Following a briefing in Parliament with the Citizen Advice Bureau this week, Chris Elmore – MP for Ogmore – has reiterated his calls for the UK Tory Government to step up and do more to end the cost-of-living crisis that is causing misery for millions of people.
According to the Citizens Advice Bureau, half of the people who they helped in 2022 were disabled or had a long-term health condition and nearly one-third were single parents.
People who need help with managing debt have, by far, been the biggest driver of the increase with those seeking help with energy debt now being the most common type of debt facing families.
The nationwide picture is replicated in Ogmore.
In the last three months, the Citizen’s Advice Bureau have cited Personal Independence Payments as the single largest reason for seeking help, closely followed by Financial capacity issues with problems with meeting energy costs being third – up 117% on 2022.
The UK Government has extended the Energy Price Guarantee, but energy bills today are still, on average, £2500 – almost double what they were 12 months ago.
Chris Elmore will continue to challenge UK Government ministers to give constituents across Ogmore and Bridgend the help and support they need.
Chris Elmore, MP for Ogmore, said:
“Across the UK in 2022, the Citizen’s Advice Bureau helped 200,000 more people with Crisis Support than in any other year.
2023 is set to be another record breaking year but not in a good way. January and February has been the organisation’s busiest ever period. From food bank referrals to emergency charity support, these numbers paint a bleak picture and highlight the huge challenges so many people face just to make ends meet.
Our Welsh Labour Government has done all it can to provide a helping hand during this cost-of-living crisis – including offering an additional one-off £200 on top of the help provided by the UK Government. But this is a problem made in Westminster and the help offered by the UK Government has been little more than a sticking plaster on a fundamentally broken system. Last week’s budget did very little to offer relief to those in need.”
The UK Government has extended the Energy Price Guarantee, but energy bills today are still, on average, £2500 – almost double what they were 12 months ago.
Chris Elmore will continue to challenge UK Government ministers to give constituents across Ogmore and Bridgend the help and support they need.