An average of 22 people in need per day sought an emergency crisis grant in Dumfries and Galloway last year as poverty levels soared.
Desperate parents and individuals turned to Dumfries and Galloway Council for a cash payment on 8,030 occasions in 2022/23 as they struggled to make ends meet.
This was the highest number of applications in the past eight years – excluding the height of the pandemic in 2020/21 when there were 84 more.
