Money advice statistics 2008/09
This report presents information about the number of new enquires and new cases to publicly funded, face-to-face money advice services during 2008/09.
Summary
An enquiry is someone simply asking for advice, an enquiry becomes a case when the agency has to take some action - such as negotiation, advocacy or representation - to move the case forward.
During data processing several data issues with double counting and incomparability across local authorities were detected. The issues limit the amount of analysis that it is useful to carry out with these data and mean that caution should be used when making conclusions from the figures.
- Enquiries to face-to-face money advice services rose by forty percent between 2007/08 and 2008/09, the period covering the beginning of the current recession. Of the thirty councils which returned information, twenty-five saw an increase in the number of enquiries.
- There was also a rise in the number of new cases between 2007/08 and 2008/09 but this was smaller than for new enquiries. The number of new cases rose by six percent and the amount of new debt related to these cases rose by three percent.
The figures also suggest that the following groups of people are over-represented among money advice users:
- Women,
- People aged 20 to 50. Younger people and the over 50s were under-represented.
- Lone parents,
- People who are unemployed or unable to work due to ill health/ disability
- People in social rented accommodation and
- People with low incomes
Full report
The full report is available to download at the following link: Money advice statistics