"It affects every area of life"- the effects of personal debt in Hull
Hull and East Riding Citizens Advice says they're seeing more people getting into debt.
Personal debt is taking a toll on people in Hull, as Citizens Advice reports more people are falling behind on bills and struggling to pay it back.
The most recent data from finance charity The Money puts the average credit card debt per household as £2,409 in September 2023, with the average household having a total debt of £65,724.
Kirsty Connor from Hull and East Riding Citizens Advice said: "One in three people we advise have a council tax arear and one in five have a fuel debt.
Increasingly we're seeing people on minimum wage unable to pay their bills
Three in five people lack the confidence to resolve issues themselves so they come for advice.
"It decreases people's confidence, destroys their ability to concentrate, it affects their sleeping. It affects every area of life, it can cause family breakdown, it can cause children to be picked on at school because maybe they don't have the right trainers."
She said that single-person households, single-parent families and people with disabilities have been worst hit by a rise in the cost of living since the pandemic.
She said: "Increasingly we're seeing clients who are working at national minimum wage who are unable to pay their bills and this can be compounded when they have fluctuating hours or zero hours contracts."