Benefits Britain Series 4 Episode 11 - Living Hand to Mouth

[Music] from the former pit sounds of the welsh valleys to the biggest steel works in britain many traditional industries in wales are under threat so what is it like for the people of wales who rely on state support i can't predict what's going to happen but all i'm worried about is losing my home tonight we meet the mother who says looking after her children full-time is more important than working children are lovely but they're they're a full-time job children are a full-time job i don't care what anyone says the woman from the valleys who needs round-the-clock medication to stay alive it certainly would make life easier if i didn't work and could be facing major surgery if my heart is too damaged then i will need a heart and lung transplant and the mother of five in real who's getting used to life on benefits as a single parent [Music] and say she's having to cut back on luxuries i need a cleaner it's because i suffer from back pain [Music] the seaside town of rill in north wales is home to 31 year old rachel who has five kids by five different dads she first moved here from norfolk three years ago but now she's getting used to life as a single mom after recently splitting up with the father of her youngest we don't need another city we can't have it on we can't have it on i liked it when i first came down it was quite nice but the more um time's going on there's a lot of people who are struggling to work because there's not enough jobs or anything for people like a lot of the shops all closer down because the red round wheel is quite expensive as well um if you go into town and they've lost quite a lot of businesses rachel's been on sickness benefits due to depression for the last three years but when her partner moved out her benefits were cut obviously i was on esa with my partner was the joy claim now let's go to a single claim i get 159 pound fortnight for myself and then i was getting pip which was 420 pound a month but obviously that's been cut down um completely i'm not entitled to it when they come and done my assessment new benefits rules means that rachel no longer qualifies for pip or personal independence payments and she's lost almost all of her housing benefit at the same time as the rent going up it's a devastating triple whammy they've capped my house of benefit because they're saying i get more than i should be a title too i've received a letter saying that my landlord will receive two powder month um the rent on this place is 595 pounds a month which house of benefit was paying for it but now i've got to find the rent myself and basically the money i receive for child benefit child tax credits and esa should be enough to pay for my own rent in total rachel says her benefits have been cut from around 31 000 pounds a year down to 20 000 and it's hitting the whole family it's affected me quite a bit because obviously i'm used to taking the kids out two days out but it's very hard now i have to limit it i would like to go get job but it's my anxiety and my depression and working under pressure i kind of struggle with i can't predict what's going to happen but all i'm worried about is losing my home [Music] port tolbert south wales home to the uk's largest steel works while unemployment levels here are around average the constant threat of the steelworks closing means that many of the town's residents fear a life on the dole [Music] 47 year old dawn understands the importance of this big local employer to the townsfolk but you've got the steel works and there's no i know we've have it's been in the news a lot about stillworks um but to be honest they keep finding money to keep it open i think if it did close i think it would kill paul tolbert to be honest but as a single mum finding a job is low on dawn's list of priorities [Music] she's spent most of the last 30 years bringing up her five kids and is currently on benefits no i didn't think i was going to ever live in the benefit system i thought i'd be have a good job good home good husband good family but it happens i'm on the benefit system and one day i get out of it one day old lady no i could be a six foot you never know no because if that's a short ass when i get an old lady yeah old people shrink so i'm going to go down like that what do you mean yes i'm going to be your typical old lady [Music] dawn says being a stay-at-home mom is more important than going out to work [Music] other people might look at me and condemn me and say you lazy so-and-so for not wanting to go to work and support your children at the moment it's not practical for me to get a job children are a full-time job i don't care what anyone says dawn had her three eldest children in her early twenties but when her marriage broke down she moved to south wales to be closer to her family moved down here 15 years ago from buckinghamshire this is home to me now i find the life down here a lot less stressful two more pages please after relocating to wales she also decided to have two more children ten-year-old lizzie an eight-year-old megan mum's been going around town to get people to stop using their phones and their electronic gadgets can't see you doing that some people complain that all this technology has made it soft that was a total game changer leave it there well done i found myself on benefits after my my marriage broke down and then i got with elizabeth and megan's father and then when that split up i'm back on benefits and relying on them dawn currently claims 21 000 pounds a year including sickness benefits for depression you can survive on benefits there is no reason for people not to have money while on benefits none at all that's the point can you both stretch but dawn doesn't want the fact that she's on benefit to stop her giving her kids the best opportunities in life push up to her head not until she says whoa the other lady megan and lizzy love dancing and singing human body's not designed to stretch like that but they kind of do it [Music] dawn spends around 30 pounds a week taking them to various classes