October 2023 – Highest month for cost-of-living issues on record

October 2023 was a busy month for Citizens Advice South Gloucestershire’s dedicated Advisers.

We saw a 46% increase in number of clients helped in October 2023 (822) compared to October 2022 (563) when taking into account all clients across the country helped by our team.

This is higher than the percentage increase seen in September (22%) which in turn was well above the difference for August (4%).

Universal Credit was the most common issue in October at 999 – making up more than a third of the total issues (2,612). This was followed by benefits and tax credits (507) and debt (311).

October 2023 was our busiest month on record for cost-of-living issues.  There were more  than 250 of the “top five” key cost-of-living issues in the month – overtaking March of this year.

There were more than 100 issues relating to PIP – also the highest on record – while issues relating to charitable support and food banks were at the highest level since early 2021.

We are now ahead of last year’s record for number of energy clients in a year – at more than 300, with two months of the year still to be counted.