Janet, 62, is a mum living in Middleton, north Manchester, she tells Claire Donnelly why she never has enough money and is struggling to save for her old age.
I’ve got a few medical problems, vertigo, epilepsy, so I’ve struggled with getting work.
I’ve done all sorts in the past, now I’m on Job Seekers’ Allowance. I’ve told them what I could do but I have to do the job search. I live on £146 a fortnight.
It means I don’t have a lot of money to spare but my family or a friend might take me for a meal every now and again.
I make myself get out to meet people otherwise I’d be stuck in all day and that’s no good. I try and be a cheerful person, what else can you do?
When I get my pension it might be easier.
I think overall things are worse than they used to be. It’s the Universal Credit and Bedroom Tax that are causing problems for a lot of people, they don’t seem to have enough money to live on.
A lot of people don’t care about how other people are living, as long as they’re alright they’re not bothered about anyone else.
If you get help you get called a scrounger - that’s not nice is it?
But I’m not. I’d love to be able to do more but I can’t.
You can’t afford to buy a house anymore. No-one can afford it. I rent a nice bungalow. It’s lovely but I’ll never be able to buy somewhere. And I can’t save, there isn’t enough to save for a pension.
And if you do have any savings they take your benefits away so what’s the point of it all?
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We are retracing the journey George Orwell made in his book, The Road to Wigan Pier to tell modern stories of working and unemployed poverty.
They'll appear in a regular series in the Daily Mirror newspaper and here, on our special anniversary website.