you need to polish it up sit down then get yourself they go dancing tuesday wednesday saturday they go to musical theatre it's all money but the money i use for them is their money like their child benefit because that's what it's for really to make things comfortable for them they don't have lots of things but they do something they enjoy so as long as the kids are happy i'm happy [Music] for dawn time with her girls is their top priority a full-time job would mean not being there when they get home from school i'm on my own with the children so somebody's got to be here for those children um because yeah that we can go to child minders but i don't trust child minders a child needs his parents home with it constantly well done [Music] tony pandy in the ronda valley the area used to be fame for its coal mines but the last working pit closed down here 26 years ago [Music] the town is home to 42 year old claire who suffers from a life-threatening lung condition which means she quickly gets out of breath [Music] my condition is called idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension or ph for short to keep herself alive claire has to spend up to 16 hours a day hooked up to an oxygen tank i can't breathe basically i can walk for short distances on the flats but as soon as a hill is involved and it really restricts how i can walk um i get very breathless i get very tired despite the seriousness of her condition the only benefits claire claims are her 300 pound a month personal independence payments she's determined not to be a burden on the system and works part time as a self-employed piano tuner a job she loves i trained for three years to learn how to tune a piano and i've been doing it for 24 years now so it's it's it's just a case of knowing [Music] as well as her career claire's also determined to hold on to the three-bedroom house she owns even if that means forgoing some of the benefits she would be entitled to i probably would have an easier life if i rented somewhere i would be able to claim housing benefits and i probably wouldn't have to work but um i i chose to work i chose to pay a mortgage i chose to be independent so yes it certainly would make life easier if i didn't work three coming up dawn's got big dreams for her girls the money that i use is the child benefit and i think it's money well worth spent and it's their money vital benefits help keep claire moving i get about 300 pound a month which helps enormously with the running of my car and rachel's having to cut back i used to get somebody to come in and help me clean up just a couple hours a week [Music] [Music] in port albert south wales single mum dawn hasn't worked for the last 13 years and she spent the last four on benefits all right i'm not arguing i'm not arguing with you tonight megan's got one of her bad moods on she says her priority is to be at home for her two girls look at that joke cope rather than out at work if i had to go to work and i'm working late at night because we're uh single family then the children will get what they get and they wouldn't get my company because i'd be too tired coming home from work and they wouldn't get the one to one that they do get now [Music] dawn doesn't want the fact that she's on benefits to cause lizzy and megan to miss out on after-school activities tuesday they do straight on a wednesday they do ballet contemporary jazz and tap tonight dawn and the girls have come to a local church hall for a private singing and dancing class five six seven and one two three four two to ellie thinks the girls have lots of potential so she's offered to give them some free lessons roll tin head run [Music] hey okay classes are expensive but so this one's a free one but the rest of them are covered by the child benefit they've got one of a dance class which is 15 pounds that's 30 pound each and then they both go dancing to gymnastics which is eight pound a week i think it's money wealth worth spent and it's their money [Music] ten-year-old lizzy regularly enters singing competitions so ellie's helping her improve her vocal technique and again troy [Music] i think lizzie wants to sing and dance and i'll support her but then i'll support her if she wants to sweep the roads okay ready one two three go dawn hopes the time and money she spends on her girls will help them reach their full potential and have better opportunities than she had [Music] a job situation in portobello you've got still works if you're a man you've got shellfilling i hope they go further afield and they find a decent job so they don't have to end up on the benefit system i really hope because there's nothing here in portugal but really [Music] while dawn moved to wales hoping for a better future 42 year old claire has lived her whole life in the valleys her lung condition means she has to take a daily cocktail of medication just one month's supply takes up a whole cupboard in her living room i'm just unpacking my month's supply of media medication deliveries and all the ancillaries that go with it i can just about fit a month's worth in this cabinet for claire walking to the shops can leave her severely short of breath i run out of cat food and i need a loaf of bread so i'm just popping up to the shop the only benefit she claims are personal independence payments which he uses to pay for her car personal independence payment is a benefit designed to help with the extra cost of living with a serious health condition and i get about 300 pound a month which helps enormously with the running of my car to the school i went to when i was a kid i better go and get lily some cat food or she'll be hungry tomorrow [Music] i try to do most of my weekly shop in one go but it's essential that i have the car just for the odd bits that i run out of to pop up to the local shop back at home even getting up to the front door is a big effort my path has a bit of a slope on it so i usually have to stop two or three times on my way up just to get my breath back [Music] my name's lily but she only answers the puss and these are her favorite claire lives alone with