Citizens Advice Bureaux across England and Wales dealt with 6% more benefits problems during the three months April-June 2010, then they did in the same period last year.

New figures show that in Q1 of this financial year (2010/11) the overall rise in welfare benefits enquiries was mainly due to large increases in advice on sickness and disability related benefits:

· Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) rose 77%
(from 25,528 problems in Q1 09/10 to 45,257 in Q1 10/11)
· Carers Allowance rose 17%
(from 11,558 problems in Q1 09/10 to 13,488 in Q1 10/11)
· Disability Living Allowance (DLA) rose 11%
(from 98,380 problems in Q1 09/10 to 108,742 in Q1 10.11)

Gillian Guy, Chief Executive at Citizens Advice said: “Since ESA was introduced in October 2008 Citizens Advice has been monitoring its impact. We have previously published reports[1] expressing our concern about poor knowledge of ESA rules among Jobcentre Plus and DWP medical staff, inadequate administration systems...