More turning to Citizens Advice for benefits and debt help

Almost 5,000 people in Stratford District turned to Citizens Advice South Warwickshire for help over the past year, with benefits, universal credit and debt people’s being users’ top concerns.

The organisation’s recent annual general meeting heard that overall the service issued advice 20,000 times.

The figures show that people were coming to citizen’s advice with multiple problems and even though half of working age clients were employed, many were often struggling with debt issues.

The affordability of housing was a problem in the district with housing related costs, including fuel costs, putting real pressure on families.

Aidan Knox, chief executive of Citizens Advice South Warwickshire, said: “Thanks to the district council, we’ve been able to fund a part-time court desk service to help people threatened with homelessness and repossession. The number of cases we’ve seen has gone up three fold compared with the same period last year, and we can only see this continuing.”

During the year the service helped clients claim more than £1.7million worth of benefits, to which they were entitled but not claiming, and helped others write off more than £400,000 worth of debt, with a further £200,000 rescheduled.

Emphasising the importance of the work done by CASW, Dave Webb, executive director of Stratford District council said: “You provide incredible value for money and we see first-hand the work you do to help vulnerable households in the district.”