For Sarah, the mother of two disabled children, waiting for the government axe to fall once again is piling anxiety on agony.
This week, speculation was swirling over how Chancellor Rachel Reeves will try to balance the books in the Spring Statement, with billions expected to be slashed from the welfare bill. Personal Independence Payments (PIP) are not off limits.
“I’m reading in the news about cuts and changing our payments to a ‘catalogue’ to get equipment,” says Sarah, whose name has been changed.
“How’s that going to help me pay my bills? Is this catalogue going to have the incontinence products I currently buy for my son? We get a supply of three incontinence pads per day, but use six or more. I also buy booster pads to make them more absorbent.
“I also buy special dry wipes and skin-cleaning foam – will those exact products be in this catalogue?
“And the non-foaming toothpaste both boys use, and the ointment for my son’s stoma site that’s not on prescription that I have to buy from America, and so many more things I use the PIP money for?”
After 14 years of brutal cuts, there is not much more disabled people, or the parents of disabled children, can take.
A study from Trussell – formerly the Trussell Trust – shows 19% of people claiming Universal Credit and disability benefits have used a foodbank at least once in the past month.
In the past three months, over two in five (43%) have skipped meals to keep up with other essential costs. A quarter have had to choose between paying for heating or food, or getting a bed or bedding, and more than a third (37%) have not been able to keep their home warm enough.
Over half (56%) have had to cancel plans with family or friends because they couldn’t afford them – and a quarter have been unable to pay for pain relief or other over-the-counter medication in that same period.
Sumi Rabindrakumar, head of policy and research at Trussell, says the findings are “heartbreaking”. One parent told researchers they had to send their youngest child to live with their adult son to get the warmth and “nutrition he needs”.
They asked: “Times are so tough already, what the hell am I going to do when things get even more expensive? I’m going to have to switch off my fridge freezer. One meal a day, and no money for water costs, clothes, petrol. I am disabled, the colder I am, the iller I get – another drain on the NHS.” While disabled people are still reeling from bearing the brunt of Tory austerity there appears to be more to come.
On Wednesday, Rachel Reeves presented plans to the Office for Budget Responsibility and insiders are trailing “painful” new welfare cuts in her Spring Statement on March 26.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Liz Kendall, has promised “radical reform” in an imminent Green Paper.
Former finance specialist David Wilson, 46, lives in rural North Norfolk. He has a benign form of bone cancer, and also suffers with bipolar disorder, anxiety and depression. Austerity cuts to David’s disability benefits mean he already faces impossible choices.
He walks with crutches, meaning his privately rented two-bedroom cottage is dangerous. But his only chance of social housing is one-bedroom accommodation, which would mean his six-year-old son couldn’t stay.
“The stairs are my nemesis,” he says, “I have had many falls. But they are asking me to choose between being a dad or being disabled.”
He uses foodbanks for many essentials.
“They’re a lifesaver,” he says. “I got my son’s toothbrush and toothpaste, a single bed, a mattress and bedding from there. I don’t have luxuries, I don’t have Sky TV, I make six meals out of one chicken. I’ve had to miss meals, so my son eats. This winter I went over a month without heating – you could see vapour when I talked. I only put the heating on when my son comes. Being cold affects my depression and my joints become tighter.
“The only thing left to cut is my broadband. My iPad is my only connection to the outside world. It upsets me that I can’t afford to get my son a packet of sweets.”
Former NHS nurse and home help, Shirley Widdop, is a disabled single mum to three adult sons, one of whom is disabled, so she is also his carer. She lost the home she owned when her relationship broke down and lived in a hostel for many months.
Shirley, 57, from West Yorkshire, is currently unable to work. She is in constant pain with degenerative cervical myelopathy, caused by compression of her spinal cord, which affects her mobility, and has chronic depression. She believes her type 2 diabetes may be partly caused by her low benefits income.
“I part blame that on having to switch from a healthier diet,” she says. “Breads and cereals are cheaper and more filling. Another consequence of not having enough for the essentials.”
Shirley co-authored the forward to a new Demos-JRF Report, I Need Help Now, which examines trends in online conversations about poverty over the past 14 years. Its findings highlight the powerful connection between poverty and the wider political climate.
“Last week I needed £60 to pay for something and that was a week’s food shop gone. You’re constantly hanging on with your fingernails. If it wasn’t for my children, I wouldn’t be here.”
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: “We will reform the welfare system so it is fairer on the taxpayer, helps long-term sick and disabled people who can work to find employment, and ensures people receive the help they need.
“At the same time, we are increasing the Living Wage, uprating benefits and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families with children by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions to help low-income households and make everyone better off.”
But Sumi, from Trussell, says balancing the books cannot come at the cost of those already barely surviving on incredibly low incomes.
“Welfare and disability benefit cuts risk pushing even more people to foodbanks,” she says. “Many disabled people are terrified of the prospect of cuts to disability benefits, which are already not enough to live on.
“If the government is committed to its promise to end the need for emergency food, it must address underlying barriers to work and flaws in our social security system. It must commit to creating an Essentials Guarantee which would ensure everyone can at the very least afford the essentials we all need.”
Shirley adds: “Decisions are being made by non-disabled people who have no inkling on how our lives really are. The government needs to please believe the majority of claimants when we say we can’t work.
“We’re not malingerers or swinging the lead, we’re people trying our best in really difficult circumstances.”