My The Guardian story: Deaf man awarded £50,000 damages after a judge ruled he was subjected to a “character assassination” by hostile jobcentre officials, who refused to provide him with specialist help to find work. theguardian.com/money/article/…

Is inflation actually down to 2.3%? Depends on what measure you use. Last week we talked about how inflation coming down is good news, but high housing costs mean that many people are still struggling. This week’s Household Costs Indices (HCI) announcement proves our point. 🧵

Meet Jessica. She came to us for help because she can’t afford her rent. She receives #UniversalCredit, but because she is under 35, the amount she gets to help with her rent is capped by the Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR). She has a £90 shortfall each month.

Paula's question about why people are working themselves to the bone and still can't afford to keep their heads above water is the question of the election.

63% of people say that cost of living will sway how they vote in the #GeneralElection. Here's why we need a #manifesto for living standards ⤵️ #LivingStandardsElection2024 medium.com/@emer.sheehy/f…

This feels like one of the most important takeaways from this stats release to me - a big chunk of wage growth is cancelled out by inflation. 2.3% wage growth, not accounting for rising rent or mortgage costs, won't feel like much to a lot of people.

Outstanding council tax debt in England has reached £6bn. That's £488m up on last year's figures. Councils have some of the strongest enforcement powers of any creditor - but people just don't have the money. tinyurl.com/4yt6hphd

"I can see the light above me, and I can't reach it" - Mark's description of what it's like to be in a negative budget paints such a vivid picture. 5 million people are stuck in this situation - they can't make ends meet no matter what they do.

My article on how austerity dampened political participation is open access ahead of the general election. Give it a read 👇

In the 5 weeks since this election was announced, CitizensAdvice has helped 30,000 people with access to crisis support. That’s food banks and charity grants. It's essential that both leaders set out how they plan to tackle the landslide in living standards. #LeadersDebate

The new govt has a chance to act in its first Budget - a good start would be easing UC deductions for debt payments + the benefit cap, esp when so much goes back to the DWP itself. When UC is patently not enough to begin with, let's stop clawing £ back: mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

PIP is far from perfect, but it's a vital source of support. We're deeply concerned that the Green Paper's proposals would lead to serious hardship for the people we support. Full CitizensAdvice response to the consultation, closed yesterday, here: citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publica….

Yesterday’s HSF extension is a crucial opportunity to develop a permanent crisis fund: 1. Taking into account lessons learned from the HSF 2. Finally giving certainty about future support to LAs + households facing hardship. Our new report📝👇 citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publica…

Great to see government committing to regulating Buy Now Pay Later, something we've long called for at CitizensAdvice. thesun.co.uk/money/31121129…

✨ Our Race Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage Equity Group (REACH) marked #BlackHistoryMonth with their members. They explored #ReclaimingNarratives with Amnesty UK, interpreted political cartooning with artist Alaa Satir and heard from our 10,000 Interns Foundation Black policy interns!

Big news: The government just announced tougher protections for stalking victims. Join us this Friday for our Data Insights event with @JessPhillips MP as we unpack the plan to halve violence against women and girls by 2034 and discuss gender inequality through our data. 💬📊

Since the pandemic, more and more women have been seeking our advice. Women like Maria who can’t work because of mental health problems caused by domestic violence ⤵️

CitizensAdvice helped more people with homelessness than EVER BEFORE in 2024 The key drivers? insecurity & unaffordability in the PRS #RentersRights Bill takes steps to tackle these issues, but to truly 'transform the experience of private renting’ as promised, Govt. must: 🧵