‘Energy or rent?’ Britons expect rising hardship after Sunak’s spring statement
“The fuel duty cut is welcome but there’s not really anything else,” said 61-year-old Susan Lee, from Bath, who retired early on medical grounds. “I wasn’t asking for anything extra, just for benefits to have parity with inflation, but we haven’t even got that.”
Lee, who worked as a nurse for 34 years, developed rheumatoid arthritis and now suffers from nerve damage in both her legs. She said there was a “flicker of hope that something would be announced but there’s absolutely nothing”.
Her income is made up of three monthly payments: £390 for her NHS pension for ill health retirement, £350 for PIP and £450 for ESA. She has a motability car which “is her “legs” but she’s had to ration essential journeys due to high fuel prices.
The “biggest impact” of the cost of living crisis for her has been losing her carer. “She used to come in for around two hours a week for £22.50 per hour but I had to stop her coming altogether in February following the chancellor’s announcement about energy bills,” said Lee. “This crisis means having to make real life decisions. I’ve economised wherever and however I can but later in the year I’m going to have to decide which one I pay for – energy or rent?”
“I’m disappointed but not surprised,” said Emily Pritchard, a 25-year-old bookseller living in Oxford, who moved back to her parents’ home about a year ago following a break up. “The fuel duty cut doesn’t affect me and others who don’t have cars, and the income tax which is coming in 2024 – I don’t see how that’s helpful to anyone when people are struggling now. It’s just endless disappointment.”
Although she had only planned to stay with her parents for six months, she is now unsure when she will leave. Her uncertainty about moving out has partly
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