Cost of living crisis: Mother in tears as she struggles financially as prices soar

Single mum Michaela Sutcliffe, from South Bank in Redcar, said she’d been in tears on occasions when considering how she could support herself and her children, 16-year-old Blake, Miley, 14, and four-year-old Reuben, and “at the minute it is very, very hard”.

Ms Sutcliffe, a part-time cleaner for a bingo chain, said she had never been out of work, but had considered whether it was worthwhile to continue working because she was also required to fund childcare.

The 37-year-old said she was paid about £560 a month for 16 hours a week work and also received working tax and child tax credits worth a combined £230 a week.

She said: “My wage pays my gas, electric, water, my car and the insurance, the main bills if you like. But out of the money I get I also have to pay £75 a week childcare for when I’m working – because I do 7am to 10am – in order to pay for two hours and a drop off at school.

“I pay £45 a week rent and by the time I have put some petrol in the car and paid my son £11 a week to get the bus to school and bought shopping it’s gone. A lot of things in the shops have gone up 20p, 30p, even the regular things, the same with petrol, the gas and electric.

"At the minute it is very, very hard.”

Ms Sutcliffe, who is originally from Rochdale, Lancashire, and moved to Teesside with her parents when she was 18, said she was not entitled to free-school meals for her children because she received working tax credit.

She said: “I don’t get any further help from anyone, I’ve been told if I was on Universal Credit the kids would be entitled to free dinners, but being on working tax and child tax credit I’m not.

“I have had trouble with my rent, being in arrears, and also thought is it better for me not working? I cannot keep paying out all this money every week and month. £75 a week childcare just to go to work, by the time I’ve paid that and my rent, what have I worked for?

“The more you do to help yourself the less you seem to get back in return. If you sit on your backside all day you get more done for you.”

Ms Sutcliffe, who volunteers at a local food bank service, said there needed to be more support for working single parents.

Asked about the prospect of hefty utility bill rises, which are beginning to drop onto householders’ door mats, she said: “I try not to think about it too much, I will panic as I struggle from anxiety and depression.

“I am struggling now, if things go up further, what am I going to do? If I work more hours, I’d be paying more childcare so I can’t win.

“A lot of my friends – they have partners – so obviously they have two wages coming in, people who are single will be finding it a lot harder.”

Ms Sutcliffe said she tried to save her child benefit payments each week to pay for Christmas costs, otherwise she would not be able to afford it.

“I have been down, I have been in tears, and you do think about how you can support your kids,” she added.

“You do consider whether you put a meal on the table or do you have your heating on at night? My kids are at school all day, and I’m at work on a morning, so when I come home I won’t put the heating on as I’d rather have it on for an hour when the kids come home from school.

“It’s hard – you want to give your kids the best. My elder kids have hobbies, they have danced for nine years, but I’m wondering if I should cut it back a bit because I can’t afford it and need some more money.

“But it’s something they have always done and enjoyed, even though it can be expensive. Trying to explain to kids you can’t do something no more because you can’t afford it, it’s difficult.”

Last week Redcar and Cleveland Council leader Mary Lanigan warned the cost of living crisis would get worse before it got better, as the local authority agreed a council tax freeze.

Her predecessor, Labour’s Sue Jeffrey said energy bills were rising by an average 54 per cent, a planned National Insurance rise in April meant someone on £20,000 a year would be paying an extra £130, and inflation was forecast to hit 7 per cent.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak previously announced a package of measures to take the sting out of increasing costs, including a repayable £200 off energy bills in October, a £150 rebate for council taxpayers in property bands A to D and an increase in the number of poorer households eligible for a warm homes discount.

Meanwhile, there are fears the ongoing conflict in Ukraine will heap more pressure on the price motorists pay for fuel on petrol forecourts as a consequence of rising oil prices.