Cost-of-living data trends
On this page
- Our most common advice issues have changed
- Trends of key cost-of-living issues since 2014
- Record numbers helped who can't afford to top up their prepayment meters
- Record numbers helped with crisis support
- An unequal crisis
- Record numbers of people helped with homelessness
- The rise of negative budgets
- Rising housing and energy costs are driving people into the red
- Record numbers helped with debt
- Growing levels of debt
- People's problems are often deep and complex
Our most common advice issues have changed
Something has changed at Citizens Advice. At the last 3 general elections, our top advice issues were all about helping people access benefits they’re entitled to.
Today, 2 of the top 3 are about the cost of living — energy problems, and food bank and emergency charitable support referrals. A decade ago, neither of these issues were in the top 10.
Trends of key cost-of-living issues since 2014
This chart shows the monthly trends for some of our key cost-of-living issues over the past decade, based on the number of people we helped with these issues each month.
In January 2024, the number of people we helped with these issues reached record levels, as energy prices went up and private rents continued to rise.
The February Cost of Living (CoL) payments led to a drop in the number of people needing help with crisis support (charitable support and food banks) and energy issues, as people used the money to pay for essentials like food and energy.
The CoL payments did not had the same impact on tackling the rising numbers needing help with energy debts that have built up during the energy crisis.
Use the drop down menu to explore trends for each issue.
You can download our data for ‘Trends of key cost of living issues since 2014 ’ as a CSV file.
Record numbers helped who can't afford to top up their prepayment meters
We continue to break unwelcome records in the number of people we've seen who can't afford to top up their prepayment meter.
In 2022, we saw more people who couldn't afford to top up their prepayment meter than the whole of the previous ten years combined - and 2023 was even higher than 2022. 2024 is currently on track for similar numbers to 2023.
We helped a record number of people who couldn't afford to top up their PPM in January 2024.
In January 2024, we helped a record number of people who couldn't afford to top up their prepayment meter, as record numbers struggle with rising energy prices and the cold weather. We've seen a welcome decline in people coming to us with this issue as the year has progressed.
Following a drop in early February, the number of people we're helping with a fuel voucher to top up their prepayment meter began to trend upwards again in early March.
You can download our data for ‘The number of people helped with a fuel voucher every week’ as a CSV file.
Record numbers helped with crisis support
Rising energy and rent costs meant that the crisis got worse at the start of 2024, as we helped a record number of people with food bank referrals.
But these numbers dropped to the lowest levels since last summer. This is due to the £299 February Cost of Living payments hitting people's bank accounts. However, we've seen this number climb again in March and April.
Use the dropdowns to explore how many people we are helping with food bank referrals for different demographic groups.
An unequal crisis
The crisis is not affecting everyone equally. For example, disabled people or racially minoritised groups are more likely to need a food bank referral than other groups.
You can use the dropdown menu to explore how many people we're helping with food bank referrals each month by demographic group.
The chart below breaks down the number of people we're helping with crisis support per 100,000 of the population of each ethnicity group.
Use the filter for a further breakdown of the number of people helped with food bank referrals by 100,000 of the population for each of these groups.
Record numbers of people helped with homelessness
After a welcome drop in demand in the early months of the pandemic as the Government banned evictions, we have been helping record numbers of people with a homelessness issue.
In January 2024, we helped a record number of people with a homelessness issue - the fourth time this record has been broken since June 2023.
Use the drop-down filter to look at the breakdown by different groups.
Rising private rents, the Local Housing Allowance freeze and the rise in Section 21 ('no fault') evictions have led to a steep rise in private renters needing help with homelessness since the pandemic.
The rise of negative budgets
More than half of the people we help with debt advice are in a negative budget - up from just over one-third in 2019 - even after being helped by our advisers.
This means that their income can't cover their essential costs and they are building up debt just to get by.
Some groups are especially likely to be in a negative budget, including racially minoritised groups, the self-employed, private renters and, more recently, mortgage holders.
Use the filters below to see the negative budget trends for particular demographic groups.
Rising housing and energy costs are driving people into the red
In this chart we look at the monthly essential spending of all the people we've helped with debt advice. You can see that monthly spending on essentials such as private rent, mortgages and energy are significantly higher than they were two years ago.
Average private rent costs are now higher than they've ever been. We are also seeing steep increases in the cost of groceries, which is continuing to get more expensive each month.
Use the filter bar below to explore how much the people we help with debt advice are having to spend on different essential costs.
Record numbers helped with debt
The number of people we're helping with debt issues is on a general upward trend - and in January 2024, we helped a record number of people in debt.
Energy debt has been on a particularly steep upward trend since the pandemic - and February 2024 was yet another record month for the number of people we've helped with this issue.
Use the dropdown menu to these trends for different debt issues.
Growing levels of debt
Among the people we help with debt advice, the average levels of energy debt, rent debt and council tax debt have grown substantially in the last two years.
People's problems are often deep and complex
This chart shows how when we help people with one cost-of-living issue, we usually help them with another.
For example, of the people we helped with energy issues in 2023, over 50% needed help with crisis support (like food bank referrals or emergency charitable support). This shows that many people who need help with an energy issue are struggling to afford their essentials.