Cost of Living Crisis

Local charity urges more support as cost-of-living crisis mounts in the South Hams

Citizens Advice South Hams is warning that – without further government action – people across the South Hams 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 17% since last year, has found that:

• 16% of people in the South West are currently unable to afford energy bills, even if they cut back or fall behind on other essentials
• This jumps to 27% of people after the energy price cap hike on 1st April 

Citizens Advice South Hams 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 more families from being plunged into fuel poverty come October when the price cap is predicted to rise again.

Janie Moor, Chief Officer of Citizens Advice South Hams said:

“At Citizens Advice we’re seeing first hand that the budgets of people across the South Hams 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.”