Charity sees the burden increasing

Citizens Advice said it was contacted by a record number of people in England and Wales who were seeking help with debt and benefit problems during the final three months of 2009.

It said its bureaux handled around 9,500 new debt problems and 8,200 benefit ones every working day in the final quarter, with these issues accounting for 60 per cent of its workload.

The number of people contacting it for help because they are struggling to keep up with their debts has soared by 24 per cent compared with the same period of 2008, while benefit enquiries are 22 per cent higher.

There is also evidence of increasing numbers of people struggling to keep up with essential household bills and daily living costs.

The charity reported a 32 per cent jump in the number of problems it handled for people who had fallen behind with their energy bills, as well as a 30 per cent rise in people with phone debts and a 27 per cent increase in people who are in arrears on their water bills.

The charity was also contacted by 26,466 people who could no longer pay their mortgage during the three months, 14 per cent more than a year earlier.