This is a post about a subject very close to home. My home. It is about politicians who wouldn’t know poverty if it chewed on their overpaid arses.
It’s about, in part, Jamie Oliver.
Now, to put this out there, I love Jamie. For years and years, I idolised the man. He taught me to cook, when I could barely operate a Pot Noodle and we lived off Smash (dehydrated potatoes) and pasta (we even overcooked that). I would watch all his shows and learn, slowly, from the TV. In less than a year, I was able to cook a three course meal for 15 people. Gourmet became easy and I was soon laughing my way through 3 meat roasts and cooked-from-scratch curries. I owe my skill in the kitchen to Jamie. I have a lot to thank him for.
Jamie Oliver was good to watch, when I had money. Before I had six operations, culminating in a partial mastectomy of my right breast. He was great, before I had a heart attack–caused, in part, by the amount of strain the constant general anaesthetics put on the organ. Before I was diagnosed with Unstable Angina (that’s the bad sort, if you’re interested. It means there are days when rolling over in bed causes my heart to seize up and my oxygen levels to fall drastically–on these days, I can just about, with the constant administration of GTN spray, make it to the loo). Jamie was excellent, before I had to leave a well paid job and fall back on the State and Child Tax Credits, just to help me survive.
I lived comfortably and we wanted for pretty much nothing important. We were young, in our late twenties, with well paid good jobs and four beautiful, if a bit spoiled, children. Life was good.
Until it wasn’t good and all I could do was watch, helplessly, as it spiralled down the pan. I was laid out on the couch every day with a sick-bucket as my constant companion. They don’t tell you that part–heart failure makes you puke. A lot. I couldn’t walk to the shop, 100m from my front door. I had to stop and rest, sitting on my neighbours walls, every couple of feet. Work was an impossibility.
Enter the recession. Goodbye Hubby’s job…thank you and goodnight. We were now, without question, in the deepest shit it was possible to get into. Then our landlord sold the house from under us and we were homeless as well. Luckily, we found another house and my husband found another job pretty bloody quick. It’s important to feel as though you’re earning money and not sitting on your arse having it handed to you. Trust me, I know this from experience; it is a major reason I started writing ‘seriously’.
My Food Budget? About £45 a week. That’s for five days worth of packed lunches for four people, two lunches for five at the weekend, and seven evening meals. £45.00. I was over the moon, when I saw Jamie had a new show on 4oD (yes, I know it’s not *new*, but I don’t watch a lot of TV). Food on a budget, that sort of thing. “Hooray,” I thought, “he’ll show me how to feed us all on the money I have.”
Nope. Not a bit of it. You see, to Jamie Oliver, a £20 shoulder of lamb is ‘cheap’, because it can do two meals and it’s not the leg, so costs less per kilo. Two meals, Jamie? For twenty bloody quid, I want at least four meals. It’s a sad day when I get angry at Jamie Oliver for being a pretentious arrogant prick.
The reality of poverty is not what you might see on TV, with those delightful characters from Benefit Street (Channel 4). It isn’t all about people, cursing loudly in the street with a fag in hand and their pyjamas on, while they scream at little 2 year-old Albie to get ‘the fuck indoors, ya little shit, or I’ll faaahkin slap ya, innit!’ It’s not sitting around on a bench with a can of Special Brew, unwashed and stinking of urine, roll-up in filthy fingers. I don’t smoke. I can’t afford to smoke. I don’t know many people who can. I have bars of soap next to my sinks and I am able to use them to good effect. I am not dirty. I am relatively poor. There is a difference. It’s not even about food banks, because I don’t know what the hell you have to do to get referred to one, but it’s complicated, a long process. I have a fear the food banks might be linked to Social Services and I, like most of my peers, were raised to avoid them at all possible costs. (please see part 2 of this blog for details of how to find and get help from your local food bank if you need one. I know, now, that it is not complicated and does not involve social services.)
The reality of poverty is counting the 2p & 5p coins saved in a bottle, and sending a 10 year old to buy a packet of cheap pasta and a tin of tomatoes, because it’s sort of embarrassing to have to pay with coins and count them out while there is someone behind you with a £20 note. The reality is eating plain boiled rice and pretending to like it, so the kids don’t know there’s no other food except for what is on their plates. The reality is having an electric meter, running always on emergency credit, because you can’t afford to get out of the cycle you’re trapped in. It’s making the choice between putting the heating on for an hour, or going cold and being able to buy a pack of sausages and some potatoes.
The reality of relative poverty is going to the butcher and asking for a pound of mince to be separated into three bags for three meals. You’d be amazed what I can do with mince. The reality is going to the supermarkets just before they close, and buying all you can for a fraction of the cost, because it’s going out of date tomorrow. That’s okay–you’re eating it tomorrow. It’s value priced peanut butters and cheap cuts of fatty meat. It’s poor-quality chicken and eggs from barn hens. It’s learning to mend, reuse, recycle and go without. It’s washing your hair with washing-up liquid, because it’s all you have until Wednesday, when the Holy Grail of Child Tax Credit hits your account and there’s £50 for shopping.
The reality of poverty is the shame of always having to say, “Sorry, I can’t afford it.” It’s calling your mum, in tears, because there are bailiffs pounding on the door. It’s drinking so much water you feel ill, simply so your stomach isn’t painfully empty.
So, Jamie, forgive me for not watching your show. Forgive me for breaking up with you. You’re as clueless, you see, as those politicians you hound into raising the school meal standards. I can’t afford for my kids to eat school meals–not at £2 per child per day (that’s £20 I simply don’t have) and we can’t get them for free, because we’re not ‘on the dole’. I suggest, before churning out the tripe you film, you come and spend a day in my world. I’m so cold I can’t feel my fingers as I type this blog about poverty on a computer bought for me by a friend. I will let you sit next to me and we’ll laugh at how you can see your breath misting in the air above my charity-shop desk. I’ll show you which needle is used to stitch a hole in the toe of a canvas trainer. I’ll make you a coffee, but only if you don’t have sugar–that’s a luxury we only buy in if we’re going to make a cake. You can help me scrub some of the mould from the walls, before it takes over the house entirely.
We can do all of that. Then, maybe, you’ll realise what poverty is.
Read More here: The Upsetting Truth…Part Two! A follow-on from this article. Please read this BEFORE leaving comments on this page. Many thanks.
