A SMALL support group for mothers with just three volunteers says it has seen a 500 per cent rise in referrals to its services amid the cost-of-living crisis. 

The Stoke-on-Trent Mothers Support Network said that the number of people it would see weekly, it was now seeing every day — even when the service is closed. 

The group’s founder Laura Carter said she never expected the rise in referrals to be so large and fears that the figure could increase further during the cold winter months ahead, as annual average costs for electricity and gas soar from £2,500 to £7,500.