Cost of living leaving families in Sheffield in "constant cycle of crisis"
“These people are in a constant cycle of crisis and it’s really difficult to break”
People in Sheffield are being trapped in a “cycle of crisis” as work no longer covers increasing costs of housing, bills and food, specialist advisers have claimed.
Cost of living concerns have been part of ongoing national discussions for years now as the rate of inflation results in the price of everyday items becoming more and more expensive.
Sophie Wilson, from Sheffield Citizen’s Advice, said that people are stuck in an endless battle as they are forced to balance rising bills, food costs and emergency expenses like car repairs.
“These people are in a constant cycle of crisis and it’s really difficult to break,” she added.
“At Citizen’s Advice we put a lot of time and effort into helping them try to break that, but at the end of the day if they haven’t got enough money coming in as they have going out every single month then we’re at a brick wall ourselves.
“We try to help them but they’re coming back month after month for emergency charitable support and we’re seeing that is on the increase over the past five years.”
And while historically many issues of poverty could be resolved by gaining employment, Sophie says that now many people they support are employed but simply struggling to juggle ever-rising prices.
She added: “It's not necessarily that people are out of work and there's much that they can do to improve that, it's the other situations like the sky rocketing price of their own housing which leaves nothing left for their bills - which have also gone up as well.”
Andy Freeman, from the Sheffield Poverty Truth Commission, echoed this, saying that he’s heard stories of people who are struggling despite having multiple jobs.
These problems result in people making bad financial decisions that can risk furthering their poverty down the line, but Andy said that it’s important to remember that “these are human stories”.
“We often question the decisions people make when they're in poverty,” he continued.
“They're trying to survive. Their families are trying to survive.
“You make choices in order to get through and often that means choices that people might criticize like taking up payday loans for example, but it's like well ‘how else am I going to feed my kids?’.”
Andy helped produce a report on local poverty issues in 2025, which shared the lived experience of people across the city who are struggling to stay above water despite their best efforts.
He has since been working with the council but says that the focus needs to be on preventative measures that help people avoid getting into debt in the first place.
“Sheffield's voluntary and community sector is really strong and really connected,” he added.
“So if you want to help and there's any community organisation that you've got connection with, go there because they'll be able to put you in touch with the right people if they can't help themselves.
“Reaching out for help is always really hard but actually taking that first step of asking for help, there'll be people there that can help you.”