The number of people turning to the Jewish community’s leading frontline support service for help with debt, financial hardship and legal difficulties has almost doubled in four years, with middle-aged adults among those increasingly struggling to make ends meet.
New figures from the Paperweight Trust, released to coincide with Challenge Poverty Week, reveal that the charity supported a record 2,005 clients between August 2025 and July 2026, compared with 1,004 four years earlier.
The latest annual total represents a 23.5 per cent increase on the previous year, when 1,623 people sought help.
There has been a particular rise among people aged between 40 and 55, whose numbers have increased by 61 per cent since 2022. Paperweight supported 547 people in this age group in 2026, up from 340 four years ago.
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