her faithful cat lily but she does have a long-term partner 62 year old retiree malcolm who lives a two-minute walk away i pop down have a cup of tea make sure she's okay have a chat when they want to see each other because of claire's condition he usually comes around to hers he tends to come and see me more firstly because i have difficulty walking up the hill to his house secondly if i go to his house i criticize because he hasn't dusted or things like that malcolm visits claire every day for a cup of tea or his dinner malcolm also suffers from a serious lung condition chronic obstructive pulmonary disease so the doctor tells me i've got a sort of lung function i'm about 120 years old so yeah i find it very difficult around here but despite being a couple for over 20 years clara and malcolm don't have any plans to move in together we don't live together because that just works for us we're happy that we're both independent people back in real mom of five rachel is adjusting to life as a single parent after recently separating from the father of our youngest son [Music] that's what i said to you [Music] um i was with ethan's dad nearly three years and then we kind of split up so i did have help there as well um so [Music] one of us would do whatever we did and then the other would do whatever needed after losing 11 000 pounds a year in benefits she's had to get rid of her cleaner and she's struggling to keep on top of the housework i used to get somebody to come in and help me clean up just a couple hours a week mainly in the evening when the kids were in bed as well or when they were in nursery or school for the hard day rachel's depression means she no longer qualifies for personal independence payments but she decided to appeal the decision by the benefits office you know i need a cleaner it's because i suffer from back pain as well and also my mental health it's just sometimes having the motivation to do it i know what i need to do but it's just doing it because my depression and aside is taking over [Music] in port albert for dawn it's benefits day tea sugar bread she's off to do her weekly big shop but it's a 15-minute walk to the supermarket i've got my shopping list now i've got a certain budget that i want to keep to anything i'll offer i might pick up so i'll be better that way but i know what i need within a little so i'm gonna pick up some chocolate today to make some chocolate crispies with little emperor her school friends on friday because they're breaking up for a half term after four years on benefits she's become an expert at sticking to her budget i've got everything that i'll do for a week oh fresh veg vegetables fruit bread everything for the kids and i've spent just under 60 pounds with a trolley full of bags dawn has to budget a few extra quid for a taxi home thanks a lot cheers up the girls are back from school and that means time together as a family give it a good mix dawn's helping lizzie make chocolate cakes to share with her classmates see if i was working on something like this she wouldn't get any of this quality time because the time i come home from work be too tired watch watch watch this watch it like that [Music] for dawn her kids always come first if i'm working every hour got sense just to support us financially um to live even um they're gonna end up broken kids i need to be here for them to give them the support giving the love and the guidance yeah i'm on benefits but it's the only way i can do it coming up dawn enters door to lizzie into a talent show please give elizabeth a massive round of applause players traveling to bristol for a vital hospital appointment it will come to a point where they can't keep giving me drugs and rachel's worried she could soon be out on the street potentially i could be made homeless if i can't find the money myself to pay my rent [Music] in port tolbert south wales dawn has been on benefits for four years as a single mum she doubts on her children she doesn't want her two youngest girls to miss out on anything she spends their child benefit on singing and dancing lessons [Music] three months ago dawn's 18 year old daughter katie left home which hit her hard she's now claiming sickness benefits for depression she had to go because she wanted to be independent um but to me it felt i was useless i i was lost i was really lost i was heartbroken [Music] as a child katie was a talented singer and won a big local talent contest now dawn's hoping ten-year-old lizzie will follow in her big sister's footsteps it was a case of katie can do it i can do it lizzy has reached the semi-finals of a national talent competition and the big day is coming up in a few weeks time by the way lizzy's decided on what she thinks is the perfect song [Music] but dawn's not sure about the risque lyrics i hope she getting better sex focus i promise that word that one there's only sex in it once so it's not too bad where some are really more explicit so i can never think about it go get a drink [Music] it was a hot chocolate i forgot to make it sorry babes well done give it here it's not good for your vocals [Music] [Music] in real after an 11 000 pound a year cutting her benefits rachel is worried about getting into renter ears and being evicted but she's decided she still wants to brighten up the house starting with the kids bedrooms with the furniture i managed to chuck down the stairs because it is quite heavy checked it downstairs it's broken into pieces and then i've placed it outside the front with my kids help rachel's also bought some new curtains to save cash she's fitting them herself me and diy staff really don't mix i struggle with that i'm trying to still make it into our home which it's slowly going which i know it's not gonna work straight over one or two nights or even a week it's just gonna take time that's better as a single mum rachel has to fit sprucing up the house around looking after the kids once dinner's served you did her mum's go sit and have first and the children are all tucked up in bed tyler out of underneath your bed now she can finally get back