https://wearecitizensadvice.org.uk/its-time-to-turn-the-tide-8a6c1ac2a82f
Crisis has become the new normal. Millions of households face a relentless financial squeeze that feels like it never stops. At Citizens Advice, our advisers do all they can to help people find a way forward. But prices keep rising faster than incomes, pushing household debt levels ever higher.
Half the people who come to us for help with debts don’t have enough coming in each month to cover their essentials. That’s even after a debt adviser has helped them cut back as much as they can and maximise their income. We call this a ‘negative budget’. We estimate that across England and Wales there were 4 million people in negative budget households last year, including almost 900,000 children.
These problems have deep roots. For key essentials like rent and energy, government policy has failed to protect households from spiralling costs that are out of their control. Meanwhile, years of low wages and inadequacies in the benefits system have squeezed incomes. Debt has filled the gap, but is now becoming a growing weight that threatens to pull households deeper into the red.