I'm a single mum; If my disability benefits are cut, I won’t be able to feed my kids

16 March 2025, 15:39

I live with fibromyalgia, a condition with no cure that means I experience pain everyday, as well as a debilitating bowel condition. I am also a single mum of three.

I was working for an airline when the pandemic began. It was a job I’d always wanted, and one I’d worked really hard to get. Like so many people though, as lockdown began and it was clear it wouldn’t end any time soon, I was furloughed. This furlough carried on until I was made redundant.

Over the past two years, I lost my son and the father of my children to suicide. The pain of losing a child and a partner never truly leaves you. It’s taken a huge toll on my mental health, but I have to be strong. I need to keep going for my children. But it’s hard.

It gets harder when I realise how precarious my position is, as someone unable to work and receiving social security payments and disability benefits. When I heard the news this week that the government is considering slashing disability benefits, I broke down.

My condition means I receive Personal Independence Payments (PIP) which help with the additional costs of being disabled. They are for people who are working and people who can’t. I often use this money to buy the food I need instead of paying for the treatments I need to manage my health conditions, meaning my health has deteriorated. My money goes towards putting food on the table.

Being disabled comes with extra costs. My fibromyalgia means I have higher gas and electric bills, and my bowel condition requires me to use extra hot water, run the washing machine constantly, and replace clothes and bedding more often.

If my disability payments are cut, it will not only affect me, but my children too. They have already lost their father and brother, and we are just about scraping by. With bills and food prices at sky-high prices, I’ve regularly skipped meals so my kids could eat. They come first.

The thought of my disability benefits being cut is keeping me up at night. There is nothing left for me to cut. I will have to stop paying for things like gas and electricity, which could put me in debt. I could lose the roof over my head.

My disability and social security payments are already failing to cover the cost of the essentials. If they were cut further, I don’t know what I’d do.

I am not asking for luxuries. I am asking for the bare minimum needed to live with dignity as a disabled person. Disabled people are already three times more likely to face hunger, according to research published last week from Trussell. The government must stop ignoring our cries for help and start protecting the most vulnerable, instead of making our lives even harder.

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Marie is a single mum with physical and mental disabilities. She is terrified of her disability benefits being cut, which are barely enough to cover the cost of her grocery bill.

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