CLACTON-ON-SEA, UK – Bills are rising for Maureen Hart, a former librarian living on a fixed income after hip and back pain from a fall forced her into early retirement.
Electricity and gas bills for her bungalow in Clacton-on-Sea, a seaside town east of London, more than tripled in April, as utility bills across the UK eased as government energy payment limits ease. To save money and afford help to wash her hair and stay clean, Mrs Hart, 77, is cutting down on taxi rides to visit her son a few towns away, and avoid the heat, even as he made her pain worse.
“You really don’t think you’d be one of those people who wouldn’t be able to warm themselves up,” said Ms. Hart. “There must be thousands more like me thinking: What happened?”
Inflation had been on the rise in the UK and elsewhere before Russia invaded Ukraine, triggered by rising natural gas prices and supply chain shortages after the pandemic shut down. The war has suddenly pushed oil and gas prices higher.
Now Consumer prices in the UK are rising at the fastest rate in 30 yearsand wages haven’t kept up, causing a squeeze on household income not seen since records began in 1956.
The increase in the cost of living is particularly frustrating for older people and others with lower or limited incomes, such as those living on government pensions and disability payments. disability, much of which remains the same even as inflation rises.
April is especially difficult. First month The government raised the ceiling on energy prices, according to global gas prices, to 54%, a move affecting 22 million households. The cap, which resets twice a year, is expected to rise again in October, before the frigid winter months.
The continuing war in Ukraine promises not only to keep energy bills high for the foreseeable future, but also to push up food prices, as Ukraine and Russia are major exporters of wheat, corn, barley and oil. eat big. Overall inflation in the UK is expected to peak at 9% later this year. Based on figures released by the government on Friday, more than 90 percent of adults said their cost of living increased over a two-week period in April, largely due to food and energy bills.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets in cities across the country last month to protest the rising cost of living. Elderly helplines are reporting increasing numbers of calls asking about energy bill assistance in recent weeks.
According to several advocacy organizations, many people who have exhausted their household budgets are once again having to go through them, giving up meals and, in the most extreme cases, experiencing power and gas cuts during periods of time. long, according to several advocacy organizations.
Even before the latest escalations, households were already feeling the strain, with more than three million people in the UK alone facing “fuel poverty” or struggling to afford heat. for your home, in 2020, according to government data.
In April, nearly half of adults paying energy bills said they had struggled to pay those fees, and a fifth were unable to buy fuel at some point, according to the report. UK Office for National Statistics. Nearly a quarter of UK adults said it was more difficult to pay their household bills in March than it was a year earlier.
Opposition lawmakers pressed the government on Wednesday for a plan to tackle high inflation and the economic slowdown in the country, accusing Prime Minister Boris Johnson of ignoring the issue. Mr Johnson pointed to a range of measures to help offset the increase in energy caps, including some tax breaks and a falling unemployment rate.
Jack Leslie, senior economist with the Resolution Foundation, an independent think-tank focused on improving living standards for lower income earners, said: “He added that there was no sign of it.” indicating that energy prices are about to drop. “This is on another level,” he said.
Hart, who rents out her book-filled bungalow, has moved to Clacton-on-Sea to enjoy the sun and outdoor space, she said. With hiking difficult these days, her social life consists of going to the beach and visiting a helper, who comes to wash her hair several times a week for around £75 a month. And with the news that her rent has also increased by £20 a month, she is even thinking about losing her maid.
“All my family and friends say the same – what do we have to cut?” she speaks.
She is considering whether she can take advantage of some measures that the government was set up last month to help those with rising costs, including a £500m grant to local authorities to be distributed to lower income households.
However, critics and campaigners say the measures are inconsistent with the severity of the inflated prices, echoing a long-standing call for increased benefits.
David Southgate, a research and policy officer at Age UK, a group that supports older people, said: “In the past, the expectation was that older people would be able to tighten their belts. “The difficulty now is that the elderly cannot cut their family budget anymore.”
The Russo-Ukrainian War and the Global Economy
Those living on disability benefits because they cannot work are also facing more difficulties amid rising prices.
In Liverpool, Maxine Williams, 52, says staying warm is an essential part of managing a disorder that affects her connective tissues, known as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. But since her energy bill doubled in April, Ms Williams has started cutting down her weekly shopping list to essentials, cooking meals in the microwave instead of using ovens and cancel TV streaming services. Essentially what has remained the same this year is her disability payment, she said.
“I can’t just turn on the heating because I can’t afford it,” she said, adding that it made her more nauseous and in pain. “It is so difficult.”
To help each other through the fear of the cost of living crisis, many older people – from anxious to resigned – are gathering together.
On a recent sunny afternoon, dozens of people gathered for lunch in Jaywick, near Clacton-on-Sea, where residents pay £1.50 (about $2) when volunteers serve tea and coffee. coffee and a two-course meal for them. Some people refused to discuss their finances, seeing the event as a way out of a source of stress.
It’s been the social highlight of the week for Patricia Hutton, 89, a Jaywick resident, who says events like these have put her through a period of crisis. Like everyone else, her bills have gone up, but with arthritis and some mobility issues, it’s been hard to keep warm and turn off the lights.
“I pay all my bills with direct debit, and if there’s no money left for food, there’s no money left for food,” she says.
Her friend Jennifer Belcher, 67, has started going out early in the morning and buying discounted groceries because they’re about to expire to help Ms Hutton cut her grocery spending. She said: “We saved her almost £40 a month on shopping.
She said that Belcher’s energy bill more than doubled last month. Now that holidays are a thing of the past, so is buying new shoes and clothes. “Do our pensions match it? Is it horrible! ” she speaks.
In a country where excess mortality in winter numbers in the tens of thousands, warmer weather has reduced some of the force. But for many Britons, wary of the difficult choices the colder months will bring, summer will be a difficult season to enjoy.
“What will we do next winter?” Mrs. Belcher said. “Fire in the garden?”
Eshe Nelson contribution report.
