Not working yesterday and losing the money that brings in, as well as a few other things , has made me think of all the people in the country living on or below the bread line. It not an easy task as I know myself and at the moment those of us who do have part time work are finding it harder everyday by the increasing cost of fuel of all types. The increasing price of oil is impacting on everything we buy. It is the gold of modern society. None of us are finding it easy, but some of us are finding it harder than others.
According to the Government figures the last of which was published for 2008/09 there are over 13 million people who are considered on low incomes in the United Kingdom. The next set of figures is going to see a raise in this figure and given what the economy has been through since those figures were published. It is only going to get worse.
What it means is that you spend you days counting every single and trying to get every once of value out of the little you have got. There is no extra money for holidays or pleasure. Everything goes essentials and essentials only. Only rarely, if at all, is there money for extra's of any kind and if there is that money the extra things you buy are small and of low value. If something goes wrong then you are really in trouble. Their are no savings to pay for things that go wrong or to replace things that are broken. There is no money in the pot to save with. You live from day to day and from one lot of money to the next often just making it with pennies to spare. And for some it is even worse, there isn't the money for things like heating and sometimes food. These people aren't work shy in many cases they are just poor and the last thing a lot of them want to do is live there lives like this.
It is easy to label these people as lazy and I know of people who have consider me to be like that because I don't have full time work, but the fact is I would love to have a permeant job that was full time that still allowed me to see my family. The fact is given my situation that is never going to be possible. That was taken away from me and there is no possibility of a compromise that will allow me to see Lucy every weekend if I worked full time, that has been made clear to me. At the moment I feel it is more important to Lucy development and for the bond between her and her sisters that we see her as much a we can. That is why I work the way I do with all the hardship that causes.
I know some people would say I'm lucky that I own a house, but the truth is that sometimes it really doesn't help. It stops me getting extra help in all kinds of area's because I have assets. I know it means the financial position I was left in when my last relationship ended that resulted in limiting when I can work, is taking longer to clear up just because I do own property. What makes things worse is that if things go wrong, unlike a rented property, I have to find the funds to fix them myself. I can't call up the Landlord and say come and fix this, because I am the Landlord. That all gets forgotten.
At the end of the day I am "Living on the Line" at the moment. Gone now are the days I can go out without thinking about it. I can't even save to take Lucy out on the little trips to the bakery of a few months ago. I don't have any spare money to do anything with and that I have had has gone on to essential repairs to keep things going that I need to earn the money in the first place. Without the little income I do get from work I would be completely sunk. Some times you hit the problem that you can't pay someone or an organisation. I know that currently I can not pay back a bank loan and maintenance for Lucy still goes unpaid. It's not that I don't want to pay these things it is just that I can't at the moment. In the case of the later their is a minimum income limit before anyone can take money from my wages and I don't even earn close to that minimum. If I can find work to sort this situation out I will be able to pay these people again. You wouldn't know how bad it makes me feel not to be able to pay for my own Daughter. All I can do is give her what I can while she is here with me.
The work situation in the Education sector isn't good at the moment. Any work in the public sector is hard to find. In the Education sector there is a falling number of students in the coming years which means that demand for places is down. Add to this the cuts in education funding which will occur in the coming years due to the Banks greed will make finding full time work even harder. It won't stop me looking and it hasn't stopped me yet but it does mean it is harder to find work in the surrounding area in which I live. I'm already having to travel forty miles one away to work. I would hardly call that the actions of someone who is not committed to finding or doing work. Of course you could say take a lesser job, the problem there is when I have tried that in the past I have always been rejected on being over qualified even though my references have said employ him if you can get him for that much. I am one of millions of people in this position and it is getting worse.
I the people on low incomes don't want sympathy, I know I don't, but what we do want is understanding of our situation, be that at a personal level, a organisational level or at a governmental level. We need work and we need the chance to find that work, and if we have work be able to work more hours to get us out of the low income trap. We want to work, we want the best for our families and we want to pay our way. Don't think otherwise. Most of the people in the United Kingdom on low incomes are anything but lazy.
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