The benefit claimant’s plight: ‘Everything is going up. The gas, phone, internet … ’
Bad news used to arrive in a brown envelope. Now emails and PDFs keep Devon Scott up at night as soaring energy costs and other utilities force the single father of two from Birmingham to cut back.
“Everything is going up. The gas bill, phone bill, internet. You think, ‘Wow. I’m not getting enough money to keep paying for these’, so you limit yourself on the other things you’re spending on,” says the 43-year-old.
A former security officer who has worked nightclub doors and building foyers across the West Midlands, Scott, who is unemployed, says it is difficult to look for work with two young boys to look after. He has just £60 left after paying for bills each month out of his universal credit benefits.
He expects more bad news from his energy supplier this April in Britain’s worsening cost of living emergency. However, Scott won’t see his benefit payments increase by anywhere near as much under government plans.
“It’s a kick in the teeth,” says Scott, who also has to pay £60 a month in bedroom tax for his council home in the suburb of Stirchley. “We’re not asking for handouts. There are people out there trying to get their life in order and trying to get off benefits to get a decent job. But these things make it harder.”
Pressure is rising on the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to use his set piece spring statement on Wednesday to announce a fresh package of emergency support to help Scott and millions of others struggling to make ends meet amid the worst squeeze on living standards for decades.
UK household incomes are set for the biggest annual fall since at least the mid-1970s this year, with energy bills due to rise by 54% from the start of next month. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed gas prices to record levels – leading
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