I have not read all of this thread because I only have just spotted it. I read the article and though I sympathise with the woman's situation, I cannot bring myself to consider her as living in poverty. She has a roof over her head as well as money to buy food and other essentials.
What she does not appear to have is the skills needed to cook a nutritious meal using cheap nutritious ingredients like lentils, rice, beans, etc. She does not appear to know that if she bought a whole chicken, she could roast it and feed herself and her two children for 3 or 4 meals including using the carcass to make soup.
This woman like so many others, lacks the life skills that would enable her to spend her money more wisely and motivate her to try harder to elevate her personal situation.
My parents came to the UK in 1960s from Jamaica with nothing. They and most of their contemporaries are now retired and living in houses where they have paid off the mortage. Why is it that so many of the indigenous population who have been born with the advantages that my parents did not have, find it impossible to improve their situation? I personally believe it is because they largely lack motivation and are not prepared to put in the effort like my parents did.
It is all very well folks saying that the information is not available about services that could help these people but I dispute that. The library is brimming with information, the health centre and doctor's surgery have plethora of leaflets etc. The information is out there but for some reason, unless it is put directly into some peoples hand, they claim that they don't know where to look or find it.
Why can't this woman go to the library and borrow a book to learn how to cook nutritous meals on a budget? When she was going the health clinic, there would have been lots of information about types of healthy meals to cook. If she really wanted to do this,she would do so.
Britain has a growing dependency class who seem unable or unwilling to help themselves. Yes there are genuine people out there who are not in a position to help themselves but there are far more who can and what society needs to do is to find ways of motivating them to help themselves, imho.
My cousin was a single mother with 5 children (had first child when she was 15 yo). She realised that she would spend her life on benefits if she did not do something to help herself. So she did an access course and from that, she is now a qualified midwife. The woman in the article can change her life but she has go to stop focusing on the reasons why she cannot do something and start looking for ways of doing something. It is hard but not impossible.