THERE is a widening gap between rich and poor in York - with more people at risk of falling into poverty due to Government austerity, a city advice service has said. 

Advice agencies - including Citizens Advice Bureau and York Foodbank - have formed the partnership Advice York in order to best provide practical support to help people solve problems often relating to benefits and financial crisis.

At its launch at York Explore Library yesterday, members spoke of how they are more likely to be successful in influencing local and national policy on behalf of clients if they work together. 

Tony Lindsay, chief executive, of York Citizens Advice Bureau, said about the need for social advice: “York appears to be prosperous and wealthy in comparison to other areas in our region. York has an unemployment rate below the national average and is within the top 20 per cent of districts in terms of workers skill levels.

"Despite this, most recent figures show 14,000 residents of York are living in poverty with eight wards in the 20 per cent most deprived across the UK. Housing costs are high in the city and average wages in the city have been on a downward trend for several years.

"Many people get in to difficulty; we want to make sure that when people do we are able to provide the right advice they need."

There are nine independent, not for profit advice agencies in York - with the majority of inquiries made are about benefits, debt and then housing.

In 2013/14 there were 25,368 inquiries made to advice services in York - 9692 of which were about benefits and 6290 about debt. 

Advice York has outlined its aims as being: to work collectively to find funding opportunities to develop advice provision in York, to work strategically to influence policy and evidence positive outcomes of advice, to develop a plan to improve services and to look at joint working and shared resources.