At the recent Abingdon Town Council parish meeting, there was a report by the Abingdon Citizens Advice Bureau. (Here are my notes.)

South and Vale Citizens Advice is a local charity with advice hubs at Abingdon, Didcot, Henley and Thame, and they have to fundraise locally. They received funds from Abingdon Town Council, the two district councils, most other parish councils, and other groups. 123 volunteers help give free impartial advice, and a small staff team support the service.

Demand for advice has soared because of the cost-of-living crisis; the complexity of cases has increased. Some people are overwhelmed by problems. Citizens Advice have about 4000 clients in the Abingdon office, and the biggest demand comes from the Caldecott area. The most frequent issues are: benefits, fuel debt (a new issue and now second most frequent), and council tax arrears. More people need food banks and fuel support.

The data they collect on issues locally help in campaigning nationally. In 2022 Citizens Advice saw more people who couldn’t top up their prepayment meter than in the whole of the last 10 years combined. This helped lead their recent campaign on pre-payment meters.

There was mainly online support during Covid restrictions, but now more support is being given face-to-face.