(A quick addendum: thank you all so much for the messages of support and the overwhelming goodwill. Answering messages, sending people to the correct links, where they can get help, is time consuming, so please be patient – I am only one person. Please get in touch via email, if you know of organisations that could be of help to others. I will be sure to pass all information along the line – and share it all on my Facebook page. If you are looking for help, advice or just someone to talk to, please contact me either through email or my Facebook page HERE. I am great at finding numbers and websites that might help.
If you would like to donate to any of the causes that have cropped up thanks to this article, please contact your local food bank, or the Trussel Trust, who will be happy for any donations you can give!
I am an author. I am Indie-Published and I sell my books through Amazon. I am very new at it all (in the scheme of things – only 7 months old) and I have no outside help or agents to publicise me, pay me, or do any of ‘that stuff’. I live in rented accommodation and I *do* receive a small amount from Child Tax Credits. My husband works. We are above the ‘cut off’ wage of £16,190 p.a and are not entitled to any more than we already claim. While I see the goodwill behind the thousands of comments telling me to claim free meals, Working Tax Credit etc. etc, we are not entitled to them. We live in the Grey Area of the benefit system and actually make less than those on benefits, after taxes (but the amount after taxes is not the amount used for calculations).
To do my ‘job’, which is writing, I need the computer to be able to both write and publish my work. My work supplements my husband’s wage. It is a necessity not a luxury. It is the tool of my trade. While it seems to make sense to say that my computer is a luxury, it was actually a very generous gift from a friend who was staying with us for a while, when he was made homeless after a bereavement. That I feel the need to justify having a computer is indicative of the ‘stigma and shame’ surrounding poverty. As though not having a TV, not having Internet, not having a computer, keeping the gas off, eating less…(the list here is endless) will somehow magically change the poverty-stricken situation into one of good times and plenty.)
My books can be found here if you are in the UK, and here if you are elsewhere in the world. Thank you.
As so many people have asked…here is the link to the paperback version.
kathleen kerridge 
People used to “make do and mend” , budget and have an enjoyable life without too much bother. Maybe it’s because I was brought up in such a (proper working class ) household, I don’t know . These days people seem to cry poverty because they cannot afford luxuries all the time. This woman is screaming she is poor when in fact she has enough to put a roof over her families head, food in their belly and an internet connection to write about how poor she is . It is a total insult to anybody who is suffering actual poverty, rather than a small lifestyle change .
YOU ARE A LONG WAY FROM POVERTY. ACCEPT THAT YOUR FORMER MIDDLE CLASS LUFESTYLE IS NOT SUPPORTABLE ANYMORE AND GET ON WOTH IT.
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Andy M, having to choose between food and heating every day, never being able to justify buying clothes for yourself (even from charity shops), eating very basic food all the time, no treats, no alcohol because that’s money you can’t spend on heating when there’s ice outside – that’s poverty and it doesn’t matter what lifestyle you might have been used to before. Having a long term health condition that means you can only work from home because your serious health problems mean that you can’t reliably turn up to work, whether in a shop, office, call centre or factory means that the (for me) £20 per month internet connection is equivalent to most people’s bus pass or train season ticket, ie the cost of having any job at all.
Do you have two wages coming into your home that are so small they barely cover the rent, cost of getting to work ad force you to chose between food an warmth on an hourly basis?
I teach in an FE college on a zero hour contract, my partner works in a call centre on minimum wage, we barely cope with the rent and utilities and cost of getting to work. We pay for an internet connection as we are both job hunting which we both have to do outside work hours, so can’t job hunt using our current employers internet connection. We can’t afford to buy a local newspaper, our budget just won’t stretch to it so don’t you dare suggest it. I consider myself lucky that my children had both grown up and moved out before we found ourselves in this situation. My daughter refuses to talk to me as I don’t love her because if I did I would visit her every month where she has chosen to live – 100 miles away when I barely have enough money to fuel the car to get to work and back. I don’t remember the last time I had a holiday; certainly not this century.
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Amen to that xx
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Hey Andy, I agree with you 🙂 but not everyone is made of the same fabric. Everyone handles things differently which is absolutely their right.
However I am 100% in the put your head down and get on with it attitude, it raises the question of what platform did we have back in the 80’s as hardworking working class families to vent?
If I start to think for one minute that things are not fair I make myself think of the desperate situations millions of starving and homeless families are facing across the globe and thank my lucky stars I was born in the UK.
To the lady who wrote this blog, I really do feel for you and please believe you are not alone, however blaming Jamie Oliver for trying to make postive changes for people that benefited you at one point in your life seems a little ambiguous.
Things are tough for a lot of people in the country but I really believe that as a nation we need to be a little more grateful for The fact that we have a benefits system, food banks, support networks, the NHS, free education, the list is endless.
I really hope things get better for you, and Andy you are a true grafter 🙂
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Are you suggesting, AndyM, that one isn’t poor until one actually loses one’s home, and can’t feed one’s children at all?
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Having though about this I agree. Whilst I agree that Jamie Oliver really has lost touch with reality of what ‘poverty’ really means, I also think that Kathleen, you are at least fortunate position that you still have a means of keeping your brain active and a means of earning extra money as a published author.
Not many people I know, including myself would have this option if we had only some of your health problems.
It’s a shame that it comes across that you feel alone in this situation, there are hundreds of households up and down the country where the main breadwinner loses their job and is unable to find other work, my Dad walked the whole area scouting for work in the 80’s when my Mom was I’ll after having me, and I have 2 older sisters. We had no central heating, no double glazing. It was that cold in winter there was ice on the inside of our windows and you could see your breath. We had one source of heat in the living room. The boiler only ever went on for half an hour for hot water for a bath. Our council house had rising damp throughout the whole kitchen which was never resolved (I’m pretty sure it caused my sisters asthma), we had mould in 2 of the 3 bedrooms. We never had day trips or take always. We never had drinks out, if we were hungry or thirsty on trawling the shops for our food (no supermarket shopping), we had to wait until we got home. My sisters and I went on holiday to Ryhl with our grandparents and my Mom, Dad and us children only went away once, to Aberystwyth. My Mom went back to work as soon as she was well. We spoke about the 80’s recently (me being a toddler makes things fuzzy/ nigh on impossible to remember), and she told me that one week she had 27p left to buy our weeks food. Yes, it was about 30 years ago but 27p wasn’t a huge amount of money. She and my Dad had a huge fight after then because she’d decided to feed us instead of paying the rent. Luckily they were able to top up gradually before we were homeless. What upsets me more than anything is the thought that there are families today living like this. I am glad for my experiences, it’s made me in to the person I am today, I do not take my life for granted, I am very good with money and having not travelled when I was younger (when, perhaps I wouldn’t have appreciated it) I have travelled the world and have seen some incredible places.
