What are crisis loans for?

dreamylittledream

tinktinktinkerbell wrote: »

how would we have been able to pay it when we were getting no benefit (it wasnt sorted at the time) we couldnt have a key meter and we had no money?

The electric company would not cut you off instantly - or indeed within a few weeks whilst your benefit claim was being sorted.

You'd have been able to pay it then from the arrears payment. Or the electirc company would have taken a payment from your benefits when they were in payment.

Its a long and winding process to disconnect someone's electricity supply - it takes months and it only would happen if you didn't make the company aware of your circumstances.

Its a fairly similar situation with rent whilst you await LHA to come into payment - rent is not paid by crisis loans so the landlord just has to wait for the time it takes. It takes months to evict someone just as it takes months to disconnect a power supply.

They don't enter into these things lightly or cut off your electric just becuase you miss one or two payments y'know...

There has to be an immediate risk to health or safety for a crisis loan to be paid - not one some months down the line for a hypothetical situation that probably would not happen.

Amistoso_2

Just want to clarify, that you would definately not get money to pay an outstanding bill of any kind from a crisis loan, no matter how close you were to being cut off! However you would get money for payment into a meter. I also can clarify that you would not get money for a bed from crisis loan as the most they can usualy give you through this means is around £60 a time and is mostly meant for food, nappies and gas/electric meters, perhaps you could try a social fund loan?
(I used to be a crisis loan decision maker, so I do know what I'm talking about)