Portsmouth residents hit hard by cost of living crisis, results show

More than half of Portsmouth residents are struggling with finances, alongside rising child poverty rates as cost-of-living crisis continues, studies have found.

52% of Portsmouth residents said that they were struggling with the aftermath of the cost-of-living crisis and the effect it has had on their household budgets.

The survey was answered by 94% of households in the area and showed that more than half of respondents to the survey that was conducted in November, stated that they were unsure of where to turn for support when facing financial difficulties.

The council has since developed an online help portal, as well as a cost-of-living helpline, which residents are able to call and discuss any financial problems or worries and has also handed out information booklets and leaflets to houses throughout the local authority after realising how difficult and at times confusing, it was for residents to access support.

For 89% of people it was shown that their salary will buy them less than it did previously due to the fact that only one in ten have seen their income or regular earnings improve in line with inflation rates over the past 12 months. This has resulted in their money being stretched further than it used to be compared to before the crisis.

The Portsmouth branch of Citizens Advice is often presented with financial related issues, which it says has dramatically increased since interest rates began to soar within the country and resulted in higher food prices and already soaring energy bills.

The local branch has seen an increase of more than 50% in enquiries since the crisis begun.

“We have seen a dramatic rise in people coming through our door since it began.”

“This can range from anything from help with finances, housing, health and so many other things. People often don’t know who to go to or how to address some of these problems, that’s where we come in.” They added.

“The most common issue we are presented with is debt issues, especially mounting debt that is getting out of control”. They said.

Over the 2021–22 period, citizens advice Portsmouth saw over 10,000 enquiries being made to them, this included over 4000 of those relating to debt, and over 2000 relating to initial benefits claims and help with related issues. In Portsmouth 4.8% of residents claim some form of benefit which is above higher the national and regional average for the southeast.

They went on to say how “scary” it was to see how many people were feeling the strain of the crisis: “we often get people incredibly upset because they can’t find a way around all the mounting costs. It puts a huge strain on people in all situations.” They added.

They went on to say: “We aim to offer advice and help to all in these types of situations with no judgement, its important to make people feel listened to so we can help resolve anything the best we can.”

The cost-of-living crisis hitting is an added worry to the residents of Portsmouth after it was revealed that in the local authority, 22.3% of all children aged 0–19 in 2012 were estimated as living in poverty. This figure is above both the England and Southeast averages of 18.6% and 13.6%.

Child poverty was seen to rise sharply in some parts of the city in with a concerning 44.2% of children living in Charles Dickens ward seen as living in poverty. This made nearly a quarter of all children living in Portsmouth classified as living in poverty.

The cost of living has been rising in recent months in the UK and across the world.

In the UK. the prices of food and house hold essentials have risen at the fastest rate in more than 45 years in the year to March 2023. Food items increase amongst food items. Food items such as bread, cereal and fresh fruit and vegetables had the highest rate of inflation, for which average prices rose by 19.4%.

According to the report, nearly 1 in 4 UK adults are borrowing more than before, as just under a quarter of adults said they have borrowed more or have increasingly used credit cards more than they would have done before the crisis.

As a result of the cost-of-living crisis, around 6 in every 10 adults reported that they are spending less on non-essentials in a bid to cut back their regular monetary spending and prioritise other items.

Energy prices have been rising dramatically over the past year. Many of us have seen gas and electricity bills increase which is largely caused by the response to the conflict in Ukraine. Due to the world also recovering from the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, this has also worsened the crisis.

In an attempt to offer help to households during a time of rising energy bills, the government continues to give all households a discount off their monthly energy bills, which it has said will continue until June, they have not announced any plans to continue this support scheme in the winter months.