Ipswich: Advice bureau help requests triple in three months

Sally Harrison, of Ipswich Citizens Advice, said people who were "just about surviving" are increasingly finding themselves unable to manage to make ends meet

The number of people needing emergency help from a Citizens Advice bureau in Suffolk has more than tripled since the start of the year.

Ipswich Citizens Advice says "charitable support" requests, including fuel vouchers, rose from 336 to 1,160 between January and March.

Food bank referrals, a separate category, nearly doubled compared to a year ago.

The branch said "people are becoming more desperate".

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Sally Harrison, professional services manager at Ipswich Citizens Advice, said: "People are increasingly relying on us on a regular basis. It used to be that they would come to us for a one-off food bank because they were having a particularly difficult month.

"It is now becoming the norm. They are coming to us month on month because they cannot meet their bills.

"People are worried and they are panicking because they have seen the huge price rises in their fuel payments.

"People who were just about surviving and making ends meet are now finding that they can't and it is pushing them over the edge into poverty."

The government said it "understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living".

It said the challenges were global in nature and it was spending more than £22bn on a variety of measures in 2022-23 to help.