Friend In Need

[DonaldDuck92]

I have a British friend who has lived abroad for the last 20 years. She's in her mid 40s and is a single mum to a teenage lad.

She split up from her partner a few years back and has been living with her mother since then. She has no formal agreement with her ex over contributing $£ for the boy and she doesn't own any property.

For the last three years I've seen her scrape by cleaning houses and doing odd jobs. She just can't catch a break and life has been a struggle. She's just lost her main source of income. She's driving a 17 year old banger that just died and no funds for a new one. It was her mode of getting to work.

Her current living arrangements are coming to an end. She needs to come back to the UK and she can scrape together about enough for plane tickets. She's at breaking point and can't get out of the cycle.

Does anyone know what options would be available to her for short term emergency housing, and then long-term options? Who would she need to contact and what type of help could the state provide and what would be needed?

I want to be a supportive friend in helping with advice.

[bednobs]

does she have any friends or relative who can put her up here?

[DonaldDuck92]

Unfortunately not and as much as I would do it, I'm not in a scenario to be able to.

[david small]

It’s very sad. Some folk will pay £30,000 for a handbag. Others sleep under a bridge on cardboard. The Salvation Army are a good start for ways to get assistance.

[pat2604]

I too would recommend the Salvation Army for advice initially. They really do care about people with this sort of problem and are easy to talk to.

[bednobs]

is your friend not entitled to any assistance in her country?

[bednobs]

i think she needs to consider what she would do over here - you can't just get off a plane and get accommodation, schools, job, money the same day.
She might be better off staying in the country she's in and finding a new job, and that would be a more stable situation for her child than to take him to a foreign country

[Buenchico]

The charity, Shelter, is another good source of advice on housing matters, including emergency accommodation: https://england.shelter.org.uk/get_help

[LadyCG]

How awful. Could you start a Just Giving page to help facilitate her repatriation?

If you put a link up I'd be happy to donate.

[emmie]

on leaving the country and coming back here, won't she be asked if she has an address where she is staying in UK?

[barry1010]

Who would ask her that, emmie?

[emmie]

depends on whether she has a British passport.... then probably no one, but i was stopped at a US airport and was asked where i was staying, perhaps we have the same arrangement here, if she would be travelling on a foreign passport.

[barry1010]

There are plenty of people in the UK living in that same scenario, struggling to make ends meet, worrying about paying bills, having to move home for a myriad of reasons, dependant on food banks.
If she has no family in the UK that can give her practical help she could be better off staying where she is.

[emmie]

i agree with you bednobs, barry...

[bednobs]

donald, are you able to say in which country she is currently residing? Somebody might know something about help available in that country i suppose