Citizens Advice Newcastle have been working alongside local Citizens Advice offices in Northumberland, Gateshead, Sunderland, Hartlepool, Darlington, Redcar and Cleveland to understand the impact of the cost of living crisis more widely across the region. They've published the findings in a report, 'Living on the Edge: The North East' which highlights the impossible choices that families are making and draws up key policy recommendations for moving forwards.
Britain is facing its biggest cost of living crisis in decades. As the largest provider of free advice in the North East of England, Citizens Advice local offices are helping more people with crisis support, energy issues and not having enough money to make ends meet than ever before. Certain groups of people are struggling more with the cost of living than others - we continue to see more disabled people facing cost of living issues and we’re helping more people than ever that have not previously needed our support, including people in work and mortgage holders.
Citizens Advice have been conducting surveys with their clients to better understand the impact of the cost of living crisis on local families. The report of their findings is available here.
Amidst ever rising demand, local charities like Citizens Advice Newcastle are plugging as many gaps as possible. In the last year, calculations show that, as a small, independent charity, they have a public value of over £10 million through improving local people’s wellbeing. In 2022, they secured over £2.3 million in financial outcomes for local people in Newcastle.