Citizens Advice issues warning over ‘bleakest ever’ year

Record numbers of people have more money going out than coming in and need emergency grants

Citizens Advice has faced its “bleakest ever” start to the year as demand for help has soared amid the cost of living crisis.

The charity said it supported 94,000 people with food bank referrals and access to emergency charitable grants – or 9,600 a day - a 178 per cent increase on the same period in 2020.

It has helped more people in the first four months of the year than all of 2019 and as many as it did throughout 2020.

(Citizens Advice)

That includes more homeless people than any other time on record, some 14,300. The number of private renters facing eviction in the first four months of this year was also 49 per cent higher than the same period in 2020.

And the numbers of people unable to afford to top up their energy prepayment meter has skyrocketed, with 10 times more seeking the charity’s help so far this year than in 2020.

The cost-of-living crisis has led to unprecedented levels of hardship, with nearly all charities that support those in need reporting families growing poorer.

Food banks have experienced an unprecedented rise in demand this year, with almost three million food parcels provided in 12 months, the Trussel Trust says.

With inflation soaring, household incomes have not kept up with spiralling living costs, despite some government support on energy bills.

For the first time since Citizens Advice started keeping records nine years ago, more people than ever faced a monthly bills deficit – where they had more going out than coming in during the first quarter of this year, the charity said.

Food bank use is unprecedented (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A record 32,400 people approached the charity with energy debt in the first four months - a 112 per cent increase on 2020.

In January 2023, a record number of disabled people were helped with cost-of-living issues.

Since 2020, the 35-44 age group accounted for the highest numbers of referrals to food banks.

In the first two months of this year, crisis support given to Black and African/Caribbean or Black British people grew steeply, while it declined slightly for other ethnic groups.

Record numbers sought help from the charity (Getty Images)

The charity says record numbers are checking their benefits entitlement.

Citizens Advice chief executive Dame Clare Moriarty said: “The cost-of-living crisis is far from over. The fact we’ve experienced our bleakest ever start of the year shows the government cannot afford to turn their gaze away from the issues people are facing.

“Millions of people are doing everything they can but it’s still not enough. Too many people are living on empty, simply unable to pay their bills and put food on the table.”

The government says it has uprated benefits by 10.1 per cent as well as making an unprecedented increase to the national living wage.

Universal credit claimants are now £1,000 a year on average better off, it says, while the most vulnerable will be £1,350 better off in 2023-24, and the household support fund helps people with essential costs.