'Problems created now will last generations': Cost of living crisis affects whole communities

on dark pre-dawn streets illuminate the lights of those whose lives depend on hard work how many days a week you're doing this five five days a week yeah early so every time this time of morning early starts yeah I know I've been there since about 20 past four Liz Wright is 65 years old she has known tough times before you always worked yeah I need to bring money in but nothing quite like this where her bills are too big to Bear her wage as a cleaner barely buying the basics toilet rolls once a month the next month it'll be the saw power now the next month it'll be the coffee where Once Upon a Time you just went out and bought on good weeks Liz gets the bus into work on bad weeks she has to walk unable to afford the daily four-pound fare now yeah cutting your cloth again aren't you to make sure you've got what you need and not what you want today she has the money but the good weeks occur less often now we meet Liz after her shift the big worry keeping her awake at night is her new Energy bill which has just doubled you go in your account and it's a 253 pounds the one of a month can you afford that well my word well I can't know I've never been in debt with I've never had any worries with me any Bill are you worried about any of this yeah really worried yeah I don't want to burn my family my daughter comes once a fortnight for something to eat and she has to bring the food what change have you already made to try and cut back I've changed everything I don't use me cooker very often I don't have a toaster because I always use Maya um so it's a luxury I have a pizza talks really really is it full banks next all the people to keep the house did you ever think you'd be in that position no never never in this position and I'm gonna have to explain I've got no money and I can't live give you a second this is the meadow well estate in North Shields we've spent time here meeting people who've lived here all their lives and some whose lives are just beginning foreign ER was born eight weeks ago cradled by doting dad Joseph his first child I know he and his girlfriend knew money would be tight but just as their daughter arrived a chronic pain condition forced Joseph to give up his job how tight has the money situation been for you guys it's been pretty hard you run out of money to try and get the formulas and stuff like that you need especially when you're on Universal Credit but that's not all they moved into this flat four weeks ago to find the gas supply Switched Off the previous tenant had stopped paying their bills that's just commercials freezing yeah no gas means no hot water no heating the supplier won't turn it back on new suppliers aren't taking on new customers and this family are enduring the consequences we have to like keep our wrapped up with her thick blanket just to try and keep her form like not having like a face cold and stuff it just gets to a point where you don't know what to do anymore all they have is this electric heater donated by family this little thing here yeah we have to put it in whichever room that the baby's in just to keep her warm and this I take it isn't cheap um not that but it's also I mean what can that do throwing it for to for an entire flat and then there's the lack of any hot water like ice cold so what are you doing to with the baby to bathe the baby and we have to go up to my partner's mums how far away is your mother-in-laws um probably about walk-wise like 45 minutes to an hour it's like four pounds 70 each and just to get the um the bus fare which when you're on strict money it's really hard especially if you're doing it if you have to constantly go up and just to you know be able to keep your daughter clean cry more children are growing up in poverty in the Northeast than anywhere else in England the current economic crisis threatens to make it worse hitting families who usually manage for your lane for more than a century generations of the meadow Well Community have gathered at this club to sop its pints and play its games tradition surviving against the odds but the odds right now feel stacked against people here in a weekly shopping is just a joke pennies here so 10 pencils and 20 pencils up a couple of Bob I'm saving when I said I'm spending no to survive 86 year old Bob Costello was born and raised in North Shields he comes here less and less now his budget simply won't stretch come for this one day a week it's only one afternoon this is your treat this is this is my treat yeah a black currant that's what I drink it's a pint of black currant bit of warm here with warm comfort this is 90 of people will need help but there's a lot and not ask for it in this part of the country because that's all probably someone would rather starve one in three thirteen we were invited here by Michael we met him at the local Cedarwood trust Community Center where he works as a full-time cook making low-cost meals for struggling families struggles he's not immune to how much do you put on the lucky this week she puts 40 pound on this week and that'll last a week energy costs are swallowing up Michael's wages he's on a pay-as-you-go or prepayment meter 48 pounds 83. so that's gonna last you just over a week yep and before that would last you longer over two weeks it would have really which is more expensive than receiving a monthly Billy yeah but that 80 pound so that's 160 that's 320 pound a month but yeah come on my friend they're on rock bottom