Report transcript in: Cost Of Inequality Story 15

Please Report the Errrors?

Good morning. My name's Ella. I'm a community reporter from the Equality Trust.

Um,

can I ask you a question, please?

How is the cost of living crisis affecting you?

Hello. Yes, The cost of living crisis is a very difficult one

to estimate because it's very rarely

specific in how much money you spend

on various important issues to do with your day to day living. However,

and

there is a significant impact

in the amount of money I have to spend. I live on a

A limited income,

which is a pension.

Therefore,

I can't really see

any benefits in the long term.

Making up lost ground on my spending capacity,

all the essentials of life

such as heating and lighting,

uh, purchasing of food,

um, anything to do with travel. Certainly.

Buying items such as clothes, um, even down to house insurance

and stuff like that have all increased.

Um, my house insurance, for instance,

went up per year from

300 to 450

for no apparent reason

other than the market.

The insurance market that is seems to think that

they have got to gain

what they've lost. In fact, the same is

uh, apparent with everyone. The, uh,

the energy companies are trying to make up

the money that they've had to spend

in the wake of, uh, Covid. And, of course, the, um,

the problems with Russia and the Ukraine.

Um,

the end of the line are people like me who simply have to pay the bills.

The other problem is the cost of living crisis has brought about

an increase in the number of, um,

difficulties

trying to resolve problems. Because

the authorities in charge of these

commodities

are impossible to engage in conversation,

they will not.

They don't seem to have

anyone who is willing to speak for them.

They seem to expect you to pay

on the nail and just accept all the prizes. But if you have a question to ask,

um, it's impossible. People of my age

who didn't grow up in a computer age

and who struggle to some extent

with

are very often

so confused about how to answer these questions

or about where to get the information from

that. In fact, it's,

they just give up,

you feel marginalised in some,

they do feel marginalised, and I think there's a

a growing number of pensioners,

um, who are

at a loss as to know

who to ask what questions to ask, Where do they turn to for help and guidance? Um,

and that that's the same with, uh, with the health issues, which is obviously,

uh, another major concern with pensioners, who

tend to get less well as the years pass by.

But accessing GPS,

um, surgeries and treatment there in

is again a question of

getting up early in the morning,

ringing a phone number being put on hold for ages and ages.

And then you get an appointment for two or three or four weeks

in advance. Um,

it's absolutely frustrating for everyone.

Um,

the cost of food

has gone up

alarmingly.

Cutbacks are having to be made.

I think people are really not cooking proper meals. They're snacking

on bits of toast or having more cups of tea to try and warm themselves up.

With the winter coming on and the cold weather, it's, it's, uh,

it's not an easy factor for elderly people to cope with.

If they've got less money because their pensions aren't keeping up with inflation,

then the whole thing is getting into, uh, a critical situation for many,

many pensioners.

And, uh,

you know, I

feel that

many of them are going to struggle

right through,

certainly through the winter and probably

for the whole of next year as well.

The energy companies, for instance, have said that the prices

the gas and electricity are going to increase,

Um,

within the next month or two.

how that relates to people being better off, I don't really know,

but certainly they're going to be extremely worse off.

Um,

food crises don't seem to be resumed

gaining,

uh,

dissolving.

Well,

they they don't They don't really seem to one or two items have come down in price,

but,

uh,

the big hikes in prices have stayed there

so that

obviously, people are

not buying as much food

or they're buying

cheaper food, which isn't as nourishing,

is there?

Sorry to interrupt. Is there anything comparable? Um,

in your lifetime that

you could say this this equates to as a as a sort of crisis, or is it a unique,

um, experience for

for generations? I think this is a whole new experience in my generation.

Ever. Uh,

you know, during the 19 fifties and 19 sixties and seventies,

right up to the current day.

Gradually, the standard of living in the country increased slowly. But surely,

Um, now,

um, I don't think that is the case, and I think it's, uh

Whereas

we have, um,

mechanisms to,

uh, protect people.

Nevertheless, I think

the youngsters, you know, young people, young teenagers, for instance,

and people just in their twenties finding this difficult to cope with because

they've never really been in a situation where hardship real hardship is,

uh,

the norm.

I'm pretty sure

that a lot of young people in families, um, are really finding it hard to cope.

Um,

no, they they they just haven't got

the things to look forward to that, uh, we

would normally take for granted.

So I'm pretty sure that

working class parents will not be taking

holidays,

uh,

with their Children in the summer in the way

that they might have done in recent years.

In fact, in the last 30 40 50 years, you know, they just simply can't afford it.

Um, transport costs have hit the roof.

Um,

it's just impossible to go anywhere on a on a train journey, for instance.

Um,

is is a ridiculous journey. To go to London for a day return

on a normal return from Birmingham is something like

50 £60. Perhaps even more.

Um,

you know, it's impossible to go locally

on the, um

on the on the trains because

the workers on the railways

are looking to

earn more money

to stave off the effects of, um,

cost, cost of living crisis.

They're going on strike,

uh, so people can't travel. And even if the strikes finish,

you're going to find that prices just go through the roof

so that PE people won't be able to do that anyway.

