PROBLEMS and concerns about welfare benefits and tax credits were the biggest issues facing people from Wellington over the past year.

The data was received from those searching for help and information from the Citizens Advice Somerset organisation.

Advisers from Citizens Advice saw 561 clients in Wellington during the 2024/25 financial year and listened to a total of 3,067 issues.

Citizens Advice volunteers are in Wellington on two days a week to meet face-to-face with people wanting support and help with various issues.

A representative of Citizens Advice, Rhoda Cook, was at Wellington Town Council’s annual parish meeting on May 28 to thank the authority for its ongoing financial assistance.

Last year the council renewed its funding partnership – known as a Service Level Agreement – in which it had agreed to provide the organisation with £5,600 a year for three years, ending in March 2027.

Rhoda said benefits and tax credits were the main issues with people who were coming to see volunteers, while housing and debt were also high up on the list.

She also added that the charity was seeing “a lot more coming through the door” with family and relationship issues and children.

Councillors were told that the grant funding had been used to great effect by the Citizens Advice team and had gained an extra £289,000 income for people of Wellington through benefits and other relief, while a staggering £230,000 of personal debt had also been written off in the past year.

Rhoda said: “We ask creditors to use their discretion in certain instances to write off debt – we ask them to use their better nature.”

The town council was thanked for its renewed support of Citizens Advice with its previous SLA – which had provided the organisation with £5,000 a year for three years – having ended in March 2024.