A CRACK team of advisors has arrived in the Borders in a bid to blitz bills and bolster benefit claims.

The Money Matters Project will help up to 200 of the most vulnerable Borderers over the next four years.

Local MP Calum Kerr officially launched the scheme in Galashiels last Friday.

Brain injury and disability support service Momentum won the contract to deliver the financial help across the region.

Mr Kerr, who was elected to Westminster in May, told us: "I first came here to Momentum before I was elected and saw the fantastic work that was going on.

"It was an aspiration they had back then to expand the service and offer financial help to the people who most need it.

"One of the first benefit cases I had after being elected as a MP was someone from the Momentum service who had a disability and was refused benefits.

"We won the case for them and I saw what it meant - they were in floods of tears.

"I'm delighted Momentum has been awarded this service and I hope they can make a similar difference to others who find themselves in need of help."

Momentum Scotland secured £600,000 of funding from the Big Lottery Fund to operate the service across the Borders for people with either a brain injury or a neurological condition.

Its aims are to improve financial literacy and provide money management, as well as sourcing relevant benefits and other financial opportunities in the wake of the welfare reforms.

The Galashiels-based team of assessors and tutors also provide help to find the best value utility suppliers and even offer support with online shopping.

Harry Wood, who is Momentum's manager in the Borders, told us: "Often when you have suffered a brain injury you start to forget things and often that can be paying your bills on time.

"Suffering from a brain injury or developing a neurological condition is a traumatic enough experience for the sufferer and their families without all the financial problems that come with it.

"An individual who has sustained a brain injury or who has a neurological condition will face many challenges, no least the possibility of loss of earnings or significant changes to their employment status.

"Where there is debt we will work out payment plans and when there are benefits to be accessed we will make sure they are claimed."

There are already 187 people in the Borders receiving help from the Money Matters Project.

A four-stage action plan is tailored for each client with an aim to eventually making them financially independent.

Mr Wood added: "Money Matters is already making a difference to people's lives."

As well as offering Money Matters, Momentum Scotland provide the Borders Brain Injury Service, a Skills Development Scotland programme and Specialist Employability Support.