to the diy if i charge it when the kids awake it's a nightmare they want to help and they will get paid everywhere i try to do it when they're either in bed or whether at nursery and school rachel's managed to decorate all three bedrooms for 150 quid i've used my esa um to pay for the paints um tub of paint is 12 pound but all the hard work and money might be for nothing if she can't pay the rent and she gets evicted i'm worried about it in case it does happen but at the same time everyone's telling me to try being positive and that's what i'm trying to do trying to do it so my kids know that figs are fine but they're not married or upset because i'm upset [Music] in south wales 42 year old claire's lung condition means she might eventually need a double transplant this could mean giving up work and living entirely on benefits [Music] today she and partner malcolm have crossed the seven bridge into england for an appointment at bristol's heart institute [Music] i come to bristol every six months um i go to london once a year unless i'm taking part in a clinical trial then it can be as much as four or five times a year i at least once a month i'm in a hospital somewhere in the country claire currently relies on a cocktail of medication to manage her condition as the um condition progresses then they they keep adding drugs to keep me stable um i know that it will come to a point where they can't keep giving me drugs right suitable was it okay thank you very much hello hello my name is courtney institute nurse i'll be taking a walk test today today's appointment is to establish whether her medication is still working or whether her need for a transplant has got more urgent she has to undergo a series of tests to check how well her lungs are working which is really wealthy how many did they do 12. it's an anxious weight for the results from her consultant leading cardiologist professor tulla good good well your water test was very good um you did very well you got 369 oxygen levels down to 88 so that's you obviously did you worked quite hard you tried quite hard to do your walk but we'd like to see you again quite soon to make sure that you're okay with the new medication and check up on the blood test because every three months the good news is for now claire doesn't need transplant surgery but her long-term outlook is still uncertain despite our best treatment we can't cure this condition it's just holding it with these very expensive drugs but for claire today's news is a relief no major changes for the near future i'll just carry on as normal get back to work doing what i do [Music] in real rachel's been told by the benefits office her depression doesn't qualify her for personal independence payments but she's decided to appeal today she and cousin natasha are going for some advice i'm offered to the benefit if i shop um to see if they can help me with my pit and afford to do with my housing benefit to see what help i can actually get with my rent well i need to hope for myself and for my children and to try and get it storage because if not it's going to groom me more anxiety and it won't help with my mood either and then i just keep wondering if i've got a home to live in or not rachel's arrived early but not early enough to avoid the queue it's the benefit if i shop's not open until half night so i've got weight in the queue and as soon as i go in i'm hoping that i could get something sorted with my claim once the doors open rachel heads in but after nearly an hour's wait it's not the news she was hoping for basically um to do with the house of benefit cap there's nothing they could do so potentially i could be made homeless um if i can't find the money myself to pay my rent once back at home there's no time to waste so rachel gets on with the appeal process the pip could take at least three to six months but in the meantime i still need to find my rent the time it takes to process her case could mean rachel ends up losing her home i'm a bit married in case i can't find the rent money because then that would leave my landlord no option to serve a notice on me to leave this property i don't think it's fair at all [Music] in port albert it's a big day for ten-year-old lizzie she's entered a national talent show and today it's the semi-final but dawn's decided she's not happy with her daughter's risque song choice not hard are you gonna cry no i'm not gonna cry come on really so at the last minute they've had to find a new track elizabeth's been practicing this song for two days because we changed her mind well i made her change her mind two days is a lot of hard work that she's put it in and i'm proud of her one shots one tights there's not one taking the pair all right to give her the best shot dawn's bought lizzy a new stage outfit for the occasion you're not wearing makeup tonight i'll do yours as long as i can do yours upstairs please go on then [Music] the venue for tonight's talent show is a hotel in lenethlen and the competition is tough as the other acts perform their routines it's a chance for dawn and lizzie to see who they're up against [Music] and the last minute nerves are kicking in lizzy's big moment has arrived but she's only had two days to rehearse her new song she's from bertolbert singing the song which was a huge hit for neil reid mother of mine please give elizabeth a massive round of applause mother you gave me [Music] lizzy's giving it everything she's got dawn's hoping it's enough to impress the judges [Music] but he would nervous is that right how nervous were you unlocked are lots of nervous what no need to be lots of nervous because you were lots of good to be honest with you i thought you were good i was going to take this on but it's what the judges think that counts absolutely stunning little voice you were so sweet you stood on that stage performing and what i think is really important is you pick something that's meaningful to you i thought you did a lovely job well that's enough elizabeth take a boat give everybody a big smile give a wave and off you go well don't carry it not that way it'll