Brexit ruled the airwaves and headlines once again. But our clients in 2018 faced the same kind of difficulties, in similar proportions, as in recent years.
This is one case where familiarity is definitely NOT reassuring.
As our chart shows, benefits and tax credits again produced nearly as many issues as the next three categories combined: housing, debt and employment. In benefits the biggest issues were personal independence payment, employment and support allowance, and housing benefit. Top debt problems were council tax arrears, rent arrears, and debt relief.
In the year ahead we expect the number of universal credit issues to increase as the roll-out proceeds; it currently represents a small share of benefit problems.
Importantly, housing not only produces specific problems in numbers.
Housing-related issues are also responsible for significant debt and benefit problems, including council tax and rent arrears. In 2019 we shall continue to research housing problems in the borough with a particular focus on private renting,