An announced increase in council funding is reliant on rising Council Tax, and still amounts to a real-terms cut when population growth is taken into account, says the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Citizens Advice says increasing numbers of people don’t have enough money to make ends meet, and increasing benefits by inflation will not go far enough to help solve this problem.
Citizens Advice says regulators have allowed water, energy, broadband and telephone networks to overcharge customers by £24.1 billion over the past fifteen years.
Since 2014 it has been more common for people to seek help about essential bills, such as energy or council tax, than consumer credit, such as credit cards.
Age UK is becoming worried about the emergence of an 'ageing precariat' who are so stretched financially that an unexpected big bill could mean total disaster.
More than a third of young people have been offered a zero-hours contract – a 20 per cent rise on last year, according to a Young Women’s Trust survey.