has been running since 4 May 2021. A standard Breathing Space gives you 60 days during which interest and charges on qualifying debts are frozen, most enforcement action has to stop, and creditors are not allowed to contact you chasing payment. You can have one once in any 12-month period.

There is a second version. A mental health crisis Breathing Space is available if you are receiving mental health crisis treatment, and it lasts for as long as that treatment continues, plus a further 30 days. There is no once-a-year limit on it, and someone else — an approved mental health professional, or a carer or nominated person acting for you — can get it started while you are unwell.

You cannot apply for it yourself. A Breathing Space can only be started by an FCA-authorised debt adviser, or by a local authority that provides debt advice to its residents. StepChange and National Debtline can start one for you.

In Scotland the equivalent is the statutory moratorium on diligence, which since 1 October 2022 gives six months of protection from creditor enforcement while you decide on a solution such as a Debt Payment Programme under the Debt Arrangement Scheme, a trust deed or sequestration. Money Advice Scotland and Citizens Advice Scotland can arrange it. In Northern Ireland there is no equivalent scheme, so get free advice early — Advice NI's freephone debt line is 0800 915 4604.

Call even if your paperwork is a mess. The call goes faster with these to hand:

• What comes in each month (wages, benefits, anything else)
• Your big regular bills — rent or mortgage, council tax, energy
• A rough list of who you owe and about how much — guesses are fine
• Any letters that mention court, bailiffs, eviction or disconnection — those first

Buzz Money Coach provides money coaching, not debt advice. We don't recommend debt solutions or negotiate with creditors, and we're not permitted to; the free services above do that at no cost, with legal protections behind them.

Coaching can help afterwards, when the immediate pressure is off. The free Financial Freedom Score is a first step then.