Help for families with balancing the Christmas budget (News from Thame CAB)

CHRISTMAS is a time for family and for celebrations. For many 2009 has been a hard year and lots of us may feel relieved if we have reached the end of it with our jobs and bank balances intact! So it?s a relief to have a piece of good news, which will help some families balance those Christmas budgets.

More families with children will now be able to get help towards paying their rent, thanks to new changes to benefit rules. Parents who receive Child Benefit and rent their homes but who at present get no housing benefit should check their entitlement again.

Thame CAB has worked out that a single parent with two children, for example, who previously just missed out on getting any help towards paying the rent could now be entitled to housing benefit of up to