Tag: cost of livin

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I Struggle To Feed And Keep My Kids Warm. Real Life Stories From The Public.

As the never ending cold winter and the ever increasing cost of living and energy costs continues once again I took to the streets and interviewed several people in my local town Ashton Under Lyne.

Ashton Under Lyne is a typical northern working class town, drained of money by the government and the majority of people living in differing stages of poverty.

Mortality rates are amongst the highest in the UK and there’s a higher rate of people either being unwell or living with some type of disability.

Like any other northern working class town it doesn’t have a lot for people to aspire to despite the positive changes that Tameside Council are implementing and trying to introduce.

Years of government forced austerity policies has been and continues to cause a lack of funding for essential services with most things already stripped to the bare minimum.

As I headed off into the cold I spoke to a young woman that had two young children with her. I introduced myself and asked her how she is coping with the cost of living and the ever increasing energy crisis.

As I asked her this I could see that she was upset, telling me that she thinks that she’s failing her children because she can’t give them the things that she used to be able to do.

“We’re living in a cold house trying to keep turning the central heating on at a bare minimum. I usually turn the heating on for an hour in the morning and again in the evening at bedtime, that’s if I’ve got credit because I’m on a prepaid meter”

She went on to say that her health is suffering most likely because she’s cold and because she often doesn’t eat meals, if she does it’s a bare minimum. “I can’t afford to eat as well as my children and they always come first”

I asked her how she keeps warm when the heating isn’t turned on. “I wear layers of clothing and I have a thick blanket that we all snuggle under. I’ve got a little fan heater that I use just to keep the chill off because I don’t want the children to become ill and even that’s a struggle. Once I run out of credit on my meter that’s it it’s gone and I can’t afford for that to happen”

She told me that she often takes the children to the library that has a warm area and her children can have a look at some books and she can have a free cuppa.

However she continued to say that sometimes she found this very difficult because she doesn’t always want to be around other people..

I asked her if she had visited a food bank recently and she said yes she has and is now dependent upon them even though it’s still a struggle saying that they’ve been a lifeline for her and her children.

But despite getting help from food banks they don’t cover all of her food and every day living costs so she has to try and fill the gaps in.

“I’m always topping up my energy meters, I’ve never had this problem before. It’s bad, really bad I just wish that it wasn’t like this”

I signposted her to several organisations that might be able to help her but this is only a sticking plaster.

Whilst the government sits back and causes the suffering of those most vulnerable her experience is going to be repeated time and time again

Their inhumane policies will undoubtedly cause malnutrition and hypothermia related illnesses and worse.

Undoubtedly there will be recorded deaths of those suffering like this but how many will actually be reported as so.

Every death related to this needs to be reported and spoken about in parliament. The government is knowingly causing the suffering of thousands if not millions and they need to be reminded of this every single day.

This shouldn’t be happening at all.

I will continue to share the experiences of those that I interview in future blogs, hopefully weekly.

If you would like me to use your story get in touch I’m happy to do so.

Let’s be clear no one should be forced to live like this.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Please read, share, tweet and email this blog, it’s vitally important that we get these stories out there in the public domain.

Believe it or not there are still people that aren’t aware that this is happening.

A huge thanks to everyone that does share my blogs it makes a tremendous difference.

I don’t get paid for any of the work that I do and I would like to continue to report on these stories.

If you would like to contribute to keep my blog and campaign going there’s a donate button at the top and side of this blog post.

By doing so I will be able to help others more.

Thank you xx.

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British Pound Drops To All Time Low Against The Dollar
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British Pound Drops To All Time Low Against The Dollar
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Claimants Forced To Migrate To Universal Credit Early Will Face Financial Loss

MPs have recently accused the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) of creating ‘two classes of Universal Credit (UC) claimants.

The accusations were made as a result of uncovering the fact that claimants who are forced to migrate to UC early will face financial loss, compared to those who make the decision to move over to UC later rather than being forced to migrate.

This financial hit will happen as a result of next April’s annual uprating.

ESA claimants who choose to migrate after the uprating will keep what is estimated to be around a 9% increase in their benefits.  