Life is fluid and nothing has to stay the way it is, I hope you (Kathleen) feel positive that you are able to earn some money.
If you haven’t already done so, have you looked at incapacity benefit? Or infant disability? If you are unable to walk far, and are unable to work then perhaps the benefit may be of help.
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Some typos because the text is white on a white background whilst typing?!
I’ll: ill
Infant disability??! : nothing to do with infant!should be ‘in fact’
Apologies
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AN INTERNET CONNECTION IS NOT A LUXURY IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 2015.
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There is absolute poverty, when one cannot afford afford food, shelter and basic medical care, and there is relative poverty when one cannot afford to live to the same standards of one’s peers.
Life is usually hard.
As a society we ought to learn to accept help from others. We also need to acknowledge that there are times we need help. By allowing ourselves to be helped, we make it more possible for others to accept help from us when they need it.
More hidden is the poverty of the soul — the lack of friends, lack of opportunities to enjoy art, to develop ourselves, to have a family.
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Oh Blah, blah, blah.
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just asking …..what does your comment mean ?
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The parameters of what defines poverty has changed. Though I’m sure growing up in your “Propper working class family” you would have been envious of the lifestyles of many people who today are counted as poor. But this woman is poor. As society speeds ahead the things we need in order to function in society changes. I find it neigh on impossible to imagine a job now days which does not necessitate computer access. All the rest of the world are communicating online- it is poverty to be deprived of such a huge part of our modern day lives, and as a 6th form student the concept of 4 children in a house without an internet connection is ridiculous. Half the homework pupils get now requires a computer.
There are levels of poverty yes. But that doesn’t make it ok for people who are less poor to be poor. It doesn’t make it any less stigmatising- just very different. In exchange for a computer and a roof over her head, the author of this has to put up with shit like you’re writing from people telling her she isn’t really poor when the choice is between heating and food. Yes, she has that choice: lucky her(!). That’s bare minimum. That’s not something ANYONE should have to go without, and I find it disgraceful that you should address anyone like this. There is more than enough wealth in this world for everyone to go happy, and that ANYONE. Should have to struggle to feed themselves and keep themselves warm is unacceptable, no matter to what degree.
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I think, Andy, that you are completely missing the point of this very article. Maybe have another read and have a think….
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She is saying that she’s not as bad as a lot of people who are in poverty.
Thankfully there ARE people who are struggling to make ends meet who also have internet so are able to tell the world what it is like.
The author has explained why she has internet (so she can write books to sell to subsidise her husband’s income).
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Wow! I thought you were talking about me for a huge percent of it, my own recent changes like you, gave me a taste of it too!. Great! that you have put this out to the public,plenty need to know. xxx God bless
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Gosh Kathleen I love your work and feel humbled by your experience!
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This article is brilliant, honestly brilliant. I’ve been in a fairly similar (not quite so dire as I only had myself to feed) situation, of being on a minimum wage job that paid the rent, bills, council tax, with nothing more to spare. Food money came out of very limited savings, and I know full to well buying ‘value’ foods, or hunting round the shop on a Sunday, 1 hour before closing time, for the best deals on the reduced foods. And I can empathise with the anger you start to feel towards these politicians and celebrities who claim that living cheap is easy, when you can bet they’ve never had to for a day in their lives. £20 for two meals is exactly the kind of tripe a person who thinks £20 is cheap would come up with. £20 is my weekly shopping bill, 7 nights of meals and lunches (breakfast is an expense I can do without) bought as cheap as I can find them. The disconnect between the average working person, having real financial struggles, versus the ‘know all’ celebs, politicians, bankers who’ve never had to face it but think it can’t be too difficult, is very real.
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i see from what I read here that nothing much has changed for people, I lived the way you are doing for all my life as a child, and as a mother, I am now a pensioner and as such am living with my husband also retired from work after 50yrs low pay , he cares for me and I as far as I am able for him, we learned to make and repair instead of buying new and now enjoy what we can and what we have , I so wish life was easier and comfortable for every one in our country and through out the world .polititions should live our lives and they might understand our plight and wish to change the lives of our children and grand children. thank you for writing such an explicit piece telling people how it really is .
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I actually love you lol. So nice to know we are not the only ones.
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I really feel for your plight. I can tell you one of the things that has really helped our family is urban homesteading. I’ve learned to make my own yogurt and cheeses. We grew a garden in a very small space. Plus my children love helping in the garden.
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You Are One Amazing Lady Would You Mind Contacting Me If Possiable Please x
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Thank you for the compliment – please feel free to personally message me through my facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/OfficialKathleenKerridge
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I am a student and can say that due to the high price of rent and course related items I am only on £10 a week. I can not claim extra help as due to my course and the fact that both of my parents are unemployed does not make a difference. I used to watch many different cooking programs but found them to frustrating when I worked out one of their meals was almost all of my budget gone for a whole week.
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I really feel for students, I struggled at Uni about 12 years ago with my bursary/loan but it was possible to cover rent, books and food if you were very careful, leaving part-time jobs basically for booze and new clothes. I work with students now who have to supplement their loan just to cover their rent (I live in Aberdeen which may be exceptionally expensive) meaning they have to work well over recommended hours to make ends meet – this has an impact on their stress levels, course work and leaves little room for letting their hair down before entering the big bad world.
I understand that some people in the world are a lot worse off than those commenting on this blog – maybe we should just count our blessings, but that doesn’t mean that massive changes can’t be made to improve the lives of the majority of the country. I’m a massive advocate of making meals of nothing, getting bargains, repairing anything that I can but that is so I can have the odd luxury – a budget holiday, a good bottle of wine – it’s sad to think that life is only about treading water, working and paying bills.
