Thousands of families in Northumberland are struggling to heat their homes as they turn to Citizens Advice for support.
Staff at Citizens Advice Northumberland are seeing first hand the hardship families are facing as they seek help for bills and in particular rising energy costs, with 20,000 families in the county estimated to be struggling due to fuel poverty.
Service development manager Angela O'Brien said the service had provided around £16,000 worth of energy vouchers per month since the last quarter to help families who can't afford to top up their meters.
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She said: "There has been a massive increase and we have been inundated.
"Debts and benefits are always the biggest, but I think energy is getting in there now. It is the cost of living in general, people are noting the cost of a loaf of bread or milk."
In January 65 clients received Emergency Fuel Voucher help, while 245 cases required emergency help in December.
Energy fuel vouchers are issued when a household is in a fuel crisis, and they must already be disconnected from their supplies, or be at immediate risk of disconnection as they have less than £5 available on their meters.
They must also have no available funds to top up themselves.
Angela said rising costs were having a huge impact on clients and the benefit increase from April will make little impact.
She said: "It is fine that the Government have put a 10 per cent increase in benefits this coming April but the fact is it doesn't make up for the fact there have been years and years where it was held static, so people on benefits are significantly affected because they had five or six years where it was at a complete standstill.
"The 10 per cent now only represents the Consumer Price Index at the moment but doesn't make up what has been lost in the past.
"It doesn't make up for the problem at all. So people who are trying to live on standard benefits now have not got a hope.
"They don't have savings, if you have been long-term disabled then you haven't got savings. How could you make savings on £300- £400 per month - you can't so you have nothing to fall back on. They are hard hit."
The Government launched a number of cost of living payment schemes which includes £650 for households on means tested benefits and the £300 for pensioners who receive the Winter Fuel Payment.
But Angela said the "piecemeal handouts" are not helping.
She said: "It is not useful to be told you can have £200 or £300 now because what you want to be able to do is plan for the future.
"If you have a consistent income you can plan but it is not going to help if you don't get another one in six months time.
"The Government has said for a long time Universal Credit is about teaching people to use their money better.
"So you give people a monthly income and they have to learn to budget so when they go into work having a monthly income isn't such a shock.
"At Citizens Advice we all argued that wasn't very sensible because it is hard for people to budget like that and have all your housing costs in.
"If you say on one hand that is the reason you are doing this and then on the other suddenly start supplementing money randomly that doesn't reflect how people's earnings work.
"Most of us who earn wages don't suddenly get an extra £500 because times are getting harder. It is not helpful. What you want is a decent amount of money that is coming in on a regular basis."
Angela said for a huge number of people receiving benefits it is not a choice and people with disabilities are hardest hit.
She said: "If you are born with a disability that renders you incapable of working, that is your entire life. There is no contributory benefit, there is nothing you can pay into and nothing extra for that.
"So we are actually putting people who are born with disabilities into a life of penury.
"When the cost of living goes up like this they are affected unlike anyone else. They are the people who need the most heat. If you are at home all day long you need your heating on, especially if you have some kind of disability that impacts on you."
She added: "It is a myth to think they are sitting there with lots of money because they simply are not, and they can't afford things."
Angela said people are struggling to pay their rent and the impact of rising interest rates on mortgages is still to be seen.
She added: "I think people are maybe not looking and thinking it will get better before that happens.
"We saw what happened in the early 90s when interest rates went nuts, you were like at interest rates between 14-16 per cent and people were losing their homes left right and centre.
"You saw it. I remember where I lived and two people lost their homes and they had trucks just loading stuff onto the back of lorries. It will happen again because interest rates go up. Obviously the people who have lots of savings are very nice but the people who have lots of debt are rubbish."
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