FIONA MCCULLOCH of York Citizens Advice looks at how the organisation adapted during the pandemic - and what it is doing now to help people struggling with the cost of living

York Citizens Advice had to adapt, very quickly, during the pandemic.

We had always seen around 40 per cent of our clients in person which, for everyone had worked very well. The Prime Minister’s announcement stopped this instantly.

We remained calm, stayed open and drafted in as much support from our wonderful volunteers as we could.

Everyone was switched to home working on either Adviceline or onto email and webchat. This involved long nights and many stresses on our training team and IT team, but we were fully up and running within two weeks.

Volunteers and staff quickly adapted to learning how to help clients when both they and the clients were all learning digital skills together. This had the added benefit that we were not bound by 'office timings' and we could help people outside of the normal hours.

We learnt new ways of tackling paperwork as the DWP stepped up and changed many of the benefits claim forms to online. We were lucky enough to have two members of staff who went into the office physically every day of the pandemic and they dealt with paperwork which clients and advisors could not deal with digitally. It was a monumental team effort and we emerged all the stronger for it.

So, what did this mean in numbers for York residents? Well, we advised 16, 631 people - an increase of nearly 5000 people who needed our help from pre pandemic times.

We achieved this by raising our game as the need for our help was suddenly so much greater. Our highest number of enquiries was for benefits advice, followed by housing problems, employment issues (often around furlough queries and problems) and debt issues. Many people who had never had a problem with debt or benefits suddenly found themselves struggling.

We brought in an extra £1,821,443 for people in benefits they could and should now claim and we wrote off just under £300,000 of debt for people who could not afford to repay it. We organised affordable repayment plans for those who wanted to repay. We helped make peoples lives just a little better in the most stressful times most people had ever known.

We saw a large rise in people struggling with their mental health and we worked closely with local GP surgeries, the NHS crisis team and mental health charities to alleviate this as much as we could.

So, where are we now? Well, debt issues continue to mount with the cost of living rising to unprecedented levels.

With most people having home energy bills rising by £693 per year on average, this doubles the number of households in 'fuel poverty', defined as those spending 10 per cent or more of their income on energy bills. Inflation is expected to reach nine per cent. Yet benefits are only being increased by 3.1 per cent this year and the average wage increase in the UK in 2022 is expected to be three per cent.

There is enormous pressure on people to be able to manage their finances, but throw in a life changing event such as a relationship breakdown, employment issue or sudden illness and it can seem overwhelming.

The people we have helped and continue to help would agree on one thing: seek help early, before you become stressed and fatigued by your problems.

We can often step in to provide early resolution and plans for debt and remove the worries of court cases and bailiff action. Check with us if you can get help your improving your income by claiming new or extra benefits.

If you think your employer is not treating you as they should, talk to us and we can advise you of ways to resolve the situation. Don’t feel alone with relationship problems, you can speak to one of our advisors and they can discuss paths you can take to find the correct path for you. Our advisors never judge or discriminate, we are here for everybody, no matter what your problem is or if you think that no one can help.

We are looking forward to opening our doors to clients again soon, some of our outreaches have already started seeing people in person.

We need your help though, we are a charity and rely on donations and funding. If you would like to help us you can find out how to volunteer or donate at https://www.citizensadviceyork.org.uk

If you need advice on coping with debt or the cost of living, call York Citizens Advice on 0808 278 7895