New report sheds light into the experiences of hardship in WA

The Financial Wellbeing Collective, the largest service provider network of financial hardship programs in Western Australia, has released a first-of-its-kind report detailing the experiences of financial, food and utility stress in the state.

Using data from the 29,000 Western Australians who accessed the Financial Wellbeing Collective’s hardship crisis interventions services in FY 23/24, The Financial Wellbeing in WA Snapshot 2024 provides insight into the experiences of financial hardship. It unveils who is doing it toughest, and the contributors affecting poor financial wellbeing in the community.

The report comes at a time when inflation has driven cost of living to new heights, and a shortage of affordable accommodation has propelled levels of housing insecurity. Western Australia is also four months out from the 2025 State election.

Key findings of the report include:

• Hardship is becoming more common and widespread
• Housing stress, cost-of-living and inadequate income are the main drivers
• Most affected are women, single-income households, and people on government benefits
• However, an emergence of medium to high income brackets are needing hardship assistance for the first time

In the past three years, the Financial Wellbeing Collective has experienced a 50% increase in call volumes for emergency relief and a 24% increase in utility grant applications.

In FY23/24 the Financial Wellbeing Collective’s percentage of new clients was 84% in financial counselling, 63% in emergency relief, and 62% in utility grants. 

General Manager Helena Jakupovic says across the Financial Wellbeing Collective’s services they are seeing clients needing hardship assistance for the first time, as many battle with today’s cost of living.

“With cost of living making hardship more common, what we are experiencing is an emergence of working families needing hardship assistance for the first time. Inflation has pushed previously financially secure families and individuals into financial hardship. Those who were already struggling have been pushed into levels of poverty where they are making very tough decisions everyday just to survive.”

The newly released data gained the interest of media outlets featuring in the Sunday Times, The West Australian, ABC News Perth, 9 News Perth, 10 News First Perth, The Today Show and 6PR.

Read the Financial Wellbeing in WA Snapshot 2024.

Read the Key Findings document.

Watch the ABC News Perth story here:

Western Australians experiencing financial difficulty are encouraged to reach out to:
Financial Wellbeing Collective: ☎️ 1800 932 050 🌐 thefwc.org.au