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Everything is relative. I like you suddenly lost my job my home and even my husband for a while. That was ok. As an unemployed single parent I had never been so well off. My rent was paid as was my council tax. My children had free school meals and all sorts of extras like music and swimming lessons. We all had free healthcare. It became harder when I met someone else and went back to work. And spent the first 3 years together trapped in the place where you don’t meet the threshold for benefits (we qualified for £10 a month housing benefit unless one of us did any overtime! I know go figure) we were paying hefty maintenance for 3 children that we cared for every weekend and recieving no maintenance for the other two that we cared for full time. Our disposable income after rent and tax was so low that I learned to make cheap meals. Really cheap meals. I dressed it up and told the kids we would have junk food Friday every week. We still do this now things are a bit better. Junk food is so much cheaper.a bag of value chicken burgers and chips with a tin of. Beans costs so little. Not what I want to feed my kids all the time though and I can see how people do it. It is cheaper to buy processed value food than fresh nutritious ingredients and use the extra gas to cook it as it always takes longer.
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The author does seem to lay in a bit to Jamie Oliver. I am not great fan of his but it’s not his fault that he considers thay cheap. I would suggest you see if you can get a book called ‘a girl called jack’ – you can also find her online. Her story is similar and she does provide recipes that you can use while on a budget. I don’t always have enough money for food either and I don’t feel like I need to complain about other chefs. I love Heston Blumenthal but I doubt I will ever be able to make most of the stuff he does. I do dream though haha
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This rings so true of my childhood which having flew the nest,married and had a child of my own makes me so grateful for what my parent did. Their money woes never seemed to be at the fore point of our daily lives. I went to an excellent fee paying school which I later learnt was paid for by the government because my parents lived below the breadline. My uniform paid for from uniform grants and daily living was nothing over the top. We had clothes on our backs, food on the table and I can’t recall wanting anything because my life was happy. I have no much respect for my parents for the struggles they hide and how well they managed. They lived hand to mouth with no credit cards or loans to pay for holidays but careful saving to give us little luxuries like trips to the seaside on a sunny Sunday afternoon. My husband works away a lot and money doesn’t go for. We have no help from the government so have to budget and make sure the bills are paid. We recently moved because of his job and I had to sign on. It’s been the worst and most degrading 2 weeks of my life. I was entitled to claim purely based on having worked previously. I was made to jump though hopes and attended meetings that did nothing to help. Today I found out I have been successfully in securing a reasonably well paid job by today’s standards.( paying more than minimum wage) The sad thing is that I earned more in my first job 10 years ago which was by no means a specially trained role. It’s sad that in 10 years the cost of living has rose so high but wages and help offered to people who need it is so difficult to come by. I am grateful tonight that my son has been freshly washed in a warm bath, tucked up in a clean bed, in clean pyjamas and I pray that he never has to know the feeling of living below the breadline.
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What a load of old tripe, spend less time moaning and more time doing work you can do from home. You find time to write this dribble. Just cos Jamie doesn’t cater for you doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy and he’s show isn’t loved and useful to meny. Question why didn’t you get love insurance / critical illness cover when you where ina ge ‘good’ job. My sister inlaw recently is unable to work for exactly the same reason. Due to forward planning there have never been better off.
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Your grammar and spelling are almost as horrible as your opinions.
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Obviously you haven’t had to struggle, but what you should do as you can afford, to is learn some grammar and spelling before writing replies to people who do try to make the rest of the world understand our problems and hardships .
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In our first privately rented home we were struggling to get by, I was pretty far along so couldn’t work and we had our car stolen and our fully comp insurance refused to pay out, my self employed partner couldn’t get to work, we had huge bills to meet which we couldn’t, we lost our home, moved into families homes moved counties to go where money was and finally got a social house but were still in piles of debt from the period where we were without an income. We survived on Sainsbury basic everything, even toothpaste. It was awful to feel like in 1yr everything went in the shitter. Eventually it all took it’s toll and me and my partner separated and I became a single mother living off the welfare state with no easy way out. It’s taken 6 years to sort out for us but even now if we do have anything nice or even decent, we feel we have to defend how we can afford it because jealous people want to know how we got so “well off all of a sudden” because we went on an AI holiday last year- we have had one holiday in 8 years! Everything you said on that blog we went through and more.
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My family and I have been in that exact position. Benifits were designed and are deserved by people like you, it’s the idle takers that make us too proud to accept, also growing up with pride and morals.
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Can we please not do this? I mean the “idle takers” thing. For reference, I am not claiming any benefits, despite my chronic illness and other issues, so this doesn’t even directly concern me. But it’s simply not up to you to judge whether someone else should or should not be receiving benefits. There are probably people out there who somehow manage to blag benefits that really shouldn’t/don’t need to, but I think the main problem with the public debate about benefits today is that people are *obsessed* with working out who’s a ‘deserving poor person’ and who’s an ‘idle taker’ (with the default assumption being that most of them are idle takers until proven otherwise). It’s not up to you, or me, to judge that. Plus the eligibility checks are so stringent these days because of that poverty-shaming that the likelihood of any ‘idle taker’ getting away with it is actually quite small.
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Reblogged this on scaling the chalkface and commented:
Not education but a searing indictment of the current state of the country.
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Kathleen I tried to buy you’re book but I can’t find a paperback, only kindle. Please could you point me in the right direction?
On your post…don’t worry too much about the comments, I shuddered at the life you and your family are living and I can only send you my kindest thoughts. Keep going, keep writing and don’t give up hope. You sound like a truly inspirational woman to me.
Charly x
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Hi Charly! Thank you for saying hello. The comments were always going to be divisive, so it was expected (having my blog fail because of 250k hits was less expected – I only got it last week with my royalties lol)
Amazon have the paperback, but the pricing is incorrect! The best place right now is Createspace. The link is here: https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=Kathleen+Kerridge&sitesearch_type=STORE
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Utter rubbish!! We’ve just done an online shop for £45 to feed a family of 4 for 7 days!! We eat well but cook everything from scratch!!!
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as do I. I am not implying it can’t be done. I eat well and I eat healthy, Christa. I am saying that on my budget of £45 a week, I could not justify Jamie Oliver’s ‘cheap’ £22 shoulder of lamb.
I hope this clarifies things a little 🙂
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An interesting article. Thank you. Just to make you aware all GP’s can refer to food banks as can education welfare officers, social workers and family support workers to name a few ..it’s not complicated ..it takes 1 phone call .
