Families ‘pushed to brink’ as hikes kick in

Families already swamped by rising service costs and increasing bills could be pushed to the brink and end up as “the new poor”, experts warned yesterday.

As the effect of sizeable hikes in electricity and gas introduced last October sent bills for winter energy soaring, householders also face hikes in car and health insurance as well as reduced child benefit payments from this week and cuts to pay as a result of the ending of employees’ PRSI allowance.

Hard-pressed homes will also see fuel hikes, motor tax and VRT will go up, while yesterday also saw the Central Bank reveal another fall in the amount of personal credit being lent to people by banks.