and then the come this leader would trust them we can help them a little bit and it can it's only going to get worse isn't it when I was younger it was like we used to have a coat on my bed to keep yourself warm everybody will be able to relate to that you're big thick blanket on it and that's what it might end up being like because you can't put your electricity and you can't keep your gas going one forgotten one for electricity right can you put us 20 on each piece yeah people spending more on bills means less is spent elsewhere in this community there's four shops on this estate Shaka has owned his for 30 years but it's quieter now and the price of his stock is becoming unaffordable before spending ten thousand pounds nowhere spending about fifteen sixteen thousand pounds because of the price do you worry about your business here do you worry yeah of course of course if a carry on like that I think possibility it might not cover itself under the day he might you might close yeah we'll definitely getting emotional so you love this community that you're this is the this is your home yeah all right my grandma started it in 1952 with me with grander yeah came on board in 1983 when I started two doors down from Shaka is halt butchers a North Shields institution Neil was born above this shop it's reached a point where it's not worth carrying on but he's decided to call it a day it's heartbreaking to think that something like granny started could cease as the um Bill's going to double next month from about thirty thousand pound for the four shops to over 70. it carries a big burden in my heart and I've had a few sleepless nights over it but it's definitely um could be the end of an era the knock-on effect of this economic crisis is being felt across this community back at the Cedarwood trust they were in a shop selling discounted food and they've noticed a change in the families turning up at the start we saw a lot of people who were pensioners non-benefits that is totally swarmony of aware fifty percent of those people are people in work it's in work poverty we've got people who are on 16 hours a week work on a paramedics teachers people who are Frontline paramedics and teachers use this absolutely and there's no slack in them budgets to pick up any of the extra costs it's hard to overstate just how scared some people are right now that fear of simply not knowing where the money's going to come from to pay for the bills to pay for the food that they need and I think it's also the fear that this could just be the start that it could get much worse than this I will be I worry about Energy prices feel places cost of living it's just I've never felt this anxious or this scared about the future ever Lindsay works full time she has two children a teenage boy and four-year-old Jasmine oh wow these are my gingerbread men thank you very much did you buy these they look amazing can I eat them yeah should I eat them if you want everyone Lindsay has worked hard to provide but she worries it could be taken away they rent from a private landlord but as mortgage rates rise there may not be the money to meet it I'm just waiting for that letter to come through the door to say I'm sorry Lindsay we're going to have to increase your rent and if that happens then I I just don't know what else can I do that I'm not doing now it's either I eat my children eat and we're called or we stay warm and have mumbling bellies like I don't want to have to make that choice it's it's scary it's something the GP surgery here has noticed too hello how you doing it's having an impact on people who haven't previously struggled I had a patient near the week who the start them on some antidepressants and was a review appointment to see how they'd got on and they hadn't been able to afford to pick them up because they literally hadn't been able to afford the prescription charge and are you worried about the long-term impact all of this has yeah definitely um I think some of these problems are going to be they're going to last for Generations um which is a real concern you know we know that parental mental health problems have an impact on children and we know that actually you know if you've had a family member commit suicide your risk of it is much higher back on the estate we meet Sam he's on Universal Credit but the money he's receiving isn't keeping up with his bills and this figure here that basically what you're living on yeah that's what I'm living on at the moment he receives 324 pounds a month he's in rentaries and is facing the prospect of eviction I'm struggling as it is I can't afford to struggle more than I am now that would just be unthinkable you know sometimes you don't even know what he what your action will be and Sam is nervous of reports the government may make a real terms cut to benefits next year how would you feel if the government were to do that that is that would be catastrophic because they don't really know what is going on cutting it back will really send people to the tape you know we keep people over some in this community are doing their best to make sure that doesn't happen just me John in his spare time Michael delivers meals to people he knows are going without putting over here John those without a lot giving to others what little they have left but how many others will go short in The Long Winter ahead

Channel: ITV News

Views: 1,192,667

Keywords: Cost of Living, Economy

Id: czmJvQCEnbE

Length: 13min 46sec (826 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 20 2022