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Try being disabled and having multiple mental health conditions AND having all your medical records go missing. Without medical records it has been almost impossible to get the benefits I am legally entitled to. I am in constant pain that cannot be controled as I have a medical issue that means even morphiene does absolutely nothing, That of course means the tribunals have assumed the pain is psychosomatic and not caused by an injury and osteoarthritis which I would be easily able to prove if the relevant authorities after 5 years of chasing them actually bothered to try and find my reccords. So far I have been refused benefits at every single renewal for both ESA and DLA, This has resulted in multiple hearings where often judges do not correctly apply the law and often do not even bother to read the evidence. I have so far had 6 judges findings overturned on the basis that either they did not apply the law correctly or they interpreted the evidence in a manner which was so obviously wrong it was rediculous.
Just for the record I did not have MDD or PTSD before having to claim benefits and they are a result of for example the DWP arguing I was not entitled because “there is no evidence the injury ever occured, and we have evidence that it healed adequately”. Yes that is a direct quote from an assessor. I pointed out that this argument could not possibly be valid as it used two mutually exclusive clauses. Another assessor backed the first one and a senior assessor backed the second. It was also backed all the way through the complaints procedure.
I have had the exact same arguments with them every 12 months for 6 years for 2 different benefits and I am still fighting for a benefots claim going back to early 2011.
This has led to the breakdown of a relationship and I now live isolated on my own.
So dont tell me you are poor if you get all the benefits you are entitled to and you have a spouse with an income. You even said you have a TV. I dont own a TV as I cant afford the licence fee. I also had to move into the worst area of a city that I can tell you is a nasty place to live. There are drugs regularly sold right outside my door (yes I have informed the police many times) loud music and antisocial behaviour is pretty much 24/7 (again the council and police have been made aware) and anyone that can get out does pretty quickly. I have been here 2.5 years and I am now one of the longst standing residents. Thats how bad it is. I also due to my physical dissabilities qualify care in the community support. However after a 2 year fight to get it I had the gateway assessment last August. They agreed that I needed more support than the gateway team could provide – the result – no support at all as a single white male is considered low priority even though I have no family or friends within 50 miles who could help.
The worse thing is that I know of people who make my situation look like a picnic.
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Just because you are worse off, doesn’t mean she isn’t struggling. The reason you are struggling with a horrific benefits system is because of a lack of empathy … a lack of empathy that you yourself suffer from. The DWP could use that argument with you; “you aren’t ill because this person over here is more ill and he isn’t even ill because that other guy is dead”. As someone who also suffers you should be stood shoulder to shoulder with the writer of this blog and with everyone else who struggles and suffers.
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Poverty to me is when your husband (if you have one) gets ill. Your pregnant. The house went with the job(forces). They decide to sign you out. You live miles from the base. Your husband signed papers while laid in hospital thinking it was so you could pick up sick pay only to find out he’d signed (himself out). You borrow money to get there to be told money is being processed. What do you do? He comes home so you do what’s natural. You head for the social to be told until they receive paper work no help. The foods running out and on top of that you are issued with an evection notice and have a month to vacate. So you go to the council to be told they are not obliged to house you. Go back to where you were born (parents family for help). You make up a kind of scone mix with what’s left in the cupboard using up the last of the gas before it’s cut off. live off that dipped in salad cream for weeks while getting desperate and doing the rounds. Baby’s born they finally sort you some money out. You are put in a b&b one room. You are given a bed and cot. A table-top cooker. Landlord gives you a tub margine, some tea bags, pot of jam and sugar for the week. Daily you collect 3 eggs and three slices of bread. The social will give you milk tokens and money towards food but you have to get there to collect it. After months you are offered temporary accommodation which you jump at sight unseen it’s more than one room. It means you can get to doctors other people sanity. It’s not great no heating, outside toilet no bath but you have a kitchen which means a sink. You get help beds curtains money for basic’s. You manage to get job. Buy tin bath. You end up 3 children and 8 yrs later when husband walks off. Surprise housing programs start up you get house with hot water and bathroom. I along with others shoot up to look at it. I accept we put blankets at window and along with all our kids we all get our first proper baths in a long time. We all got housed in the end. Since that time we are always aware that we could be back there tomorrow. I work as self employed at the moment, as it fits in with school but the crippling prices of rent, gas, electric, water (basics) doesn’t leave much to cover clothes, washing, food never mind if you need to replace household items. I am struggling. I’ve gone on exchange lists to downsize just to save on the bedroom tax but some of the rents are dearer than what I’m already paying. I get help with rent and council tax. I get some working and child tax credits but that gets swallowed up by the costs of all the other bills. I’m now looking at getting rid of tv, phone, next will be my life insurance(That’s another one that keeps going up). This keeps up we will all end up living in tents with buckets to collect water.” Hang on a minute isn’t that how most of the rest of the world is already living”? SO WHERE’S THE MONEY………
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Poverty is awful but bad health is worse. I suggest you read the China Study and stop eating meat. Lentils are cheaper and quite a lot healthier. I eat a lot of potatoes- tasty, cheap filling and unprocessed. Processed food is expensive and not very nutritious. Garlic is extremely good for your health and heart disease.
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Hi there try a girl called jack for budget recipes hun
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Hi all. Try a girl called jack for recipes and ideas she has a blog so you can get recipes (some of) 4 free.
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Kathleen, only those who have experienced struggling on an inadequate income for even the basics, can truly know what poverty is. Good luck to you and I hope things improve for you and your husband.
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Reblogged this on Red Pill Medium and commented:
Insightful look at real austerity
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Felt you pain, Admiral your proud Dignität and wish you well so I bought your book! Hope that helps and others following suit xX
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Reblogged this on worksofrenikaklair.
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Reblogged this on HybridLiving and commented:
This is the first time I am “reblogging” something. I hope you read it. It moved me. We are so fortunate and do not realize it. I hope you and I can help make positive changes in the lives of people around us and more especially in the lives of those we do not encounter everyday. Those are the ones who need it the most.
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Reblogged this on itmightbethat and commented:
Thanks for sharing.
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Well said. Thanks
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G Lawrence
Your story sounds appalling do you have anyone to advocate on your behalf. I do hope this a situation improves
julie
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I have myself and my family, as well as some marvellous friends. I am hopeful that I will rise from the trap. A positive and humorous outlook is key 🙂
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To all the people who have mocked Kathleen and her blog. You don’t know her reality. What she did was be honest about her situation. The fact that in a so called welfare state she has £45 a week to feed a 5 person household. That’s less than a pound per day per person. If that isn’t poverty in the UK, please, do explain to me what is.
