At 62, I’ve borrowed £100 from my 91-year-old mum to pay for gas bill

Pauline Flash, 62, has often struggled with energy bills – and says the £100 one-off payment announced by Labour today “would hardly make a difference”. “People who are really on the breadline, it won’t help us. We’ll still be messed up and struggling,” she said. “With how expensive gas and electricity is, a £100 payment will hardly make a difference. It won’t even be a dip in the ocean. “I am disappointed as these things always end up helping the rich and it isn’t going to help the real poor. We are just kicked aside all the time.” In the Budget, Chancellor John Healey said 20 million households living in council tax bands A to D will receive a £100 household energy payment – as well as announcing the scrapping of gas standing charges on bills. However, Pauline says these measures will not help the “really poor” like herself who are struggling to survive on benefits and she says trying to keep up with paying spiralling energy bills will still be impossible. Recently, she did not have enough money for gas and electricity and was forced to ask her 91-year-old mother if she could borrow £100. This is typical, she says, of her life, which is a constant struggle trying to survive on benefits while battling health issues. As such, Paulette told The i Paper that borrowing from her elderly mother is a regular occurrence whenever she runs out of money and cannot even afford the basics. Shorts Paulette, who lives in south-east London, is on universal credit and personal independence payment (PIP). She worked in childcare for most of her life until she was made redundant. She then began suffering from health issues, including arthritis and has ADHD and dyslexia and says she is unable to work. The mum-of-three and grandmother-of-four lives alone in a rented council home and says she ended up in £3,000 of debt and had bailiffs outside her home and was in danger of being evicted from her home. She says she struggled to claim benefits as so much is now done online and she is not computer-literate. With the help of charity Christians Against Poverty, she managed to get debt-free and claim the benefits she was entitled to. However, she says financially it is still a struggle and one of the hardest things is trying to keep up with ever-rising energy bills. “Whenever things get really hard, I have no choice but to ask my 91-year-old mum if I can borrow some money,” she said. “She is only on the state pension, but she owns her own home, so is financially better off than me and can afford to help me out if I need it. I always make sure I pay her back. “I am in debt again with my council tax and my water bills, but I am making sure I keep on top of my rent as I don’t want to get evicted. “My arthritis means I really struggle with my mobility and I can’t sit down for long as my knees give way – I am in a lot of pain. I wouldn’t be able to cope with working in childcare now. “I receive around £800 a month in universal credit and just over £300 in PIP. Life is a lot better now I get the PIP, but it is still very hard to manage. I don’t want bailiffs coming because of me getting in debt again.” Paulette says that while the Government’s measures to scrap gas standing charges might make a difference to households who receive energy bills, it will not really help people like her who pay their gas bills “as they go” with a card or a key. “We won’t get the privilege of saving on standing charges – it will only help people who get energy bills and pay monthly. “For me, I often have to wait until I get some money and then put money on my card so I can use gas and electricity. So I don’t really see how it will help me. “I just feel the Government needs to do a lot more to help people who are really poor as it feels like these things won’t make much difference to our lives.”