THE Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB) in North Yorkshire has helped hundreds of residents to claim additional benefits worth a total of more than £2m.
The county council's care and independence committee has been told that the CABs dealt with 34,000 inquiries for help in claiming welfare benefits.
Corporate services director Derek Law said the additional benefits often went to older people in need.
Mr Law said CABs were reporting that young families, working people with disabilities and the working poor were suffering "spiralling debts" and, in some cases, threats of eviction from their homes.
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