Cornwall’s Citizens Advice urges people to seek help with bills

Citizens Advice has urged people in Cornwall to “seek help at an early stage” if they are struggling with the cost of living.

Gas and electricity bills went up for millions of households on 1 April when the latest energy price cap took effect.

Wailim Wong, from Citizens Advice in Cornwall, said demand was starting to increase, adding more people were expected to come forward in about a month.

“If you’re falling behind… seek help at an early stage from Citizens Advice or another charity,” he said.

“What tends to happen is people just try and keep afloat and keep going for as long as possible.

Mr Wong said the organisation would be stopping its drop-in sessions across all of its Cornwall offices for six months following a demand on its phone services.

“We’re stopping what we call the drop-in sessions…

“We’re going to use those six months to recruit more volunteers and more advisors.

“After those six months we will be able to go back to doing that face-to-face.”

Mr Wong said face-to-face appointments would still be available.

He issued advice to those who may be struggling with finances, urging them to “shop around”.

“There are deals out there, sometimes they are quite substantial.

“Spend a bit of time… going through your household budget.

“What’s coming in every month, what’s going out, where can I make some savings?”