Until recently I was working part time (16 hours per week) earning just about £112 per week. I get DLA because of a long term, incurable, progressive non fatal illness. That amounts to £84 every 4 weeks. I was looking for full time work in an office situation. I have the experience, a degree and 35 years of varied job history to make me a flexible asset to any company. Took me a year to find a full time job. During the time between leaving uni last summer and finally getting a full time job I have got behind with my rent, my council tax and various other smaller bills. I have a mobile phone, and an iPad. I also run a car. None of these are luxuries when you are trying to hold down one job and look for something better. Why aren’t they luxuries? Because you can’t apply for a job without an Internet connection. You can’t be interviewed for a job without a phone. You can’t get to interviews without a car and you can’t get to the job on time every day without a car. Every week I had to make choices about whether to pay my rent or pay for the car, pay my rent or eat. Pay my rent or my other bills. It doesn’t matter what your previous lifestyle was or you expectations of life are. If you are making choices between paying to keep a roof over your head or food in your belly, you are poor. That is what poverty means. Not having the essentials. And last time I checked, food, warmth, shelter, clothing and the means to support yourself were essential.
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Surely the point of this article is not to give Jamie Oliver a kicking per se… He’s just an example of the yawning gulf between perceptions of poverty and the reality. A point ably demonstrated by the people on here who seem to think having a place to live and food means you’re not poor. It’s about how easy it is to have life kick you over and leave struggling to cope. Personally, having been homeless many years ago and therefore well aware of what having nothing but the clothes I wore and whatever food I could scrounge is like… I would still argue this article represents true poverty. Don’t look down on someone unless you’re helping them up.
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I read this post, and I just bought your book. not out of pity, but because in spite of everything you are not sat on your arse waiting for something to change your life for you. your words kicked me up the backside and made me think. but however valuable that might be to me, it won’t put pounds in your pocket, so I bought the book. it won’t help much, but if enough people do it, having had the same boot in the behind, then it might make enough of a difference. thank you, for the wake up call.
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Can we please stop with the ” I can live poorer than you” comments. If the wealthy corporates were made to pay into the system they fleece, perhaps there would be money to help those in need. For the poor there are benefits. However there a huge number of people struggling because they work and the employers exploit their fear of unemploment with low wages. Landlords continue to charge high rents knowing the State will generally pick up the short fall. The fault is not with Jamie Oliver, he genuinely seems to be a nice guy trying to help people. The fault is with our leaders ignorant of the plight of millions of people who they are supposed to represent. Get angry at them not each other.
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I agree about the causes of poverty (i.e. corporate fleecing, landlords, fear of unemployment). But I think people like Jamie Oliver are a lesser but important part of the problem – it’s this ignorance, failing to genuinely engage with the issue or understand what it’s truly like. I am sure he means well, but there is a certain smug ignorance, and arrogance, in going round telling the poor that they just need to buy a shoulder instead of a leg of lamb, you can save so much that way! (And Jamie is just an example here, I don’t mean to pick on him personally and love a lot of his recipes actually.)
I mean, look (and this is a general point, not directed at you, Graham), I don’t know true poverty. Yes, I’m living on a very limited income due to health issues etc. But I have several levels of ‘safety net’ (i.e. very comfortably well-off parents) that I can fall back on before I even have to try making use of the state benefit system. There is absolutely no risk that I will ever lose the roof over my head, have to choose between heating and eating, have to go without medications I need, or even be unable to afford the travel to go see family and loved ones. None – and I am aware of how incredibly, incredibly fortunate I am in this. But I have friends who are somewhat less fortunate, and I can read posts like this one with an open mind, and accept the experiences of people like Kathleen and get angry on their behalf – rather than get angry at them for being scroungers, or make smugly patronising suggestions on how they can help themselves. Not that *you* did either of those things, Graham, just a general point like I said. It’s just that some people in this discussion seem to be struggling with the challenge of not being a smug patronising w**ker.
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You seem to read a lot lot more in my comment than I wrote.
Where did I get angry at Kathleen?
Where did I tell her what she should be doing?
I’m angry that people are having to live in situations that Kathleen finds herself in 2015. I’m angry that people are using the comments to bash the poor. The Welfare State was created to help people in Kathleen position, it’s not and that makes me angry. Oh, and someone *implying* l’m a smug patronising w**ker, in an oh so clever way. Well, that makes me angry too.
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Graham: I wasn’t reading more into your comment than you wrote, I just sort of wandered off on a tangent from what you said. I tried to make it clear that the second paragraph wasn’t directed at you, certainly wasn’t trying to attack you in any way, I apologise that it came across wrong. I agree entirely with you, and I was honestly not trying to call YOU a smug patronising w**ker at all! I can see that it would read like that though, and for that I am genuinely sorry.
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Thanks for such and honest read Kathleen. I don’t want to be unhelpful sound like Thatcher and her get on your bike or sound smug, but have you considered moving away? I have lived overseas for twenty years teaching English and I couldn’t afford to come back to the UK simply because there are no proper jobs for me. But you can go to a lot of places where you and your husband could both teach and live well. If anybody reading this wants advice on how to do this it’s not that hard and can be a wonderful experience for you and your kids. The UK can kiss my arse if it can’t let me provide for me and the family then I’ll go somewhere that can. Please let me know and good luck with the writing I hope Jamie reads it 🙂
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When I was in my late teens, early 20s, I dreamt of emigration. Now though, I unashamedly admit to loving my little city, my country and even the weather! It is unfortunate that I have found myself in this situation, but I am hopeful of rising back out of it. 🙂
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I think that’s an important point too – place matters. This isn’t criticism directed at you, Turner, as you are just making a gentle suggestion, but I don’t like the idea that often goes around that poor people should stop complaining if there’s any possibility of finding a (better) job elsewhere, within the same country or abroad. To some degree perhaps, but anyone, rich or poor, has the right to make their own choices about where to live and such. As I’ve said elsewhere, I’m an immigrant to the UK. Now the reason I don’t work has nothing to do with where I live, but that also means I don’t live where I do for career reasons – I do because, well, I love “my little city, my country and even the weather” and I think everyone should be able to say that about the place they call home.
And that’s not even getting into the practical issues – such as judging single mums for not moving hundreds of miles away for a better job when the only reason they can hold down a job at all (or survive by whatever other means) is that they have parents and relatives nearby that can pitch in with childcare.
