A WOMAN living on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) has said Rishi Sunak’s latest measures to help disabled people will be “quickly swallowed up.”
Julie Inglis, 53, from Forres in the north of Scotland worked in an ambulance control centre but had to retire after suffering multiple strokes.
The Chancellor announced on Thursday that those suffering from disabilities would receive a one-off payment of £150 in addition to the £400 available to all households to aid them in the cost of living crisis.
The 53-year-old said: “Although yesterday’s announcements were very welcome and will make a difference, I’d be lying if I said it was enough.
“I’m sure most in my position will be the same. We’ve been struggling for so long that a few hundred here or there is quickly swallowed up and just reduces the debt a little.
“I won’t feel a difference in my purse.”
Inglis lives with chronic pain and has been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung condition that causes breathing difficulty.
The typical annual household energy bill is forecast to rise by more than £800 in October, according to Ofgem.
Fibromyalgia makes Inglis more sensitive to the cold and she has to run her heating for longer than normal.
She added: “I have to put all the heating on for hours to feel any impact and it’s still not enough.
“It’s May, yet I’ve been sitting wrapped in blankets everyday because it’s so cold. I dread to think what winter is going to be like.
“Probably the worst thing is the lack of hope. I can’t earn my way out of it. I have nothing left of any value that I can sell.
“I’ve budgeted every single thing possible. I don’t drink or smoke… I’m out of ideas.”
Inglis has called on the Chancellor, whose net worth stands at £730 million according to The Sunday Times Rich List, to “spend decent time with someone who is trying to survive on benefits.”
The Chancellor also said yesterday that those on the lowest incomes would be given a one-off payment of £650.
