The average debt among people across England and Wales going to Citizens Advice for support has passed £10,000 for the first time on the charity’s records.
The service said the increase is being driven by essential bills such as energy, council tax and housing debts.
Average debt has been above £10,000 since June and the trend has persisted for around a quarter of a year.
Citizens Advice has been tracking average debt among the people it helps with debt advice since the pre-coronavirus era of 2019, when the figure was around £7,000.
On average more than 48,000 people across England and Wales per month have sought help with debt from Citizens Advice so far this year – a 37% increase compared with 2022.
Half (51%) of those asking for…