The cost of living crisis in the UK!

in the UK as of today many struggle just to keep a roof over their heads as they fight against their bills it is rapidly becoming a National Emergency for many places and places like citizens advice are raided with calls pleading for help 24 7. today we'll look into the depth about what may have caused this Surge and how the UK is tearing itself down at the end of 2021 the UK had just around 1.1 million people who were in fuel poverty without a choice now a year later the figure has almost trebled meaning around 3 million people are in a suffocating position this has led to many people stay and they feel as if suicide is the only way out for them which is not right at all Miss Williams fired a BBC stated I don't know how we're going to cope if things are going as fast as they are which is not what a mother of a 15 year old son should be saying many people in the UK are facing some of their toughest battles with the rising bills and the costs throughout stores and even energy bills but the biggest worry for most is how are they going to pay up to 8 million adults in the UK are struggling to pay their bills which is an equivalent to 6 in 10 adults that may be held up against the wall with money issues but today we will dig deeper into what may have caused this issue to arise and what professionals from citizens advice must recommend 2021 we normally averaged about 18 phone calls per minute offering help from citizens advice there are lots and lots of ways for people to get in touch with us many of them actually phone us or just walk into one of our branches or use the website we're always open and we welcome people coming around so if you drop into one of our citizens advice Bureau centers we normally can find someone that can direct you to the right place that you need to be at any given time there is also a very high demand for gas in the UK now as 78 of people use gas as a Main Heating source but this is where the issue starts we only have 10 terawatt hours of gas compared to Italy's 166 which is a major difference this further shows that the Demand versus Supply is becoming an issue in the UK could the Russia versus Ukraine war be another reason well Russia only supplies under five percent of UK's gas but 40 of the eu's gas which can cause issues that could possibly reflect on us well I would say if you're struggling to pay your bills then then a place to go to and see if you can speak to them about arranging some kind of payment plan um quite often if you make the first step to kind of like making efforts to pay they will discuss with you and work out a payment plan which you can use if they refuse to do that then I would definitely say contact us here at citizens advice because we can sometimes get into contact with the supplier to give them a little bit more context and also to kind of discuss those kind of payment plan options with them so there are plenty of routes that you can take to help alleviate the pressures of your bills for instance there is a a government scheme with up to 400 pounds to help alleviate the pressure of bills um you know these kind of came out in October 2022 and the idea is that you can get a block payment to kind of pay for the bills and then you would start paying those off in installments um over a period of about six months around new homes in the UK insulation is a real issue for many but why well insulation is poorly fitted in many houses meaning that heat can easily escape the house this will lead to the need of heating always to be on which is what makes the bills really flare up not only with the prices going up but with the help of poor insulated houses the UK can only go deeper and deeper into depth so if people are feeling in a mental Trust of living crisis my advice would be always to reach out to organizations like ourselves that can help but beyond that also to reach out to you family and friends to keep communicating with people because there's lots of support and advice out there and sometimes it's nice just to know that other people are facing the same challenges as you another thing that I also recommend to lots of our clients who come it is to see the bigger picture and to also do things that are kind of very proactive about managing their stress levels and their mental health that's been affected by the cost of living crisis so simple things like you know doing exercise eating well um you know there's lots of resources out there you can contact you know the NHS for advice on kind of like eating well and affordably about taking part in local activities feeling like part of the community so alongside the financial aspect we would also try and encourage people to look after their Mental Health through this difficult time and that's something that we can help you here with but there's also lots of advice and support out there via other websites as well this then leads to people relying on food banks here we have the food bank based up in Western favor where hundreds of people feel the need to Resort due to insufficient funds to be able to pay for their own family's food the average household uses 93 of their wages on bills leaving them with just about seven percent for disposable income when we consider a food shop for a family of three let's say that can accumulate almost all the money just in just about one go now we are going to talk to Emmanuel's church about what goes on here and what they do to recommend to the people in need of help they say they are but from watching all the news and stuff I don't feel like they're giving it as much as they say they are so the bills and the tax and the vat and everything else nowadays could come down it doesn't have to be so expensive but they're choosing to keep it up like stores have gone up in price massively you know and then you've got bills that have gone up massively but the bills are only going up because the government are making it go up so rent has gone through the road because they wanted more money and I'll be honest I don't think any of the money that goes to rent it all goes to tax and stuff I don't think it does I think the government can just enjoy it themselves and only care about themselves whoever's in the Parliament and stuff like that towards you all I'd recommend otherwise than just saving trying to save money most people can't like me I'd recommend coming down to a food bank and enjoying we're all a big family don't don't feel hesitated not to come because you're you're awkward and stuff with all the family all give a hand we're happy to help for any expert advice please head over to www.citizensadvice.org dot UK or even call 0808 Double two three double one double three if in urgent need of someone to talk to free of charge if you need help for paying household bills or some quality advice please also head over to help for households dot campaign.gov dot UK we're always here to help

Channel: River Wickham

Views: 13,599

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Id: 0yxftUDVXc4

Length: 8min 8sec (488 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 05 2023