A page for professionals to access or share home items
About Starting Over
Are you working with a person or family who is having difficulty accessing basic home items and furniture?
Such as:
- Bed
- Sofa
- Wardrobe
- White goods (fridge, cooker)
- Electrical items
- Curtains, bedding, towels
- Pots, pans, cutlery and crockery
- Food and toiletry packages
This page is aimed at professionals to help them source household items for people most in need.
If the person you are working with is able to access some items from family, social media sites or charities first this can help to ease some of the pressure on services.
How to access household items if you need to refer a person for support
Provision House - Home starter package
Providing a range of household goods and soft furnishings, to those less fortunate, is one of the founding services that Provision House has offered our clients since 2004
Referrals must come from council or voluntary sector organisations and the organisation has to pay a delivery free of £50 and dependent on what the ask is there may be a two week waiting period.
Watch this fabulous video that tells you more:
Professionals accessing a food and toiletry package from Black Country Food Bank
Black Country Food Bank will put together a small package of food and toiletries for people who meet the need. Professionals can call the foodbank and ask for this service. You must give the foodbank a couple of hours to put items together prior to collecting.
- Telephone: 01384 671250
Baby Banks
LEAP appliance scheme
The LEAP Appliance Scheme is currently subject to availability in England, Wales and Scotland.
LEAP Appliances is an initiative to support fuel poor and vulnerable households through the replacement of old, inefficient fridges, freezers, fridge-freezers, and electric cookers with modern, efficient alternatives. They are unable to replace gas cookers.
Access to the appliance scheme is only available after a LEAP Energy Advice Service appointment, during which eligibility and suitability for appliance replacements will be established.
Please note: LEAP appliances is a replacement scheme. Applicants must have an appliance to replace. We may need to move current appliances to make the appropriate checks. Energy advisors are not allowed to move the appliances for you. Energy labels have now changed.
Professional funding to help people in hardship
To find out more about funding opportunities for people in hardship, view our dedicated page:
Dudley Refugee and Migrant Hub
The Dudley Refugee and Migrant Hub is a brand new service in Dudley. It is delivered by The Refugee & Migrant Centre (RMC) and Brushstrokes Community Project. Both organisations have vast experience and expertise in providing advice and support to newly arrived communities.
Help with budgeting
Multiply
Multiply is a new government funded programme to help adults learn maths skills for life and work.
If you are aged 19 and over and don’t have a maths GCSE at grade C or above, or an equivalent qualification, then you can join a free maths course through Multiply.
There are free courses to help you build your confidence and ability. The focus is on having fun with numbers and learning practical skills to manage budgets and to support you to:
- Manage your money.
- Strengthen your skills in the workplace.
- Improve your skills to help with better job opportunities or progress in work.
- Help your children with the maths they are learning in school.
- Learn about overdraft charges and interest rates and loans.
On our free courses we can also offer debt advice or referral to specialist debt services if required.
Courses are free and offered in the classroom and online. You will need to register with us so that we can identify if it is the right course for you.
Please phone or email for more information
- Telephone: 01384 818143
- Email: acl@dudley.gov.uk
Housing Support Team
The aim of the Housing Support Team is "to help and support vulnerable people to achieve a stable home environment, to inspire confidence, promote independence and to encourage them to improve their quality of life"
Please visit Housing Support Team page to find out more about their offer.
Citizens Advice and Dudley Empowerment Partnership
Advice and resources on the Cost of Living are available from Citizens Advice and the Dudley Empowerment Partnership.
Further help with budgeting
To get further support with budgeting, visit our Cost of Living help with budgeting page.
Household Support Fund
In March 2024 the Government announced that the Household Support Fund (HSF) would be extended for a further six months, from 1 April 2024 to 30 September 2024, with a further £421m of funding, the fund has been made available to County Councils and Unitary Authorities in England to support those most in need.
The Household Support fund gives priority to supporting people with Food and Fuel, however other household essentials can be considered. There are a range of services across Dudley that have received this funding to support Dudley residents.
Services on social media
Help can be found on social media sites such as:
There are many others services such as these out there.
If payment is required, please only pay once the item is received.
Local charity shops
Do you want to donate your “too good to throw away furniture”?
Visit our Reduce and Reuse page to find out more