Supporting single mother families to pay their bills
WHAT IS MOBILISE PAY?
As our commitment to direct giving initiatives evolve, Mobilise Pay takes centre stage, focusing on the unique challenges facing single-mother families. This year-long program goes beyond financial assistance, utilising a voucher and gift system to cover necessities like utilities, groceries, and extracurricular activities for children.
In addition to these tangible benefits, Mobilise Pay facilitates access to vital third-party services, including financial counselling and resources promoting healthy living.
By holistically addressing the needs of single mother families, we aim to provide not just immediate relief but also the tools and support necessary for sustained stability, even in the face of economic uncertainty.
WHY WE LAUNCHED THIS PROGRAM
Homelessness is affecting more Australian women. Women are disproportionately facing homelessness, accounting for 81.7% of the 6,067 increase of people experiencing homelessness in 2021.(1)
Healthy food is out of reach for many families.
Spending over 30% of household income on food places families in financial stress.(3) Research suggests low-income households spend approx. 33% of their income on food, (4) putting them above this threshold.
Utilities are a major driver of financial stress.
Existing support schemes for utility bills are progressive and go some way to supporting people doing it tough, but the scale of this financial hardship for essential services shows that more and longer-term assistance is needed. The rising cost of energy bills are impacting affordability, with water bills also on the rise
Extracurricular activities are out of reach for many, but play an important role in closing the gap between rich and poor.
Young people from poorer families and marginalised communities face many barriers to participating in sport and recreation, however the social, economic and health benefits of children participating in sport is crucial to their wellbeing and other outcomes. (2)
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Through our commitment to trialing direct giving programs, We Are Mobilise is excited to provide targeted support to single mothers with lived experience, or who are at increased risk of homelessness.
Mobilise Pay uses a voucher and gift system to cover utility, grocery and extracurricular activity costs for a full calendar year. Program participants will also have access to third-party services provided by charities and not-for-profits as they wish, including financial counselling and healthy eating resources.
By covering the basics of maintaining a healthy family, Mobilise Pay aims to give single mothers the ability to sustainably maintain a family budget on low-income during a time of economic uncertainty
The pilot approach is shown below. Up to $10,000 in funding will allocted to each family across four expense areas.
Up to $2,500 towards utility debts
Up to $200 per month for water and energy bills
Up to $2,000 in food vouchers
Up to $2,000 in kids recreational activities
Each family will have different needs, and different expenses based on the number of dependent children. The total pool of funding will be determined according to the needs of the family, with minimum allocations in each of the four areas. Some examples are provided below.
Meet Lucy, a single mother of two children.
Following a split with her partner, she has
struggled to keep up with the mortgage repayments on a
single salary, and she is becoming more and more in
arrears, in credit card debt and debt to utility companies
as time goes by. She can’t afford the rent it would take to
live in her suburb where her children go to school so cannot
afford to sell the house, finding herself at risk of
homelessness.
Lucy qualifies for Mobilise Pay while seeking support from a homelessness charity. As she only has two children, she
asks for the remaining $650 from extracurricular activities
to be put toward her debt with an electricity provider.
Meet Aditi, a single mother of five children.
Aditi migrated to Australia with her husband a decade ago. Her husband became abusive after the birth of their first child, which worsened over the years. Now with five children together, Aditi has been able to leave the relationship with the support of a charity which provides her with counselling, but the wait for social housing has meant that Aditi and the children have to live temporarily with friends, which is not sustainable with such a big
family. The friends have given her six months to find a new home. Aditi is working with a homelessness charity but is finding it impossible to get on top of her finances and move into a private rental.
She qualifies for Mobilise Pay, and because she has no utility debt, has asked for the $2,500 in extra veggie vouchers instead to make sure her growing kids stay healthy
PROCESS OF BEING REFERRED INTO AND RECEIVING BENEFITS FROM THE PROGRAM
Case managers work directly with mothers to fill out the referral and consent forms in the program portal. facing homelessness, accounting for 81.7% of the 6,067 increase of people experiencing homelessness in 2021.(1)
We Are Mobilise assesses these referrals against eligibility criteria, working with case managers to address any questions.
Mothers accepted into the program are notified and sent onboarding and consent forms, which case managers support them to complete.
A payment schedule is provided to the participating mothers, along with details of any vouchers they will be receiving. Utility payments will be made directly to utility companies in the form of debt repayment and pre-payment of bills. Recreational activities will be pre-paid directly to the providers.
Groceries can be ordered by the mothers through an account provided by We Are Mobilise (vouchers may also be provided – TBC).
Participants and case managers will receive a small number of surveys via email throughout the program duration, asking about their experience with the program and to measure what impact it may have on the lives of participants.
