Written by 
Citizens Advice West Oxfordshire and nationwide has seen record-breaking demand for advice since the escalation of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest daily number of visitors to its website being topped four times last week.
The web data shows a clear picture of the changing narrative of how this crisis is affecting people in the UK.
Initially, in the second week of March, the charity saw an increase in people coming to them for information on flight and accommodation cancellations.
But at the start of last week there was a big rise in views of its new, dedicated page on coronavirus, and advice pages related to sick pay.
While demand is still very high, the rate of these increases stabilised in the middle of the week and Citizens Advice is now starting to see an uptake in pages relating to redundancy, and benefits pages relating to income and Universal Credit.
In the middle of last week, more people started looking for advice on what to do if you can’t afford to top up your prepayment meter, showing people are already worried about spiralling into debt.
Citizens Advice West Oxfordshire want to remind people that the charity is still here for everyone. At the moment, the charity is not able to provide face-to-face advice but they are bolstering their Adviceline telephone service to help anyone who is in need of advice.
To find advice, please start by visiting citizensadvice.org.uk. The website is constantly updated with the latest advice on what the coronavirus could mean for people
If an answer cannot be found, please phone Citizens Advice West Oxfordshire on 0300 330 9049
Notes:
The website had 2.2 million pageviews last week, up 50% compared to the same time last year
Pageviews in a single day peaked on Thursday 19 March at 390,000 – a 70% increase on the previous Thursday which was already higher than usual
Across pages that give advice on redundancy, there were 106,000 views last week compared to 36,000 the week before and 22,000 a year ago
Across the pages giving advice on Universal Credit, there were 188,000 pageviews last week compared to 53,000 the week before
In percentage terms, the the biggest rise was on the page giving advice on if you can’t afford to top up your prepayment meter which was viewed 27,000 times last week, compared to just 1,000 the week before