Scope – England and Wales 

Scope offers free energy and water advice to disabled people. The service is open to any disabled person or household where one or more disabled people live as long as those households are in England or Wales. Don’t worry, Scottish and Northern Irish Friends, we will be coming to you next. You can receive advice through email or telephone appointment. 

You can find out more information here, at or contact them via phone on 080808 801 0828, or email Disability.EnergySupport@scope.org.uk 

Citizens Advice – England

Citizens Advice have pulled together advice on how to get help with the cost of living. From benefits to possible help from your local council and even where to get help with essential costs.

More information can be found on their website or you can give them a call on their adviceline. 0800 144 8848 for England and 0800 702 2020 for Wales.  

Citizens Advice – Scotland 

Citizens Advice Scotland has lots of information on ways to help with energy bills, including information on benefits and grants.

For more information, please check out their website, or give them a call on 0800 028 1456. 

Citizens Advice Scotland also offers a money map that will help you find sources of online support to increase your income, reduce your bills and ease the cost of daily living. Information can be found here.

Advice NI – Northern Ireland

Advice NI has information on how to save money on your fuel and energy bills and where to find support.

More information can be found on their website. Or you can phone their Freephone advice helpline: 0800 915 4604  

NI Energy Advice offers free independent and impartial energy advice to domestic householders in Northern Ireland, including advice about energy grants and other sources of help. You can contact them on Freephone: 0800 111 4455 or see their website here.

You may not be aware that some telecoms providers offer social tariffs to people and families on a low income.  

BT and KCOM offer home broadband and phone social tariffs to customers on a low income that meet certain benefit criteria.  

Broadband social tariffs are also available from Hyperoptic, Virgin Media, G.Network, Now, Sky and sometimes Community Fibre, although eligibility and coverage can vary. 

The only social tariff available on mobile is from VOXI on a six-month limited plan featuring unlimited 5G data, calls, and texts.

A more detailed breakdown of the services offered can be found on the Choose website, here.

For help with driving and using public transport if you have a mobility issue the NHS have a great website.

Amongst other things, it can tell if you might be entitled to discounts on public transport, help you find local community transport schemes and help with costs to travel to hospital or other NHS settings for treatment.  

It also offers possible ways of supporting disabled drivers through road tax reductions, blue badge applications and the Mobility Scheme.

Please see the dedicated page on the NHS website for more information. 

The Money Saving Expert website offers a wide range of help around cost of living, including budgeting and a benefits calculator, and a section on deals and shopping which you might find helpful.

Ataxia UK CEO, Sue Millman, was one of the signatories of the Open Letter to the Chancellor of Exchequer, urging him to consider the impact the cost of living crisis has on those living with neurological conditions. 

This letter was signed by 37 neurological charities and you can read it in its entirety here.