Welcome in the short term, but not enough to relieve ordinary families’ worries about how they’ll make it through the year.
That’s the verdict of the Mirror’s Cost of Living Crisis panel to Rishi Sunak ’s package of measures to help struggling families announced today.
Our panel is made up of ordinary people around the country feeling the squeeze on their wallets as the cost of fuel and food soars.
Claire Pulfrey, 38, a single mum-of-three from Grimsby, has seen her prepay electricity meter costs go from £10 a week to nearly £25.
As well as the £400 grant towards energy costs she will get an extra £650 help destined to households on means-tested benefits.
She says: “It’s fantastic to help with bills and everything, but it’s just a band aid really. In the long term it’s not really going to help. If prices continue to rise we’ll soon be back to square one thinking, ‘how do I pay for this?’
“We need to find a fix for a long-term solution. Why can’t they tell these energy companies making massive profits to charge less? If we could get energy back to where it used to be a lot of families are going to be in a much better position.
“As it is I’m terrified about what I’ll do when the price cap goes up and it gets colder in the winter. I’m already putting £5 on my gas meter to make sure we can put on the heating.”
Disabled mum Tracy Davies, from Cheshire, agrees. “It’s an improvement on what was on offer, but it hasn’t stopped me worrying about the winter,” she says.
Tracy, 57, who has fibromyalgia, is cared for by husband Paul and they have two adult children with severe autism who live with them.
She is one of 6million disabled people who will also receive £150 in September.
The family’s electricity bill has risen by £117 to £450 a month since the beginning of the year.
Tracy says: “I spend the whole day looking at the smart meter, just watching it going up. I can’t economise any more and I’ve turned the gas off, yet I’m still using over £10 a day.
“This will help us now, but what about in six months’ time? The government needs to think of a better solution.”