Claimants who are forced to migrate before April will have any uprating payments deducted from their transitional protection. This will leave them in a much worse financial situation than claimants who migrate later.

Upon questioning, Therese Coffey DWP secretary of state was asked if she would accept that this decision would lead to inequality, Coffey dismissed the accusation saying “I am not anticipating we will have lots of managed migration by April.”

To put it bluntly she doesn’t care if a few thousand claimants are going to suffer financially and nor will she rectify it either.

As usual Therese Coffey cares only about herself and not the vulnerable people that she claims to care for. This proves once again that UC very rarely improves a claimants financial situation, but instead causes distress and harm.

Source Benefits And Work

I don’t receive any payment for the work that I do.

If you can afford to and would like to donate to keep both my blog and campaign going there’s a donate button at the top and side of this blog post.

Thank you!

Ashton Under lyne, baby, Black Isle Media, Boris Johnson, Brighthouse, confidence, Cookery, coronavirus, cost of living, covid 19, Decision maker, dignity pre paid funerals,, DLA, domestic violence, domestic violence,, DPAC, Elderly, energy poverty,, ESA, eugenics, Family, feminism, Food, Food bank, food poverty, Free, frugal, fuel poverty, funeral plans,, G4S, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, International Women's Day, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobcentre, Ken Loach, loose women, Mandatory reconsideration, Money saving tips, New Charter Housing, NHS, NHS dentist, Northern resisters, Payday loan, PIP, poverty, pre paid funeral plans,, pre paid funerals,, prepaid energy, prepaid energy metres, safe hands,, sanctions, Steven Crabb, suicide, targets, Tax credits, television, Television Licence, Television Licence fines, Teresa May, The Big Issue, The Labour Party, The Poor Side Of Life, Theresa May, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, womens rights, Workfare, Workprogramme, young people

UK Goods Cost Rise At Fastest Rate For 40 Years. Enough Is Enough!

The UK inflation rate has risen to 9.4% in a year to June 2022. This has therefore resulted in food, petrol and energy costs rise at their fastest rate for 40 years.

This has had a very detrimental affect upon the poorest households who are according to the Resolution Foundation being hit the most by these seemingly never-ending rising costs.

Not only have these price increases hit the poorest, the higher earners that had previously managed to pay their bills, they also find themselves struggling which is undoubtably causing them distress and worry.

At the same time official figures also show that the regular rate of pay is falling at the fastest rate since 2001 when price increases and energy cost increases are taken into account.

The Labour party have announced that they are pushing for urgent action from the government, calling for it to take VAT off energy bills and have accused the government of a decade of economic “mismanagement” and has called for urgent action.

This is far from a good response from the Labour Party. It’s not good enough to just request that the VAT off the cost of energy. Instead they should be demanding that there is a decrees in not only the VAT level but the cost to the consumer for the energy that they use.

It’s unacceptable that the public are to be expected to make these costs and manage to feed themselves and their families, pay the rent or mortgage and bills.

It’s also important to remember that the increasing costs of petrol and diesel is having a massive detrimental affect upon the disabled, poorest and low wage earners, many of which rely upon a car to manage everyday tasks and the ability to get to work.

Already on social media, disabled users are reporting that they are having to make a choice of charging their electric powered wheelchairs and scooters or putting the money towards the cost of feeding themselves and their families.

It’s certainly not good enough that local councils, most of which have already seen a massive cut to their funding are now being asked to provide warm places for the public to sit in during the winter months.

What is really needed is for local authorities, organisations and the public to directly challenge the government in whatever way they can. We must not sit back and allow this to happen.

Many plan to hold a no payment protest which will hit the energy companies hard and it needs too. Non payment is one of the reasons why the Poll Tax was abolished, along with the protests. Back then we saw local communities collectively taking action, standing together in agreement saying enough is enough.

We desperately need to see similar actions like this, more marches and protests, the public, local authorities and organisations saying enough is enough we can’t allow this to continue.

A general election is needed now as a matter of urgency, because if pundits are right and Truss becomes prime minister it could well become a whole lot worse than it is now.

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com