Mum of disabled son ‘thinks of nothing other than bills’ amid cost-of-living crisis

For Morag Winston, a retired nurse in Lincolnshire, the cost of living crisis means hoping that the dairy-free food her disabled son can eat is on offer.

It means worrying about the electricity bill every time her son, Harry, uses the stairlift. It means popping the laundry – Harry wets the bed often – on at night to save money.

It also means the 60-year-old is running out of things to cut back on costs these days. Her Universal Credit has never exactly gone far, but she’s about to lose it and Carer’s Allowance as she’s shifted onto her state pension.

‘It just seems to be constantly paying out bills. Thinking about bills. How you can reduce them. That’s what you’re constantly doing,’ Morag says.

Harry has a number of disabilities including epilepsy, autism and Down’s syndrome; Morag retired from her job as a paediatric nurse to care for her son full-time in 2019.

But research has shown that disabled people and households in the UK are bearing the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis, with many more likely to struggle to heat their homes or cut back on food costs, the think-tank Resolution Foundation found.

Take Morag’s grocery shop. Harry has a specific diet – he can’t eat dairy or eggs and prefers foods with particular textures – which means a carton of dairy milk is a no-go as it could make him congested.

Rice milk is her only option, but not only has it gone up in price it has also become increasingly hard to find in supermarkets.

‘Those foods aren’t cheap – you can’t just give him anything as he won’t eat it. A plate of beans on toast, he just wouldn’t eat it,’ Morag says.

‘I buy a mixture of ready meals, which aren’t the cheapest. He’s not vegetarian, but he’s not a keen fan of chewing meat.

‘Walls sausage rolls are his main lunch food, so I wait for them to be on offer,’ she adds, noting that she waits for the £1.75 four-pack of dairy-free yoghurts her son has two a day of to be reduced.

The cereal he eats has ‘doubled in price’, Morag adds. Hygiene products for Harry (think baby wipes and nappy bags) have too.

‘Everything’s gone up by so much money,’ Morag says, adding to the list butter, bread and washing powder. ‘It’s unbelievable.

‘He’s only little – about 50-55kg – if he gets poorly, he tends to lose weight and you have to build him up again. So when he came back after he had been in for six weeks with Covid, he wasn’t eating, so I had to build him up like a little bird.

‘We love him so much that you just do anything for him.’

With the inflation rate at 8.7%, Morag isn’t just pulling back her spending when it comes to filling the fridge and cupboards. She’s slashed her Sky subscription – her landline might be next – and is switching to the bare basic subscriptions.

Energy is one of the biggest challenges for the Winston family. Due to Harry having double incontinence, they have to regularly use the washing machine, something they do at night to save money (though, Morag worries about it waking her son up).

His stairlift, which Morag describes as a ‘god send’ as it is vital for helping him get around the home, is another drain on energy.

Harry has to attend regular hospital appointments and therapies as well as swing by their local Sense centre which provided invaluable daytime support for him and lets him take part in everything from horse riding to trampolining.

But this all carries a hefty price tag of up to £100 a week in petrol costs, with prices at the pump being 143p per litre; Morag spends time before driving out comparing petro prices at local stations for the best deal.

Holidays abroad aren’t even up for consideration.

Morag’s certainly not alone, Richard Kramer, the chief executive at Sense, a charity that supports disabled people, says.

‘Food price hikes are yet another blow to disabled households, who are already struggling to make ends meet after being hit by a barrage of untenable extra costs in recent years,’ he says.

‘Disabled people are particularly impacted by spiralling costs, as many need to spend more on specialist diets and are dependent on energy-intensive equipment such as feeding machines.

Richard says that almost three in four disabled households that Sense supports have been plunged into debt by increasing costs. While more than half use the charity’s cost-of-living fund to buy food.

‘Increased costs have already pushed almost three-quarters of disabled households into debt and with food prices only rising there is no end in sight.’

‘No one should be struggling to put food on the table,’ he adds, ‘but that is the grim reality for disabled families up and down the country. It is a total injustice.’

Money has always been tight for Morag, who these days finds herself remembering May 2020. In the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic, people raised thousands of pounds for her and Harry.

The money was used to buy Harry a new Lay-Z Spa hot tub, which he loves to lounge in as it provides soothing sensations, after rats chewed through the wires.

‘Harry can be in it for hours,’ Morag says, ‘it relaxes him so much.’

‘Before the cost-of-living crisis hit, seven in 10 people with complex disabilities had less than £1,500 in savings to weather the storm,’ adds Richard.

‘Now the crisis is worsening, debts are rising and the government isn’t doing enough to help.

‘We are urging the government to recognise the full impact of rising costs on disabled people and bring in a long-term plan of targeted support which addresses the additional expenses disabled people face.’

Until then, all Morag can do is be there for her son. He’s set to watch his brother get married, with a suit ready and cab booked.

A taxi might be pricey, Morag says, but she wants him to be there.

‘Harry’s a loveable, cheeky chap,’ she says, ‘everyone describes him like that.

‘He’s got a lovely grin, lovely blue eyes.’

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