Good morning. Welcome back to Survival Guide. Isabella here.
This week, we meet Sonia, a single mum of four who is training to be a nurse. She claims universal credit to get by but she also needs food banks.
Sonia is doing exactly as the government asks in seeking to build a career, so she won’t have to rely on benefits in the long term. As Labour pushes claimants to get into work, she is engaging with her job coach and doing all she can to become a nurse.
But for now, government support is so limited that “food bank Thursdays” have become a part of her life – and that’s something the chancellor should bear in mind as she prepares for her autumn budget, the big unveiling for her plan for the economy, next week.
Next week is also half term and, as ever, we have our round-up of all the places where kids can eat free or for £1. Read to the end for that.
Also in this newsletter, we hear about a charity which is empowering people with experience of homelessness to gain skills and find housing. And it all starts with a chopping board…
Sonia's story: 'The kids like food bank Thursdays now'
Sonia Gowland has worked all her life – but now she's a single mother and training to be a nurse, she has to claim universal credit to feed her family. It is not enough. She relies on her local food bank to survive.
"It's not something I ever thought I'd have to do," the 48-year-old mother of four says. "I know people who are working who are still relying on food banks. It's not just people on benefits. There's a bit of stigma attached to it. But the kids quite like food bank Thursday, which is what we call it now."
Sonia says she is "scrimpy" and does not get out much, but after paying her bills and rent, she has little left. She has gone three weeks at a time without internet access because she cannot afford the bill.
"It is the first time I've ever been on any kind of benefit – universal credit," Sonia says. "I was married until three years ago, so I'm a newly single mum. I started on universal credit and it was OK at the beginning but as things progressed, the cost of living has just skyrocketed."
Government is 'excluding' disadvantaged kids from free childcare. It could trap them in poverty. Disadvantaged children are only entitled to half the hours of funded early education that children with working parents get. Get the story.
Pay rise for thousands of workers as Real Living Wage rises to £12.60 an hour – but is it enough? The new real Living Wage rates are now worth more than £2,262 more per year in the UK than the legal minimum, and upwards of £4,700 more in London. Read about it.
Axing 'cruel' two-child benefit cap would reduce cost of poverty by over £3bn. Researchers claim there would be huge economic benefits to ending the two-child benefit cap which the government has 'failed' to consider. Find out more.
Over half of London working parents use food banks, study finds. A staggering 720,000 working parents (56%) have resorted to food support, according to the Felix Project. Read about it.
'It's disastrous': Furious pensioners call on government to reverse winter fuel payment cuts. More than 500,000 pensioners signed petitions demanding that the government scrap the winter fuel payment cuts. Get the story.
'We're stepping in to help kids eat': Schools forced to dip into their own budgets to feed pupils. Schools have been on the frontline of the cost of living crisis, with many stepping in to ensure that children do not go hungry – and that means dipping into their own budgets. Read more.
What Tory leader hopefuls Badenoch and Jenrick think about poverty, benefits, housing and more. Either Robert Jenrick or Kemi Badenoch will become the next leader of the Conservative Party. Read their views.
Labour must end policies causing deaths of thousands of homeless people: 'Every person was precious'. A vigil was held to remember those who died while homeless as charities call for the reversal of cuts to welfare and housing. Find out more.
'People have more to give': This life-changing charity helps homeless people to build their own homes
Handcrafted is a charity empowering socially excluded individuals to gain skills and find housing – and it all starts with a chopping board.
“Early on, we would get the offcuts of wood that other people were throwing out. We got people to plane those down and stick them together to make this really nice striped effect chopping board,” founder Dan Northover says.
The chopping board remains the “day-one” project at the charity’s wood craft sessions, but from day two, the world’s your (hand-carved) oyster.
Chairs, football tables, illustrated clocks, guitars, an electric ukulele, garden sculptures, skate ramps, a soap box racer; attendees have fashioned some “incredible” items.
“One of our trainees is now using that same idea behind the chopping boards to make his own electric ukulele,” Dan says. “He’s wiring it up and everything. It's great.”
The charity was set up in 2011 to offer training in practical skills, but in 2014 moved into supported housing, purchasing derelict houses and renovating them for people experiencing homelessness.
Carpentry-savvy trainees sometimes assist with the renovation itself, applying their newfound woodwork skills.
“It’s just so, so important for people to have that foundation of somewhere to live,” Dan says. “It is crucial that they have a safe place to call home.”
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Where kids can eat for free or £1 this half term
Restaurants and cafes across the country are offering deals over half term – but be warned, you often have to buy an adults’ meal, which isn’t always the cheapest.
Some of our favourites include the Asda £1 kids meal deal, and you don’t have to buy anything else. It comes with a hot meal and fruit, or a sandwich, drink and fruit.
At Ikea, the kids’ pasta with tomato sauce or the mac and cheese comes with a soft drink for 95p. At Tesco Café, kids eat free if an adult buys any item at the cafe. We have a full list of all the deals here.
