Mum facing £6,000 bill rise invites Tory MP to survive on her budget

A mum-of-two claiming food vouchers has invited a Tory MP to try and survive on her budget as her household bills soar by £6,000 a year.

Leanne, 38, said she is having to skip daily meals in order to put food on the table for her son and daughter – and will have nothing left to meet the further astronomical cost hikes on the horizon.

She told Metro.co.uk of feeling guilty at having to deny her nine-year-old daughter a £3 ice cream from a van, and for stopping one of the schoolgirl’s friends from coming to their house for dinner.

The finance officer, from the West Country, is a victim of ‘stagflation’, where -despite working 37 hours a week – her wages are not matching the spiralling cost of living, with inflation predicted to hit 10%

She gets by on coffee as she struggles to provide for daughter Alia and her 18-year-old son, Hayden, who is due to begin university in September.

Leanne is among those Tory MP Lee Anderson had in mind last week when he said that people struggling to make ends meet ‘cannot budget’ and ‘cannot cook properly’.

He told Parliament there is not a ‘massive’ need for foodbanks and meals can be prepared for as little as 30p a day.

Leanne said: ‘I would love to see him survive for a month on one of our incomes. We are just about surviving but there’s no way he would survive.

‘He says we can get by on 30p a day but how much is he spending on meals a day? Maybe they should cut back on what they were spending and put it back into the pot for people who are genuinely struggling.

‘I would love for him to come and see reality and live in the real world.’

Leanne, who asked to be known by just her first name, estimates across the board her household costs will go up by more than £6,000 a year, with just under half going on electricity and oil.

She is supported with food vouchers from Action for Children’s Crisis Fund and counts herself lucky that she works from home and doesn’t have to pay for childcare, a cost which she believes would mean having to quit work and falling back on benefits full-time.

‘The price of everything has gone up, food, electricity, cleaning products and it just all adds up,’ Leanne said. ‘For instance, Alia asked if she could have a friend over for dinner the other day and I had to say no, because I can’t actually afford to feed another mouth.

‘I just can’t stretch the budget, I have to think about the next meal.

‘We can’t go out on days out and then an ice cream van comes and I think “brilliant” until I see it’s £3 for an ice cream.

‘I can’t afford it and I ask myself why not? I should be able to afford treats for my children, but I can’t. I feel like I’m failing them.’

The single mum, who claims Universal Credit, is struggling to meet an electricity hike of £188 to £279 a month and increases in council tax and home heating oil. In the shops, she has noticed the cost of items that were £1 going up to £1.25, which quickly adds up across the whole basket.

Another astronomical rise in electricity bills is expected in October, when the average household bill could hit £3,000.

Leanne estimates that her costs will rise by around £6,000 by the end of the year, with her power and heating bills accounting for around £2,800 and the rest going on food for her household.

‘I don’t how I’ll cope,’ Leanne said. ‘I’ve maxed out two credit cards and I’m already cutting out two meals a day so the kids can eat.

‘Except for the evening meal I drink coffee because it seems to suppress my appetite a little. Who would have thought eating would become a luxury?’

Action for Children today warns of the impact that the end of the £20-a-week uplift to Universal Credit has had on the UK’s poorest families.

The charity analysed its Crisis Fund to find that in the six months since the end of the temporary increase, more than half of the grants issued were for families in receipt of the monthly payment.

Imran Hussain, director of policy and campaigns, said: ‘The worst pain and misery of the cost of living crisis is being felt by children in low income families, yet the government is refusing to target help for these children or accept that it needs to rethink its huge cut to Universal Credit.

‘The levels of severe and persistent financial hardship our services are seeing are among the worst they can remember and are robbing too many children of the bright futures they deserve.

‘Whilst our Crisis Fund can help to relieve some of these pressures, it cannot address the underlying causes driving rising deprivation or offer a solution for families bearing the brunt of this deep-rooted cost of living crisis.

‘The government committed to using the tax and benefit system to reduce child poverty in its 2019 election manifesto.

‘And yet, with inflation set to reach its highest level for four decades this year, the policy responses introduced by the government to date will not do nearly enough to support low-income families.

‘We desperately need a cross-government plan to reduce and ultimately eradicate child poverty in the UK, but we can start today by guaranteeing benefits keep pace with the cost of living and target help to children in low income families through a rise in the child element of Universal Credit.

‘There is so much more our government can do in these tough times to prevent those with the least from continuing to suffer the most.’

The Department for Work and Pensions maintains that the uplift was a temporary measure which ‘delivered during the pandemic’ and Universal Credit remains ‘a vital safety net for six million people’.

A government spokesperson said: ‘We are committed to ending poverty and the latest figures show there were half a million fewer children in absolute poverty after housing costs than in 2009/10.

‘We recognise the pressures on the cost of living and we are doing what we can to help, including spending £22 billion across the next financial year to support people with energy bills and cut fuel duty.

‘For the hardest hit, we’re putting an average of £1,000 more per year into the pockets of working families on Universal Credit.

‘We have also boosted the minimum wage by more than £1,000 a year for full-time workers and our Household Support Fund is there to help with the cost of everyday essentials.’

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