The continuing impact of the recession is driving record numbers of people to seek help from Citizens Advice Bureaux with debt, benefit, employment and housing problems.
Citizens Advice Bureaux in
Debt and benefit issues combined now account for over 60% of the CAB workload while nquiries in these areas are currently growing at an annual rate of 24%. CAB advisers handled 2.27 million debt problems and almost 2 million benefits problems in 2009.
CAB says the latest figures suggest that many people are still struggling to keep their heads above water and pay essential household bills, relying on overdrafts to meet day-to-day living costs. This is borne out by continuing steep increases in:
Enquiries about job seekers allowance were up by a third (33%) and mortgage arrears problems were up 14%, but in both cases the rate of increase has slowed after peaking in the first three months of 2009.
Redundancy-related problems went down (by 30%) for the first time in seven quarters, having peaked in the first three months of 2009, but were still up by 38% for the whole of 2009 compared with 2008.
Citizens Advice chief executive David Harker said: “We may officially be in recovery, but for many people the damage done by the economic downturn is long-lasting and far from over. Even more people are now worried about the further pressures on their household budgets from rising prices and exceptionally high winter fuel bills.
“The demand for CAB services is at an all time high and our advisers have never been so busy. Our frontline advice services will continue to play a vital role in helping millions of people weather the worst effects of the recession for as long as it takes.”
Date: 23rd, February, 2010
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