Citizens Advice Northumberland helped record numbers of people last year due to cost of living 'continuing challenges'

The report, presented at the bureau’s annual general meeting in Newbiggin last week, showed that in 2022-23 nearly 30,000 people received their assistance with over 60,000 different issues.

The organisation’s year’s work has resulted in a direct income gain of over £5.4m for local people. 5,488 people were helped to get assistance from food banks and other charitable organisations.

20% of all problems handled in the last year were related to debt, with people helped to have over £1m of debt payments either written off or rescheduled. This was partly due to a new national debt advice programme led by Citizens Advice Northumberland that began this year.

Abi Conway, chief executive of Citizens Advice Northumberland, said: “The continuing challenges of the cost of living crisis can be seen in stark relief throughout the impact report.

“We have worked harder than ever this year to help people across the county find solutions to problems which can dominate their lives.

“Citizens Advice Northumberland has grown rapidly to address the huge demand for its high-quality services.

“We owe a great deal to our dedicated volunteers and staff, whose skills and commitment make a real difference to local people’s lives.”

Citizens Advice Northumberland has also recently established a community advice service, which works with schools, food banks, and parish councils to train their staff as Citizens Advice volunteer connectors, helping the organisation meet growing demand.

Northumberland County Council leader Glen Sanderson said: "Recognising the increase in demand for financial advice during the Covid pandemic and the subsequent cost of living crisis, Northumberland County Council increased its contribution to Citizens Advice during 2022-23 by 25%.

“As a result, Citizens Advice has helped increase capacity so that more front line staff are able to have conversations with people about their financial situation.

“We are building on this work through a newly established Financial Wellbeing Network to help people save regularly, access crisis support, and have access to debt advice."

Citizens Advice Northumberland now has 130 staff members and 65 volunteers across nine locations in the county providing advice on any issue.