Panorama( Young families Struggling)

[dottydodah]

Did anyone see this last evening? A lady with 2 small DC and a husband working as a Research Scientist was struggling with bills .Another young Mum in tears as her energy bill was so high.A third lady (working as a Nurse) not able to run a car. How will they manage to keep going? Surely Govt could do more?

The whole episode chilled me to the bone. Left me wondering WTF is over the horizon as a society.

I didn't watch it, but I think a lot of people think that the people who are struggling must be doing something wrong...

"If only they..."(insert various solutions)

Probably because contemplating that this is because of the way our country is run is too difficult to accept as it means it could happen to them too. It's horrifying to think that we live in a country where nurses can go hungry. And working people go hungry. And if it's the struggling people's fault then one does not have to do anything and one can ignore it.

(for clarification I am not blaming the strugglers, just pointing out it's easier psychologically to do so as then you can carry on without having to help)

It’s terrifying- I know I’m financially lucky and I’m petrified so god knows what will happen come October for the masses. I’m also grateful I have such young children, if I had teens using electricity , growing into adult size clothes, eating more, all activities costing we wouldn’t survive

Where can I watch it? Thanks.

Iplayer.

I don’t doubt that it is going to be very difficult for people with rising fuel and food prices but the nurse worked 3 days a week. It’s not surprising that she couldn’t run a household on that few hours and as usual no sign of a man anywhere to support the three kids.

And the idea that the people are worse off than miners in the 20s? Do you realise how dumb you sound? I’m sure if miners had been spending money on cars, internet, trainers, take aways etc then they would have been hungry too rather than on a couple of bits of coal and some meat and vegetables.
Unfortunately there are far more things that we all see as essential now which take up large parts of our income and the difference is that we don’t expect to have to live frugally like they accepted then. Things like internet and phones have become essentials.

@Roses1221

It’s like going back in time. The nurse in particular really struck a chord. A nurse should be able to buy her kids shoes FGS!

Well yeah, she should. But she has three kids and only works PT. Where the hell is the DC's father and why isn't he helping out? One PT salary in most jobs wouldn't keep four people afloat so I'm not surprised she's relying on food donations.

I will be watching this.

I didn't see it but the nurse is in The Mail today.

She only works part time so it's not that surprising that she is struggling. Plus why did she have 3 children? Why do people not stick with 1 or 2 when they have no idea what the future holds?

The question is - how much worse is it really. I came to the UK in 2011 and poverty has always been in the news. I don't know how UK was like pre austerity and so many families were always struggling. Would the public be immune to such stories?

I know pre covid, I once told my MIL whose kids were always on free school meals about the wide spread poverty and she said stuff like, it's not so bad. I think the turning point would be if people who always considered themselves comfortable face such problems

I think the turning point would be if people who always considered themselves comfortable face such problems

That the turning point we’re at. One of those families has two incomes. Thanks to rising heating bills, increased fuel costs (to get to work) and food going up, they’re struggling. They weren’t before and they’re frightened because they know it’s going to get worse.

@Blossomtoes haven't watched the show yet but 2 good incomes? Is a civil servant and a teacher on full time hours going to struggle for example? Or 2 mid-level financial services employees on 50-60k each (in London or HC) with 1/2 kids (assuming they have a manageable mortgage)

[quote desiringonlychild2022]@Blossomtoes haven't watched the show yet but 2 good incomes? Is a civil servant and a teacher on full time hours going to struggle for example? Or 2 mid-level financial services employees on 50-60k each (in London or HC) with 1/2 kids (assuming they have a manageable mortgage)[/quote]
For God’s sake. No family on two full time incomes should be struggling. Your privilege is appalling if you think it’s only a problem if things get so bad the top 5% are struggling. Meanwhile, here in the real world …

My monthly bill has gone from £104 to £252 (dual fuel).

It’s absolutely horrifying - I don’t know how some people will manage.

mydogisthebest How much better would she be even if she had 2 children though? Who knows what the future holds.Maybe she was happily married and was expecting to be with the DC father long term. My friend has 3 DC ,and has been working nights for a long time (SM)She is always tired and is run ragged .No support from ex .Surely we should have a better system for people who fall through the net?

I wondered about the couple where she was self employed and had a business - with hardly any customers- surely the overheads for that must be really high if she's not selling much? It looked like a liability to me. So even if the DH was a research scientist I could see how they could be struggling.

@Blossomtoes I don't think anyone should be going hungry. But I am a bit pessimistic about the general public caring unless it really hits them. There are a lot of poor people in the UK. There are also many people on good incomes /bad incomes and inherited/unearned equity who are still happily going on holidays and shopping and doing home improvements. I think we need second group to be affected.

@Blossomtoes

You have it bang on. It doesn’t matter what job you’re doing, any two full time salaries shouldn’t mean you struggle.

For those criticising the nurse. You need to understand that for nurses it’s very hard to find childcare that fits in with a job that is not family friendly. Even those that have a partner struggle. I’m not surprised that particular nurse only works 3 days, for her to work full time with 3 kids, as a single parent, is going to be almost impossible in that job. Also it would probably be pointless anyway as any extra wages would simply pay the childcare. And with no benefit to her or the kids.

Also I guess the 2 child policy with tax credits / UC (?) will make it difficult for some of these families with 3 DC?

The other couple with both working were getting some UC...the nurse said 'family allowance' (?) not sure if she was in the UK or not, or meant UC (don't think family allowance has been around for years)

@mydogisthebest

I didn't see it but the nurse is in The Mail today.

She only works part time so it's not that surprising that she is struggling. Plus why did she have 3 children? Why do people not stick with 1 or 2 when they have no idea what the future holds?

The article says: the mother-of-three says she doesn't work full-time because the cost of childcare means she would end up with less money.

That in itself probably needs addressing - more affordable childcare/better wages etc. but isn't her fault.

As for having three - she's not psychic - presumably at the time she could afford them. No one would have any children if they had to factor in all conceivable future events.

The other family with a research scientist, the wife was running a shop that seemed to be making a loss. Whilst I don’t doubt they work hard you can’t sustain a shop that has one customer a day, if I was in the same position I’d close the shop and get a reliable income. The husband is spending loads on a 80 mile commute, it isn’t difficult to see why they are struggling.

We are bankrupt as a country. We have spunked it all on increased benefits and vanity projects for the last 25 years backed by massive borrowing. Now times are bad there is nothing left in the kitty and soon no one will lend to us. Worse still our gold reserves were sold off for pennies (thanks Gordon Brown) and we have promised an awful lot of people very generous government job pensions.

A fifth of working age adults are economically inactive and we have the highest disability rates on the planet.

We are completely Donald Ducked and it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. The government won't be able to help you and it will go after any assets you have so expect to see taxes rise even more.

About 8 years ago, ex DH and I lived in the SE. Our combined salaries in professional, graduate jobs totalled nearly 100k but with 2x fulltime childcare and a mortgage of £1250 p/m, running two cars because logistics meant we had too, we didn't have much left at the end of each month (and we had small phone contracts, no Netflix and no takeaways). If that was now and you added another £150-200 to the energy bills and another £50 odd with food prices rising and another £100 on top of what we used to pay for petrol, we'd be in the red, even on those salaries. To the PP who said we all see things as necessities that are really luxuries, that is v shortsighted. To navigate modern life now you pretty much DO need a smartphone for apps, QR codes, covid passes. Infrastructure has changed to make car use essential in many many set-ups. Its not realistic to say we can all go back to a 1920s style of life and blame people's skintness on not wanting to cut back. If you think that's the answer, you obviously aren't paying attention to the thousands of people saying that cannot make ends meet.