Citizens Advice SORT Group urges more support as cost-of-living crisis mounts

Citizens Advice SORT Group is warning that - without further government action - people across Greater Manchester risk falling into severe hardship in order to shoulder energy price hikes.

The local charity, which has seen the number of people needing help with energy debts increase by 48% since last year, has found that:

  • 19% of people in the North West are currently unable to afford energy bills, even if they cut back or fall behind on other essentials

  • This jumps to 32% of people after the energy price cap hike on 1st April 

Citizens Advice SORT Group is calling for urgent government help. Firstly by increasing benefits in April in line with the current rate of inflation, rather than last September’s rate.  And secondly, by offering further support to prevent families once again choosing between heating and eating in October when the price cap is predicted to rise again.

Nathan Woodhead, Advisor at Citizens Advice SORT Group said:

“The people we’re helping at the Citizens Advice SORT Group are beyond breaking point. We are only just at the start of this inflationary crisis, yet the heartbreaking reality is that almost everyone is affected, and quite frankly many are already unable to even afford gas and electricity at current prices. The coming months will only be tougher. This is why we're seeing more and more people needing crisis support, such as food bank referrals and more so, help with energy bills & debts.``

Jonathan Yates, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice SORT Group said:

“We’re seeing first hand that the budgets of people across the North West are being pushed to the brink.

“Current measures announced by the government don’t go far enough. Only 6% of people across the region think the energy rebate will make a significant difference to their ability to pay their energy bill from October. If the government doesn’t at least increase benefits to match the current rate of inflation, many more households will be pushed to crisis point.”


For more information contact: hayley.wright@casort.org

We give people the knowledge and confidence they need to find their way forward - whoever they are, and whatever their problem.

Notes:

  1. Citizens Advice SORT Group is the parent organisation of Citizens Advice Stockport, Citizens Advice Oldham, Citizens Advice Rochdale and Citizens Advice Trafford.

  2. Citizens Advice commissioned polling by Opinium to gain an accurate picture of how people are being affected by energy price rises in different parts of the country, which uses a large-scale national poll and granular demographic data in local areas to generate local insights.10,301 UK adults aged 18+ between 8th to 17th February 2022 were surveyed. The data was sampled and weighted to be representative of the UK adult population.

  3. Data regarding fuel debts collected and compared between 01/10/2021 and 28/02/2022 and 01/10/2020 and 28/02/2021.




Hayley Wright