go in [Applause] lizzy's had great comments from the judges but mum dawns more critical what happened to that note just lost it he did well there to recover extremely proud about i think she did really well she hit that thumbnail but it couldn't be helped could it not anyway it's lost it isn't it mum yeah everyone does it um mistakes are proof that you're training make sure lizzy now has an anxious weight to find out whether she's through to the talent show final [Music] in tony pandy claire's determined her health won't prevent her from carrying on working as a part-time piano tuner to get work she's prepared to travel all over the country i don't just work in this area i work down in way mouth occasionally i work up around the gloucester area occasionally this is a combination of reasons why i go away to work firstly there there are quite a few piano tuners in south wales so there's not a lot of pianos to spread around claire often goes away for up to a week at a time and partner malcolm has bought a motorhome so he can accompany her on her trips well basically yeah well i got the motorhome about 18 months ago and we stay in that while we're away and just makes life easier for me with all the supplies that i need to take and we enjoy it and we agree it's not just when i'm working away we go away for the odd weekend the other the odd holiday yeah it's turned out to be a good investment i mean i just just enjoy going away [Music] coming up rachel might have found a job and a way to pay the rent i'm excited but at the same time therapists because obviously my depression anxiety because i haven't worked that so long claire and malcolm hit the road in their motor home i love my job yeah i really do and i still enjoy it like i did when i started and lizzie finds out whether she's made this singing competition final [Music] [Music] in real mum of five rachel says she's struggling to pay the rent after losing 11 000 pounds a year of her benefits but she might have a financial lifeline a new takeaway in town is advertising for staff and she's handed in her cv i saw a side saying about and they're looking for part-time a full-time job and people to work in the shop but after a decade on benefits rachel's worried about the prospect of going back to work the last time i worked was actually 2006 up in norfolk as that's where i used to live before i came to rio i'm excited but at the same time nervous because obviously my depression anxiety because i haven't worked that so long in a few years as well while rachel waits to find out if her application has been successful back in port tolbert the wait is over for dawn and lizzie today they find out if lizzy made it through to the talent show finals and the results are in she didn't get through um which wasn't a surprise because she was nervous as hell i could tell so she did okay it's a disappointing result do i have to cuddle you yeah but lizzy's determined to carry on with her singing for dawn after years of putting her kids first she's decided to look to her own future she's enrolled on a humanities degree at swansea university it's part-time degree even though she's on benefits she still has to pay the course fees so she's taking out a student loan [Music] uni can be expensive but even i can get help in a sense you get loans and then you when you're working after you pass your degree you pay so much back studying part-time means dawn still gets plenty of time with her girls although it will be six years until she graduates i should have done this when i was younger but um i got married and had children yeah this is for me to have the qualifications to get a decent job not shout filling or cleaning i want a decent a career basically [Music] in real rachel's had some good news after applying for a job at a local takeaway they've taken her on on a trial basis i'm hoping to start this job on tuesday for the train and i've been in touch with the lady who's employing me but rachel's keen to make sure taking the job means she doesn't lose all her benefits because it's part-time she's said i can work as many hours as i want so i'm hoping to start with 16 hours and hopefully i fall in to the criteria because i'm a single parent that i would actually get worker tax credits but i need to look into it as a single mom her biggest concern is who's going to look after the kids when she's out at work i should be better off if i work a part-time but obviously it's then child care if my if my friends and my cousin can't do it then i would have to look for a babysitter [Music] claire and partner malcolm have traveled 140 miles from their home in tony pandy to weymouth in dorset they've come here so claire can visit some of her regular piano tuning clients i've been working in this area for a good 18 19 years now i come down every two or three months and i just enjoy coming down to this area there's a change of scenery you know pays the bills keeps me busy keeps me out of trouble tonight claire and malcolm are settling in for their week's stay probably doesn't look very appetizing leftover fried chicken as you can see making the dinner is a bit of a joint effort am i going to wipe these dishes as well claire takes over now she does the white man [Music] next morning claire's off to tune her first piano of the week her benefits help fund her car which is essential for her job today i've got two clients to see she's come to the house of one of her clients [Music] sounds a bit better despite claire's health problems she's determined to keep working and not live entirely on benefits i'd i'd probably be quite within my rights to sit on my bum all day and do nothing sit at home watching tv all day but that's that's just not who i am i i choose to come out to work i choose to come out and meet people i love my job yeah i really do and i still enjoy it like i did when i started [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Jim Hunter

Views: 506,559

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Id: NCwXs9Rkcco

Length: 45min 8sec (2708 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 26 2022