Dorset Citizens Advice warn of 'worst winter' through cost-of-living crisis
The charity says thousands of people could be affected
Thousands of Dorset residents are facing up to what could be their worst winter at a time when support organisations are overloaded with calls for help.
Debt, rising mortgage and rent payments, the general cost of living are already taking their toll – but there could be even worse days ahead for many.
Referrals to the Citizens Advice Bureau locally and groups like Dorchester Poverty Action are already at record levels.
A senior CAB worker told a meeting in Dorchester that in thirty years she had never seen the situation so bad – with those on low incomes and with poor health and disabilities generally suffering the most.
Caroline Buxton from the CAB said:
“It’s got to the stage that we are not doing money management anymore – we are doing destitution management.
“I haven’t seen people so close to the edge as in the last couple of years – some are literally hanging on by their fingertips…many simply cannot make their budgets balance, no matter what they do.”
She told how paid staff and volunteers were struggling to cope with the unprecedented demand – requests for energy advice alone rising by 78% over the course of a year.
The meeting was told that the central Dorset CAB group which includes Weymouth, Dorchester, Sherborne and Gillingham had helped 8,879 individuals in the year, up by 19% on 2021-22.
Many came with multiple problems which meant CAB staff dealt with over 28,400 separate issues of concern.
In Dorchester alone almost 1,400 people had come to the CAB for help, a 51% increase on the year before with more than half of those having a disability or long-term health issues.
Chair of Dorchester Poverty Action Group, Wendy Hilton, said in the last year there had been a 47% increase in calls for help to the group, and in the first months of this year the numbers were up again by another 14%.
Fuel costs, debt, the threat of evictions, finding the money for school uniforms and working out how to be able to afford to eat all featured among the emergency requests for help, she said.
She said the small volunteer-run organisation had given out £63,000 in Dorchester during the year as well as help in kind, including providing second-hand furniture and white goods – with only £660 spent on administration, most of that on compulsory insurance:
“We are always looking for more funds… if people are looking for a cause we are very, very, local and it can really make a difference."