The impact of the cuts

The leading think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said that poorer families with children will be the biggest losers in their analysis of the Government's Spending Review.

The IFS said that with the exception of the richest 2% of the population the poorest 10% of the population will on average lose about 5.5% of their net income compared with roughly 4.5% for the top 10%.

Citizens Advice is concerned about the effects of the benefit cuts totalling £7billion announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review last week on top of the £11billion already announced as part of the Emergency Budget earlier in the year.  Inevitable cuts to public services, along with the cuts in welfare and tax credits spending, will have an adverse impact on many CAB clients and the charity is concerned that benefit claimants, those on the lowest incomes, women and families will be hardest hit by the combined effect of these changes.

The organisation is already seeing an increase in enquiries from people who are worried about how these changes will affect them, many of whom are very vulnerable. A lot of people are also confused about when the changes will be introduced.

Citizens Advice, Chief Executive, Derek Alcorn, said "There are difficult times ahead for many people and the Government's announcements about cuts will increase the need for the advice and information services we provide.  We advised people on over 179,000 issues with benefits and tax credits in the last year and it is vital that in these difficult times people have access to independent and holistic information about their situation and how they will be affected."