Life skills - managing your money

Looking after your own money is perhaps one of the most defining steps towards increasing independence as you move through school and leave home.

This page has information about accessible banking services, keeping to a budget, where to get advice about debt, gadgets and pieces of equipment to help you manage your cash, and also funding information for college and university students.

Banking and financial services

Banking services are covered by the Equality Act 2010 which means that your bank or building society must provide their services to you in a way that you can access. Our Money section has information on banks and banking, paying for goods and services, advice as well as details of our campaign to get more talking cash machines in the UK! The RNIB shop has lots of useful gadgets that can help you to identify coins and notes and produces a useful guide called 'Managing Money' which offers advice about chip and pin, managing foreign currency and getting financial advice.

Benefits and welfare rights

It is important to make sure you are receiving all of the benefits and welfare rights that you are entitled to. The type or sum of benefits you can get may change depending on your age, circumstances, living arrangements or learning or working status. Our Benefits section outlines the types of benefits available to people with a visual impairment including Disability Living Allowance (DLA).

Personal Independence Payments (PIP)

The Government is replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for people aged between 16 and 64 with a new benefit called Personal Independence Payment (PIP). You can find out more about the introduction of PIP and how this is likely to affect you if you are blind or partially sighted. If you are under 16, there are currently no plans to replace DLA for you.

The Government has not yet finalised all details for PIP. We understand many people are concerned about what the introduction of PIP will mean for them. If you are concerned and would like to talk to our Welfare Rights Advisers, you can contact them using the contact information below.

Further information and support

In England

If you have any welfare rights enquiries, please call our Helpline on 0303 123 9999 or email helpline@rnib.org.uk and our Welfare Rights Advisors can help to resolve any problems you have in getting the right support.

For further support, get in touch with your nearest Independent Living Co-ordinator (ILCo) from Action for Blind People. They can offer advice and guidance around day-to-day living, welfare rights, housing issues and managing personal budgets.

In Northern Ireland

RNIB Northern Ireland has a welfare rights service that offers support and information on the full range of social security benefits that blind and partially sighted people, may be eligible for. Our advisors can be contacted by emailing us at benefitsni@rnib.org.uk or call us on 028 9032 9373. You can also find out more about the services offered by RNIB Northern Ireland on our 'Benefits Advice Service' pages.

In Scotland

RNIB Scotland offer information and advice about the benefits and financial help you may be entitled to. For further information, contact RNIB Scotland's Benefit Helpline on 0845 602 4033.

In Wales

RNIB Cymru offers money advice and support for blind and partially sighted people living in Wales. This service can provide help with assessment of entitlement to benefits, form completion and challenging benefit awards or decisions.To find out more about this service visit our RNIB Cymru 'Money advice and support' pages.

Budgeting

If you are living independently for the first time, or have had problems getting into debt in the past, budgeting is a great way to try and keep within your limits. Budgeting well follows the very simple principle of knowing what your income and outgoings are, either on a weekly or monthly basis. Follow these tips to create your own budget:

• Work out your total income each month (from benefits, grants, pay from work etc.)
• Work out your fixed or regular outgoings, such as accommodation costs, energy bills, phone or broadband bills, regular charitable giving. Set these up as Direct Debits if possible, then you don't need to worry about making late payments.
• Work out your regular but variable outgoings, such as phone bills, travel and transport. If you review your spending over the last three or four months, you can estimate roughly what these things cost you.
• Hopefully so far your outgoings are less than your income! The money you have left is what you can spend on "food and fun", clothes, music, gadgets, entertainment or even for saving if you are doing really well!
• Divide up your "spending" money into a weekly amount.
• Keep an eye on your budget during the first few weeks and months of using it - if you have over or under-estimated any of your spending, adjust your "food and fun" allowance accordingly.
• Be careful of building up debt on credit or store cards, they may have high interest rates and it is more difficult to keep track of your spending if you only receive a monthly statement.

Debt advice

Getting into debt can be a worrying experience, and increasingly common in the current financial climate. Support is available to help. Visit our Debt advice pages for advice and support about debt.

Student funding

Various support is available to help with the cost of a college or university course. Visit Funding at College, Disabled Students Allowance or other funding to find out more.

Other money and finance publications