Staff levels need to be boosted at Citizens Advice, the charity indicated today.
Citizens Advice said that it was facing increased numbers of members of the public asking for help because of the recession. Latest figures show that unemployment is at a decade-long high of 7.1 percent, while home repossessions caused by people falling behind on their mortgage payments rose by around 40 percent last year.
Elsewhere, market conditions remain highly volatile due to the ongoing credit crunch, putting banks at a higher-than-usual risk of running into destabilising financial difficulties. Data from Credit Action, another charity, also suggests that Britons hold a collective £1.5 trillion of personal debt.
Citizens Advice, in calling for new volunteers, said that "everyone" was welcome to get in touch - and included testimonials from current staff to encourage people to sign up. "I can fit volunteering in with my day to day life as it's so flexible," Sedgemoor-based IT assistant Mike said.
"Also, I'm enjoying learning new skills that otherwise you'd often have to pay to train for."
Beth Taylor Dean, volunteer specialist at Citizens Advice, said: "Over the last year over 20,000 volunteers enabled the Citizens Advice service to deal with 5.5 million problems. With the recession biting harder, increased demand on our services means an increased need for volunteers."
The charity issued the report in the run-up to National Volunteers' Week, which runs from June 1st-7th.
