THE cost-of-living crisis has become so firmly embedded in daily news bulletins and political commentary that it no longer provokes action or the sense of urgency that it demands.

That is the view of Ceredigion MP Ben Lake who has cautiously welcomed Chancellor’s Jeremy Hunt’s decision to uprate the value of Universal Credit payments and other working-age benefits by 6.7 per cent from next April.

“Charities and organisations working with families and children in my constituency have stated quite clearly that the value of these benefits fails to offer enough to support the basic cost of living for some of the lowest-income households,” Mr Lake told the Tivyside.

“Therefore, the decision to uprate their value will offer much-needed relief.”

Mr Lake’s comments follow hard on the heels of Ceredigion Citizens Advice’s earlier plea to the Government to raise benefits in line with inflation in Wednesday’s Autumn Statement.

It came as food bank issues in the county show a 22 per cent increase in the last 12 months.

The charity wrote to Mr Lake who agreed to forward their concerns to Mr Hunt.

Chief executive Juliet Morris wrote: “Millions of households are living through the biggest cost-of-living crisis in decades and urgently need reassurance from the Government that things will not get worse for them this winter.

“If benefits are frozen for April 2024-March 2025, this will result in significant real-terms cuts in Universal Credit (UC) awards.

“At Citizens Advice over half of all households coming to us for debt advice already have more money going out than coming in, meaning they are particularly vulnerable if benefits and inflation aren’t keeping pace.

“The average amount their income falls short each month is on average £30.50. This will almost triple to more than £80 per month if benefits are frozen.

“Many of these people in a negative budget are in work, have families and are unable to pay for basic essentials on their current income.

Many people in Ceredigion will be impacted by this. During the past three months our advisers have helped 437 people with cost of living issues – a 4 per cent rise on the same period last year.

“The top five cost of living issues facing our clients are Personal Independence Payments, Energy, Charitable Support and Food Banks, Energy debts and Debt assessments.

“Worryingly, charitable support and food bank issues showed a 22 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.”