Eighty-five per cent of clients surveyed by employment charity Work Avenue say the cost-of-living crisis is putting them under financial strain.

And over 60 per cent of the 500-plus respondents said they were considering switching jobs or looking for a secondary source of employment income to improve their situation.
Four in ten said their mental health had been affected.

Among those in work, two-thirds felt their current salary would not cover household bills, with 40 per cent worried that their families would suffer because of the need to severely cut back on expenditure.

Eight in ten of those on benefits worried that they may no longer be able to make ends meet.
“My biggest fear is not being able to afford to eat properly,” one client said. “I am having to ration how much I eat now and sometimes have to go for days without essentials.”

Another told the charity: “I am so worried we won’t be able to pay our bills this winter. I just don’t know how we will be able to heat our home, let alone provide a good quality of life for our children.”

Work Avenue director of operations Emma May said the findings demonstrated that “people in our community are now having to make impossible decisions about their mortgage repayments or rent, household bills and even essentials such as food and clothing”.

The charity supports over 2,000 people across the UK annually, with numbers rising as the economic crisis bites.

It is holding an online crowdfunder later this month with the target of raising £750,000 to help clients through difficult times.