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Ot makes me sick to see that there are people out there, judging others that hey know nothing about.
I have multiple severe health issues (including a Stroke at the age of 19). Due to having life threatening allergies to several foods, buying own brand foods is like Russian Roulette. So, I regularly have to decide on whether to put the heating on or spend what little I have left from my DLA on food that’s not going to cause an Anaphylactic reaction. During the cold months, I have to keep warm. I picked up flu in December which quickly turned to pneumonia and was seriously ill in hospital. I am still suffering from Asthma symptoms now. 98% of my DLA goes on carers which regularly has to be increased. Especially when I have picked up a cold or chest infection.
I’m on 36 years old and you have no idea how embarrassing it is having to rely on someone to help me with cleaning, getting to and from my bathroom and getting shopping etc. I have managed to work before and loved every second of it, but when my health took a turn for the worse, I was unable to hold down a job. I would get home at about 6pm and by 7pm, I was asleep and would sleep right through til morning. On days off I would just sleep. Between Doctors and myself we realised that I wasn’t living anymore…I was just existing. So, I was signed off work.
Because my disabilities are not visible on the outside, I have to justify and fight to get the pittance I have to live off. I never asked to be disabled and wish I could just have one day where I’m not in constant pain, to be able to go out to the shops without struggling to breathe and not be so tired that I sleep for 24 hours. Having to constantly battle with proving that Im not a scrounging, lying, waste of space is disgusting.
People seem to forget that they might have an accident or get ill that they too could end up in the same situation. I was born with lung disease and have a gene that makes me prone to blood clots and Strokes. Because of this, I’m forced to live off pittance. I’m never going to be able to afford to buy my own house, buy a car and afford things that are the norm for everyone else. So, I am suffering twice. Once for being unfortunately being born with serious health issues and secondly, being made to feel I am worthless by people whom have never met me or know anything about me.
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I have been saying this about him for years so glad someone esle agrees with me for years I had to count each penny and have to decide between shoes that had holes in or food for the kids now im in a better position and comfortable but this I buy valve stuff as I feel that u done need to spend alot on fod and clothes to eat or be cleanly dresses and now I help out my children even when im short my self cause like u iv been there
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Poverty is relative to each person, I was homeless at the age of 15, I have worked hard with little or no support to find a way to survive. The past 11 years I have worked as a homeless support worker and a volunteer counsellor. I see various aspects of poverty so speak from experience. Please try to support each other through difficult times, not defend your self because you feeel more badly done to than the original author. Maybe try some empathy and compassion for each other’s plight. It’s how a situation effects us on a personal level. No matter where somebody is, if their struggling, their struggling. Offer a hand of support, and some advice it more helpful than negative talk. For some reason my type is in white, so sorry if my grammer is rubbish. Good luck to all that may be struggling, and I hope one day we can start to use Jamie’s books again.
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The world needs more people like you Carl, compassion and understanding are far too often lacking
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I just wanted to make a point about food vouchers. You can get one through the CAB, it’s not a complicated procedure (though we will explore your situation with you to see if we can help with debt management and make sure you’re getting all the benefits you’re entitled to.) and we’re a completely independent charity, nothing will go to Social Services. We will do our best to help anyone who is hungry and struggling.
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Reblogged this on Far be it from me –.
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get a grip you can make meals on £45.00 per week. the youth of today don’t know how to make food last longer and stretch it. I remember when I grew up mum made stews which went for 2 or 3 days we had veg in it we had. we had fruit to eat. its about shopping around for the bargains what todays youth don’t want to do as they are lazy.
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I have never claimed to be unable to feed us on £45. I stated that is what my budget is. I feed my kids old fashioned meals, as taught by my nan (wartime cooking at its best). I shop for bargains. I buy vegetables. I resent the implication that because some weeks it can be a constant battle to get meals for all of us, that I am lazy. I am far from lazy and I will cook stews, veg dishes, shop for bargains, scour the grocers…All that.
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I’m unsure who needs to get a grip on reality here, the youth of today are some of the most disadvantaged for generations, gone are 95-100% mortgages and social housing here to stay are extortionate rents charged by greedy landlords and poor living conditions. Jobs are hard to come by and high level qualification are required by most (lets look at the tuition fees they have to pay to get these) the cost of living has gone through the roof in real terms. The need to be frugal previously was often down to large families and a stay at home mother living off one wage (let’s see any family do that now without help from the state to keep their heads above water) – now most parents both have to go back to work and miss out on their children growing up. There has been a re surge in making meals stretch/making-do which is great but lets not put this down to laziness please.
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I understand how you feel and I understand what some people are saying about real poverty when you don’t have a roof over your head.
When I was in my twenties I didn’t have parents to help me out, I had a partner who never worked and a little child. But I was so upbeat. I went to Uni, did my MA in Philosophy (everyone frown upon my choice the course) and worked in different temp jobs, cooking from scratch as vegetarianism wasn’t popular in my country and taking care of my son. It was tough as sometimes I was selling books to have money for dinner. Luckily I got a grant as I was a good student. Twenty years later I have got a relatively well paid job, my son is at Uni, so I’m sending him 300 pounds every month (he’s got part time job as well), and after paying all bills and rent I have not much left. But as long as I’m healthy and I can work, I’m happy. The only thing which annoys me is that people living on a budget can’t afford eating healthy, which is going to ruin their health. Good, fresh, organic products are expensive. The best way to cut the bill is to go vegan or at least vegetarian, so I’m happy to see my friends changing their eating habits.
Good luck, it will get better!
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And then go round posting your affiliate link to other peoples’ blogs?
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It has been removed. Thank you for pointing it out x
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i am living in minimum wage, paying rent in London for a whole year for te sake of a 9 month contract, giving me less than £25 a week to live off. In my three months I won’t be working, I have already booked a holiday to spain, two to andorra, one to Bulgaria, and a month travelling in South America. To many people this may seem impossible, but when you realise a week is actually 7 days, you can sacrifice weekends to earn a bit more spending money like I do. It isn’t an enjoyable way of spending weekends, but if you are truly motivated then you will do it. I couldn’t afford any of those holidays without weekend work, so I’m sure you could manage too. It’s all about wanting it enough. I didn’t blog about my poverty, I did somethig about it, and only when you have at least tried to do more about it should you have the right to write what you have.
