Dundee charity expects 'drastic' increase in people seeking support following interest rate hike
The city's Citizens Advice Bureau dealt with more than 500 clients last month
A Dundee charity is warning the cost of living crisis is only going to get worse for people after the steepest hike in interest rates since 2008.
The Bank of England raised interest rates from 4.25% to 4.5%, representing a 0.25 percentage point increase on Thursday.
It's the 12th consecutive time the base rate has been raised as inflation continues to soar.
The move will make it even more expensive to borrow, pushing banks to lift savings rates.
READ MORE: Interest rates increase to highest rate since 2008
Dundee Citizens Advice Bureau saw 525 clients in April this year - which is their highest ever.
In March across Scotland, the Bureau network helped more than 25,000 people and provided 100,000 pieces of advice.
The situation is only going to get worse
Director of the Wellgate Centre branch, Claire Christie, expects the number of people seeking support to intensify over the coming weeks.
She said "We're are seeing a sudden increase in the request for fuel and food support. Whether that is related or not, I can guarantee the number of clients looking for emergency help will increase rapidly."
"In the year to the end of March, we referred over 1,000 people for food parcels and the same number of fuel vouchers".
Complexity of cases increasing
Ms Christie added "People would come to us initially with one or two issues, but now we're seeing people in crisis where they're coming to us with a whole raft of problems which could range from housing to family issues.
"This is just wearing people down and financial resilience is at a point now where if a big bill comes in, people can't pay it - it's just an absolute disaster for people right now."