Portsmouth Citizens Advice says cost-of-living crisis worse than pandemic

The cost-of-living crisis is having a greater impact on people's lives than the pandemic, Citizens Advice has said.

The charity gives out free advice about debt, benefits, consumer and legal affairs and the Portsmouth branch has an 80-strong army of volunteers.

It said 9,000 people in the city had sought its help so far in 2022 - up 40% on this time last year.

The typical household energy bill will hit £3,549 a year from 1 October, regulator Ofgem has announced.

The cap is currently £1,971 for the average household and limits how much providers can charge customers in England, Scotland and Wales.

But because gas and electricity prices are going up, the cap is going up too.

Manager of Portsmouth Citizen's Advice Sandy Bramley said the cost-of-living crisis was the office's "biggest challenge yet".

"We get to see the real impact and it's worse so far than the pandemic," she said.

"Last year fuel debt didn't even appear in our top five debts, this year it's actually the third highest."

Nine thousand people have walked through the doors of the Portsmouth office in 2022, an increase of 40% on this time last year

Twenty-five of the 80 volunteers deal purely with debt and, even during the summer months, fuel debt is proving an issue.

"People have come to us this week who don't have enough money for food, don't have enough money to top up their energy meters, even though it's summer and they're barely using anything," project advisor Sarah Atkinson said.

The demographic of the people seeking advice from the charity had also changed, Ms Bramley said.

Whereas once the majority tended to be "from the younger generation" those coming through the doors this year were from "the middle-aged groups, 40-50 and 50-60", she said.

"There's a lot of fear about how prices could go up even further," Ms Atkinson said.

Ms Bramley said: "We know the pressures are going to increase significantly next year.

"We haven't even hit the winter months yet."