PEOPLE struggling to cope with debt and poverty across York and North Yorkshire will have a new source of advice from Monday.

All nine Citizens’ Advice Bureaux in the county are joining forces to launch an Adviceline, so people can get assistance over the telephone at almost any time of the day, five days a week.

George Vickers, manager of York CAB, said Adviceline was being launched because the bureau had been worried that not everyone who needed its help could get through on its old advice line. He said: “Until now, we were only able to offer help on the telephone four mornings a week, but by working with the other bureaux, we can now staff it on a rota five days from 9.30am to 4pm, plus 4pm to 6.30pm on Tuesdays and 5.30pm to 6.30pm on Thursdays.”

He said over the past 12 months, York CAB had seen the number of people requesting help increase by a quarter, with the biggest problems being debt, followed by benefits, housing and employment rights.

“We are worried that as more people lose their jobs, more people are put on reduced hours and more people face reductions in their benefits, goals such as eradicating child poverty are going to move away and child poverty may even increase.” Sue Bywater, the manager of Ryedale CAB, one of the other CABs participating in the scheme, said clients phoning the line would speak to an assessor, who would offer an initial assessment. Clients would then be directed to an appropriate service for the particular help they needed, or make a referral to a CAB office in their own locality, where they would be offered an appointment, or an arrangement would be made for an adviser to call them back.

“Nationally, Citizens Advice Bureaux assisted over two million people resolve their problems in 2009/10. Demand for our service is set to increase, as more people are faced with job losses and comprehensive overhaul of the benefit system,” said Sue Bywater.

• The Adviceline is 08444 111 444.