Advice services in Renfrewshire are dealing with a “tsunami” of demand as more people fall into crisis over debt, housing and rising bills, councillors have been told.
At the Fairer Renfrewshire Sub-committee on Wednesday 25th March, representatives from Advice Works and Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau outlined a sharp rise in complex cases, with more households needing urgent support.
Gary Innes, who oversees advice services within the council, told members the figures over recent years were “quite stark” and said it was important to remember “there are humans at the back of all the figures”.
Lynne Kerr of Advice Works said staff were seeing more people arriving with very little money to last until payday, alongside rising mental health issues, disability and physical health problems.
She said many clients first came forward with one issue, but the real picture was often much wider.
“Our role is to dig a bit deeper and try to get to the bottom of it,” she said.
Among the biggest issues highlighted were managed migration to Universal Credit, digital barriers, fuel poverty, food costs, budgeting problems and what advisers described as irresponsible lending.
Ms Kerr said many vulnerable clients who had been paid every 14 days on legacy benefits were now struggling after moving to monthly Universal Credit payments.
She said: “They are having difficulties with budgeting, making their money last and direct debits, which they have had set up for a number of years. They are just not meeting their needs.”
She also warned of growing debt linked to “buy now, pay later” schemes.
“What we are seeing is a surprising increase in the number of high street shops that are offering this as an option,” she said. “People are spiralling into the circle of debt, where they are finding it really difficult to get out of.”
Alana Forsyth, chief executive of Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau, said her organisation’s data closely matched what Advice Works was seeing.
She said demand for benefits advice was up about 50 per cent, housing advice was up 86 per cent and energy advice was up more than 32 per cent in the past year alone.
Housing pressures were among the starkest figures presented to councillors.
Ms Forsyth said possession action was up 382 per cent, homelessness assessment advice was up 77 per cent and housing tribunal cases were up 361 per cent.
She added: “Cases involving eviction for arrears have increased by more than 900 per cent in the past five years. That is really staggering and shows clear escalation to people who are presenting in housing crisis.”
More than 1,000 enquiries linked to energy debt had also been recorded in the past year.
Councillors heard the profile of clients using services had also changed, with more owner-occupiers, employed people and retired people now coming forward for help.
Ms Forsyth said: “We are seeing a great many families that are teetering on the edge and, as Lynne mentioned, using credit cards to pay bills and continually juggling on a month-to-month basis trying to keep their head above water.”
Councillor Graeme Clark described the pressure on services as “a rapidly intensifying wave of financial, housing and wellbeing pressures” and asked whether they had the capacity to cope.
He said: “Do you have enough staff to be able to handle all the complex cases that are presented?”
Mr Innes said Advice Works currently had enough resource for its present workload and could move staff within the wider service if needed, but said trends would continue to be monitored closely.
Ms Forsyth said CAB was managing demand daily, but admitted more resource would always help.
She said: “I think that it is fair to say—it would be disingenuous of me to say anything other than that we could always do with more resource, without question.”
She added that in-person support for people in crisis remained the most time-intensive part of the service.
The bureau is also continuing to recruit volunteers, with a new training programme due to begin in May.
Ms Forsyth said advice had recently been delivered in 13 different languages and CAB was looking at ways to attract volunteers from a wider range of communities to help improve access.
Convener Councillor Cameron thanked both organisations and their staff for their work, saying the case studies and statistics showed how important their services had become for residents across Renfrewshire.