Help for you
Help when your home has become hard to manage
If your home has become difficult to live in, you’re not alone. Asking for help doesn’t mean losing control, and you don’t need to know whether you qualify before you get in touch.
When things have become difficult
Signs your home may need some practical help
Homes change gradually, and it can be hard to notice how much day-to-day life has been affected. Some signs that practical help could make things easier and safer:
- Getting to the front door, or moving between rooms, has become difficult.
- Some rooms can no longer be used for what they’re meant for.
- Cooking, washing or sleeping comfortably has become hard.
- The boiler, fuse box or meters are difficult to reach.
- You’ve put off letting in repair workers, visitors or a gas safety check.
- It feels like too much to know where to start.
None of these mean you’ve done something wrong. They’re signs that the right support could help. Our page on hoarding and home safety explains the practical risks in more detail.
Your home, your say
Asking for help doesn’t mean losing control
Many people worry that asking for help will mean strangers taking over, or being told everything has to go. That isn’t how we work.
- You’re involved in decisions about your belongings.
- Plans are discussed with you before any work is agreed.
- Support goes at a pace you can manage.
- The aim is a safer, more usable home – not an empty one.
What it can involve
What funded or subsidised support may look like
Every home is different, so support is shaped around what’s needed most. It often starts with the things that make the biggest difference to safety and daily life.
Safe routes through the home
Clear paths to doors, windows and the rooms you use most.
An essential room working again
A kitchen you can cook in, a bathroom you can use or a bed you can sleep in.
Fewer immediate risks
Moving things away from heaters, cookers and electrics, and making access safer.
A new life for things you no longer need
Where appropriate, reusable items are passed on rather than thrown away.
Practical work is carried out by experienced clearance partners. You can read more about what happens during a hoarding clearance.
After you get in touch
What happens next
We read your enquiry
Someone reads what you’ve written carefully and gets back to you in the way you’ve asked.
We talk things through
We listen, ask a few gentle questions and get a sense of what would help most.
A look at the home, by agreement
If it’s useful, we arrange to see the home at a time that suits you.
We tell you clearly what we can offer
We explain whether funded or subsidised support may be available, and what it would cover.
Your belongings
Your things will be treated with respect
Your belongings matter, including the ones other people might not understand. Anything personal – photographs, letters, documents or keepsakes – is handled carefully. Decisions are talked through with you wherever possible, and nobody will judge what you choose to keep.
Not every item can always be kept if the home is to become safe, but those conversations happen with you, not around you.
Funding
Support may be full, partial or unavailable
Hoarder Help Fund is for people who can’t reasonably afford the practical help they need. What we can offer depends on your circumstances, an assessment of the home and the funds available at the time.
This depends on eligibility, assessment and available funds.
How funded and subsidised support works explains this in more detail.
If you’re not sure whether you qualify, that’s okay. Tell us what’s happening and we’ll talk it through with you.
Whenever you’re ready, we’re here.
There’s no pressure and no obligation. Tell us a little about what’s happening and we’ll take it from there.