Cost of Living
Britain is facing its biggest cost-of-living crisis in decades.
At Citizens Advice, we've helped more people than ever before who can't afford to cover essential costs - like food, energy and housing. This gives us unique insights into how the crisis is affecting the people we help.
See below for all our data insights.
Featured content
Data Insights
The National Red Index: how to turn the tide on falling living standards
The National Red Index tells us, for the first time, how many people nationally are in a negative budget. This is today's defining living standards issue. Here we set out what's driving negative budgets and what's needed to start turning the tide.
Citizens Advice Data Insights events
We share our latest data at our monthly Data Insights events, alongside distinguished guest speakers. Previous guest speakers include Martin Lewis CBE and Professor Sir John Curtice.
Our next Data Insights event, on 18 March, will explore our latest data trends and the impact of the Spring Budget. Sign up here.
You can access recordings of our previous events here.
All our data insights
You can see all our latest data insights in the links below and you can explore our Cost of Living Data Dashboard.
Cost-of-living data trends
We're helping record numbers of people who need a food bank referral, who can't afford to turn on their heat or electricity or who've been made homeless. This is a key test for government policy: can it turn these trends around?
Housing data
Rising rents and mortgages are pushing private renters and mortgage holders deep into the red. Here are some of our latest housing data trends.
Negative budgets data
More than half of the people we help with debt advice are now in a negative budget - where their income is not enough to cover their essential costs, even after being helped by an adviser. Fixing this is a generational challenge.
Debt data
As households feel the strain on their budgets, we are seeing more people come to us with debt issues. As these slides show, we've seen an increase in the number of people coming to us with debt issues and the amount of debt they owe.
Energy data
As typical energy bills have shot up in the last two years, many people are struggling to pay their monthly bills or keep their prepayment meters topped up. Our data shows us the impact of the crisis and the groups that are most affected.