A single mum is becoming increasingly anxious about how to pay for Christmas this year after her Universal Credit payment was slashed by £20-per-week.
Maria Smith is juggling the household and trying to reduce their food bill, cancel subscriptions and use less fuel as a means to save money for presents, thanks to cuts by the UK Tory Government.
However, her cost-cutting exercise has been limited by her nine-year-old daughter’s dietary requirements as she suffers from a disease which affects her immune system.
Sofia suffers from eosinophilic esophagitis, which means she cannot eat dairy, wheat and gluten, and subsequently mum Maria has to often buy food from expensive shops.
When Maria left her job at Auto Windscreens to pursue her dream of becoming a midwife, she had no idea that years down the line she’d be unable to work and struggling on benefits with two kids.
She has been dreading the day her Universal Credit drops by £86 to £1,720 a month.
“I’m getting a bit panicky about Christmas,” she admits. “I don’t know how I’m going to afford it.”
She’s currently looking at using less fuel and cancelling subscriptions in order to make up for the shortfall.
Maria, from Derbyshire, is also trying to cut her food bills, however this is difficult due to her nine-year-old daughter Sofia’s eosinophilic esophagitis diagnosis.
“It’s difficult to get ‘free from’ food from places like Aldi and Lidl, so I’m limited to places like Tesco and Morrisons,” she says.
She had to leave her midwifery studies when she fell pregnant with her eldest daughter Jessica, now 15, according to StaffordshireLive.
When Sofia was born, it became clear at an early stage that she suffered from disabilities.
“There were problems right from the day she was born,” Maria recalls.
“She was in and out of hospital from being four months of age and she was referred to see a paediatrician from 11 months.
“She was diagnosed with several developmental delays.”
Sofia has since been diagnosed with ADHD, autism and pathological demand avoidance, which means she can be difficult to give directions to.
“She’s on a whole other level,” Maria explains. “You don’t just ask her to do something. You’ve got to have a half an hour battle with her to do something that will take her a couple of minutes.”
Dealing with her daughter’s disabilities is one thing, but Maria has numerous conditions herself that severely affect her day to day life, including depression, fibromyalgia, ME, pancreatitus, osteoarthritis, chronic asthma and autism.
“I tried going back to work a few years back before my health worsened, but it was quite difficult,” she says.
Her daughter’s condition is such that she needs a stable routine, which the shifts Maria was working didn’t help with.
When the Government first introduced the Universal Credit uplift at the start of the covid pandemic Maria was grateful for the helping hand.
“They seemed to be helping people out with work, with the furlough scheme, and it’s nice that they were helping people who were not working or on low income,” she says.
Maria put the extra cash towards the cost of travel to and from medical appointments for both her and Sofia, as well as the increased cost of food during the pandemic.
“I was getting food delivered, but a lot of the time there is a minimum spend required for that, and you have to pay for deliveries as well,” she says.
Maria’s chronic asthma means she is more vulnerable to coronavirus and has therefore had to be especially careful over the past 18 months.
She was always aware the uplift was temporary, but questioned why the Government ceased it only two months before Christmas.
“£86 is a lot of money. It’s a weekly shop for me,” she says.
She added that she thought it would have been better to give people until January before stopping the extra payment, to help them prepare for it more.
Maria said people who believed the Universal Credit payment should be scrapped had the ‘wrong attitude’.
“They’re all going to need some help at some point from the Government,” she concludes.
“I would work if I could, but I can’t. I really need the help from Universal Credit. I can’t manage if that changes.”
A Government spokesperson said in a previous statement to the Mirror: “We’ve always been clear that the uplift to Universal Credit was temporary, to help claimants through the economic shock of the toughest stages of the pandemic.
“Universal Credit will continue to provide vital support and it’s right that the Government should focus on our Plan for Jobs, supporting people back into work and supporting those already employed to progress and earn more.
“People with a health condition or disability who cannot work could receive almost £350 a month on top of the Universal Credit standard allowance to help with their everyday costs and for some, other benefits such as Personal Independent Payments are also available.”