So the only people that get it,

um,

are really the people who put the prices up.

The railway companies.

It's a classic.

Do you think it's

commensurate with the Tories,

or is it something that you think that labour could solve?

Or is it just something that's going to

continue despite the government have been any difference with

labour run government? A

lot of these issues are externally

promoted. It's just a set of circumstances

that

happened along,

and

governments might

deal with them in different ways. But at the end of the day.

If you haven't got enough money

to pay for, um,

the things that you normally regard as necessary,

then you're going to have to cut back.

And cutting back means

spending less money but leading,

uh, a slightly poorer standard of living.

It's, um

it's an interna.

It's an international problem, not just a national one. I think people

in many countries in the world to go into the same sort of crisis, but

we always seem to have um

um, a lot more people

affected by it. I think a lot more people are poorer. A

lot more people are less well off. A lot more people are finding life difficult now,

Um,

pensioners are going to suffer even more because if the triple lock

mechanism is abandoned by either conservatives or the Labour government, and

in the last few days, the leaders of both those parties have refused

to guarantee the triple lock

for the next government

explain.

The

conservatives are doing so at present,

but I think if there's an election in 2024

neither the Conservatives nor Labour will actually

guarantee the triple lock for pet pensioners.

Could you please explain very briefly what the triple

lock is triple lock is a mechanism whereby pensioners

receive an increase in their regular pension.

This is consistent with either the rate of inflation

or one or two other factors governing the cost of living.

Um,

so, uh,

the retail price index,

I think, is another one and interest rates.

So if either of those go, it's

the triple lock will

come in

with

with a relationship to the highest one of those three mechanisms

and guarantee the pensioners. So if inflation is higher

than the rate of interest, for instance,

or,

um,

whatever else there is to work from, then

it goes up. It goes up by that rate,

but

the it's

both

there are Members of Parliament from both parties

have said quite clearly

that that

is unaffordable.

It's not affordable now, but they're sticking with it at

the moment because

they're both scared not to. But

I think come come the election next year,

both bite the bullet and take

some risks.

Hard look tough.

Look,

there's the triple lot will go,

and that is going to hit

pensioners who as our only income is a state pension,

they're going to be extremely

poorly

off.

May I ask one final question?

Um, I believe that you're a parent, underground parent.

And, um, I just wanted to know

how

and if the crisis has impacted people closest to you.

And if that's had a knock on effect to you And if you think that is

something

that other parents grandparents would be familiar with, um

as well. So not only are you being affected individually,

you're being affected by a knock on effect.

Well,

I think I think

there are far too many jobs.

The pie

minimum wage.

Um, there are lots of jobs available on minimum wage,

but earning a minimum wage won't get you anywhere.

You can't really No one can afford to live on minimum wage.

That's obviously going to impact on families. I think,

in answer to your question,

throughout the throughout the post war period, up to the almost the present day,

people at least had an optimism

that things would get better.

And so my parents,

uh,

saw their lifestyles improve

gradually, year by year by year. There was never any situation when, um,

when things looked as glum

as they are now,

Um,

there was the, um

there was the period in the Labour government in the 19

eighties. I think when we had the, uh, the three day week, um, but

that didn't last that long.

Otherwise,

the

the standard of living for most people

gradually increased.

However,

it increased a lot more for people who are already wealthy

who were already, should we say, comfortably off their salaries. And their rewards

rose exponentially, as opposed to

the slower growth for the average workers in the country. So there is

far bigger gap between the the well off people in society

than the average and the poor.

There's, uh,

there's certainly, um,

a larger a larger

differential in earnings.

And you only have to travel around the country to see that

there are certain places in the country where

the average house prices are well over a million pounds. And

you know, there are a place in the country where

people could not even dream of buying their own

and the people with the money in this country.

Um, I haven't really earned it

to that extent.

I think when you can, um,

the whole country has gone skew

if about,

uh, earning money. If you If this country

can run football clubs

who are prepared to pay £200,000 plus per week for someone to play football,

it's an indication that society has gone completely wrong

because no one is worth that amount of money.

Um,

and

people realise this people people aren't stupid. People understand that,

you know, no matter what level of football you play at,

you're not worth at the end of a month, a million pounds.

It's absolutely absurd, and it's disgusting,

and it shouldn't be happening.

And, um,

if they're earning that much money,

they they obviously they're paying a lot more in tax.

But they're still earning obscene amounts of money.

Um,

that that they can, um

that affords them to buy

luxury homes

both at home and abroad.

And those are investments that will always,

um,

a crew

of the money. So even when they're retired,

they've got

things that they can sell for a lot more than they bought them for,

so they'll never they'll. Their pension fund, in other words,

has been, uh, increased, uh,

to a level that ordinary people can only dream of.

Well,

your answers have been really fascinating, and I could talk to you all day.

I've got so many more questions I'd like to ask.

So, um, but we'll leave it there for now.

Unless there's anything that you'd like to add. Um, particularly.

And perhaps we can come back to you again in the future.

There's nothing at

the

moment. No.

OK, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure chatting to you. Take care.

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Posted By

Author

EmmaM

Post date

24/01/2024