Funding at Citizens Advice has fallen by more than £9m year on year as some staff “feel that they’re running out of tools” to support beneficiaries.
The charity’s latest accounts for the year ending 31 March 2022 shows that total income decreased by 6%, from £162.7m to £153.6m.
Government funded grants, which include funding from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Welsh government, fell by £12.4m to £99.2m.
The charity noted that it has seen a “period of significant growth” in the past few years, with its income increasing from £93.8m to £153.6m since 2017-18.
Second highest income recorded
Citizens Advice said that while its income fell in 2021-22, it remains its second highest income ever recorded.
A sudden withdrawal of all government support schemes “in a year of constant uncertainty and changing restrictions”, the charity said, coincided with continued, higher demand for its services.
“The end of various international pandemic-led restrictions directly resulted in the ongoing energy crisis, in turn driving up inflation and the cost of living,” it added.
Citizens Advice consolidated its reserves, which increased from £5.9m to £9.7m.
The number of local volunteers (16,700) fell by 2,100 from 2020-21 while the number of local and national staff remained unchanged, at 7,700 and 1,000, respectively.
Advisers are ‘running out of tools’
Chief executive Dame Clare Moriarty wrote in the accounts that as an increasing number of people seek help, they come to the charity with more issues.
“Our advisers can feel that they’re running out of tools, as measures in place to support people in financial difficulties turn out to be better suited to short-term problems than sustained crisis of the sort that we’re now seeing. That often translates into more activity rather than less by advisers on behalf of clients, as they try different avenues of support,” she said.
“We’re trying to meet this huge need for our services with funding that, at both national and local level, is flat or reducing in the face of increasing inflationary pressures.”
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