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You are strong, healthy, and childless. Therefore someone with _very_ severe heart disease (I was a Nurse’s aide, when it’s bad enough to cause vomiting it’s way past any hope of an outside-the-home job, nevermind weekend work) is “unmotivated”? Either you can’t read or you can’t think.
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What is wrong with you? Did u read the article? She has serious health conditions and 4 children!
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@wpb I don’t think saving for a holiday is really of the same ilk – when I wanted to go travelling, I did the same. Youth and health was on my side, so a few months of 70 hour weeks, lots of 9p noodles and no (well less) nights out was a sacrifice I was willing to make and as a result, I saved thousands of pounds and had loads of fun, something I too am very proud of. Admirable that you saved but not really the same as scrimping to keep a roof over your head or feeding your children (hope you have a great time though)
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Well written and thought provoking article, thank you for sharing this. Maybe one thing we could all take from this is that we don’t know what’s around the corner and it’s easy to think we are ‘safe’ from the burden of poverty. I wish you and your family the very best of luck
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I totally understand and appreciate how difficult for it is for you…i am a project worker (I do not work for the state, but have a similar role as a social worker to HELP people like yourself. You do not need to be afraid. You must never feel ashamed to ask for help. No matter. Your children must come first not your pride. Going to the food bank. For example. You can apply by going to your doctor and they will issue them for you, church’s, schools. Job centre, schemes and charities like the one I work for. Totally ,non judgemental and they are very helpful in issuing help and advice. You should apply for ESA as you are sick and unable to work. These support services are there to. Help everyone, however should be seen as a temporary solution to help you get back on your feet. Please use your internet to look for local support services in your area. You can do it. I’ve been there and If it wasn’t for the help offered I would never have gotten myself out of the difficult situation that I was in. Best of luck. But please be smart, and apply for the food bank. X
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Thank you for your lovely reply. I have tried to claim additional benefits but with no success. We are in a very grey area as far as state help goes.
I have needed, in the past, to take out loans, borrow from my mum, and sell my wedding ring to put food on the table, but the kids are ALWAYS well fed, clean and cared for. I can manage on a budget of £45 it is £10 more than it was last year. I’m fortunate to have the “old fashioned” green grocers and markets. I’m lucky enough to have the knowledge of how to make burgers enough to stuff us solid from kidney beans and a pinch of cumin. My ethnic supermarkets are a lifesaver. While I might have to make do with rice, the kids will always have veg, protein and fats in their food, as is needed. It takes knowledge, learning and perseverance, which is why I did get extremely annoyed by the assumption that £22 for a joint of lamb can ever be deemed affordable. The programme upset me, patronised me, and made me stop and think. My budget is enough for *us*, but it takes skills a lot of people don’t have to know how to live on it. The flood of “budget cooking” shows seems to be exarbarating the issue, because it gives society in general the impression it can be done easily and then all poverty issues shall be solved and food banks are not needed.
It makes people believe that applying a band aid to a torn off limb will heal the would d caused by extreme hidden poverty in our society.
If you have links to relevant help services, please send them to me (in here is great – I can get the info without publishing entire messages) and I shall link them in my follow up blog post.
Thank you again x 🙂
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Hi Kathleen, interesting article and as usual dismayed by people’s comments. When are we going to stop comparing ourselves to others and coming off worse? We live in the UK, apparently the 6th richest country in the world. In 2015 no one, wether on minimum wage or solely relying on benefits, should be choosing wether to heat or eat. People are judging you on not planning better, but as two healthy working adults in your twenties, maybe you thought you would be ok?!We should be working together to build a better society and making sure that the poorest among us are not starving instead of sitting in judgement and jury on other people’s lives without knowing anything of their circumstances or history. I am a single parent currently off work for ten months with back problems and severe sciatica. Not working is the hardest thing I’ve ever done! My son is an older teen, and I have worked hard since he was a baby to get us into a better financial position. It’s a long story so I won’t bore everyone, but here I am with only a year or so left with the extra help and in a worse position than ever. It’s life and I feel no guilt in claiming benefits. The demonisation of benefits claimants by the media and the persecution of the sick, disabled and jobless along with the sanctions system is absolutely disgusting. Kathleen I know you say you cannot get anymore help but you should be claiming esa, your health may get worse. You may also be entitled to pip and mobility. And check your tax credits it doesn’t sound right. I currently get £72 a week esa, my problem is not bad enough to get the others as they have made it so difficult,even though I am in pain and have been mostly stuck in bed. We currently have £57 a month after bills and are relying on my parents for help with food. Again. I know you say this is short term, but you would be so much better off if you claimed everything you are entitled to, or get your husband to take a pay cut. There is no point suffering, wether short or long term, it’s hard enough coping with illness and disability. Please take a look at the ‘Benefits and Work’ website. They give advice on how to complete the forms to maximise success. Good luck and I hope you get your house situation sorted too.x
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Kathleen you could be writing about me and my family. I too have shouted at Jamie Oliver and his £20 joints of meat. You just can’t fit that into the limited food budget. I’m concerned about your child tax credits though. With four children you should be getting much more than £50 a week. I can only think that your illness and losing your home etc happened quite recently and HMRC always work put tax credits on your previous years income. When the renewal date comes up make sure they have all your up to date details and you should find you get much more in tax credit. Your husband would have to be earning over £35000 a year to only get £50″a week and I’m sure you wish he was earning that much. I wish you and yours all the best. Keep on keeping on, hard as it is and I’m sure things will get better for ypu
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Yes, he’s certainly nowhere near that amount. Lol. I can but dream!
The £50 I have on a Wednesday is what is left after paying my electric meter and gas meters, paying ‘other misc & shit’ (it’s an actual file name I have for all the boring bills), putting aside for rent, topping up to cereal cupboard, and doing all the other stuff. That £50 is what ì then have for shoes, clothes, food, and other emergencies. An example, my dog ate the loo brush this morning. I cannot afford to replace that with a “covered” one she can’t eat, until next payday, when there is £150 left of my husbands wages. A chewed loo brush, for me, is a crisis. To buy one sooner, next week as an example, I will have to not heat the house for a day, or cut back elsewhere.
I am fully positive that I can get us back out of the situation we have fallen into. It’s a cycle and it had us trapped, but there is an escape route and I *will* find it.
Nothing lasts forever 🙂
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