‘I can’t look at my bank’: The families reduced to debt and one meal a day

Families on Universal Credit are already struggling as they brace themselves for a potential cut to their benefits, with one mother recently forced into debt to pay for school uniform.

Claimants tell The Independent they are walking three hours to get a hot meal or falling behind on bills as they struggle to get by on current payments in the cost of living crisis.

Liz Truss, the new prime minister, has refused to commit to increasing benefits in line with soaring inflation.

This has sparked concerns - including from Tory backbenchers and a government minister - over the impact on millions whose income would be effectively cut in real terms as a result.

Those relying on benefits say things are already tough enough as they are.

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“I've got into a bit of debt. Not loads but enough that's a bit worrying,” 52-year-old Karen Louise Hollis told The Independent. “And that’s just buying things like school uniforms [and] shoes.”

The mother from Lincoln has been eating just one proper meal a day in an attempt to cut back on costs, relying on biscuits and a yoghurt until a cooked dinner with her son.

Ms Hollis, a published author who gets Universal Credit and another payment for caring for her mother, says it has become “quite ridiculous” trying to find the cash for everything as living costs soar.

“There are just days I can’t look at my bank. Because I’m thinking, ‘How am I going to get shopping this week?’” she says.

“When I’m reading Liz Truss’s comments, I’m a bit terrified. Because I can’t cope on what I get now. If she decreases or doesn’t increase [benefits] with inflation, I’m really going to be struggling.”

Ms Hollis adds: “I don’t want to get into more debt. It’s a difficult, spiralling situation.”

She says friends on Universal Credit just “roll their eyes” when asked how they are coping in the cost of living crisis.

‘“It is literally getting in debt so your kids can go to school in decent shoes. That’s the reality of it,” the mother adds.

An estimated 22 million receive some form of benefits from the government, according to the latest estimates.

On Tuesday, Ms Truss said no decision had yet been made over whether to increase benefits with inflation, which is running at around 10 per cent.

There have been suggestions benefits could increase in line with earnings, which are rising at a slower rate of around 5 per cent.

Carlton Marshall said his welfare payments were only lasting a few days as soaring living costs ate into them.

“I got paid my Universal Credit on the 27th. That had been used by the 30th, because of the prices going up for food, electricity, everything like that. I've got my son to provide from that as well.”

“It just doesn’t last long enough. There's not enough,” he says, adding he is also getting money deducted from previous advances.

The 26-year-old from West Yorkshire says he has been relying on a Sikh temple which puts on hot meals several times a week for food.

“I have had one meal since the end of the month,” Mr Marshall says. Otherwise, he has just been drinking water.

It takes him more than three hours to walk there, he says, but he felt he had no other option. There was a week-long waiting list at his local food bank. “I couldn’t wait a week to eat,” he says.

Faith Agnwet, a mother-of-two from London on Universal Credit, says she has returned to a food bank for the first time in nine months as

“I don’t feel I’m able to manage with my budget,” she tells The Independent. “My budget has stretched less than last year.”

She says she has been spending more time at a local community hub in the hope of cutting back on the cost of heating and boiling the kettle at home.

Another woman who just wanted to go by her first name, Sammie, says she cannot afford heating at the moment. Her house works on heating oil, which is too expensive for her at the moment.

She uses an electric heater for hot water but can only afford to put it on a couple of times a week due to soaring prices.

“Just so I've got enough hot water to have a bath and do the dishes. But by the next day, you have to boil a kettle again to do the dishes,” she says.

The mother, who is currently pregnant with her third child, says she had missed some bills to make sure she had enough money to buy essentials.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “The Secretary of State commences her statutory annual review of benefits and state pensions from late October using the most recent prices and earnings indices available, and the decision will be announced in due course.”

They added: “We are committed to supporting the most vulnerable which is why we’ve delivered at least £1,200 of support to families this winter while also saving households an average of £1,000 a year through our energy price guarantee.”