contents How our advice helped Desislava Desislava, 33, lost her job as a hairdresser in March and applied for Universal Credit. She was a lodger in a shared house and, with no savings to fall back on, she quickly fell into rent arrears and was evicted. Citizens Advice supported her to access an emergency grant while she waited for her Universal Credit application to be approved. She found a new flat and received an advance to tide her over until she received the first full payment, but the experience left her shaken. Losing my job and my home was horrible. I was shaking and crying because I thought I might end up sleeping rough. * Who we helped in 2020 to 2021 *Names and certain details have been changed or omitted to preserve client anonymity. 12