AS A charity working to support people in financial hardship, we welcome the new report by Academics Stand Against Poverty as it keeps public attention on the real practical issue of poverty.

A huge 83 per cent of low income households told us they’ve seen no sign of their finances improving in the last year, with many struggling to put food on the table for their families or ending up increasingly in debt. This is having a detrimental effect on their health and wellbeing.

Yet we also found that more than a third of those on low incomes have never checked what financial support could be available to them. We are working to raise awareness of this support and make it easy to access, and anyone in need can use the free tools on our website – www.turn2us.org.uk – to find out quickly and easily what help might be available.

Organisations like Turn2us exist to get practical help to those who most need it. We want people to know that that help is available and urge all like minded organisations to make this help as accessible and prominent as possible.

Simon Hopkins

Chief executive

Turn2us