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'What more can I do?': Mum with 3 jobs and no heating calls LBC to beg Sunak for help

23 March 2022, 20:11 | Updated: 23 March 2022, 21:17

Caller tells Rishi Sunak Statement doesn't help her 'at all'

By Daisy Stephens

A mum-of-two with three jobs has told Chancellor Rishi Sunak her home is so cold she can see her breath, and pleaded with him to tell her what else she can do to save money.

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Hzul, from Crawley, said she "on paper has a good job and what's considered a good salary" but still could not afford to turn on the lights or heating in her home.

"Unfortunately the rising costs of everything especially energy have now put an intense strain on my ability to provide for my children," she said.

"The significant increase in our energy bill has meant that we don't have the boiler on.

"The lights are always off unless absolutely necessary and when it's cold we wear jumpers and coats and sometimes you can see our breaths when we breathe."

She said she was working three jobs to try and make ends meet.

"Despite working a full time job, I'm having to find ways to bridge the gap," she said.

"I've started cleaning houses, I spend every evening riding a bike delivering for Uber Eats, I've managed to cut my grocery shop down to just £15 a week for an adult and two children, and I often go without myself to make sure the kids get what they need and they're fed."

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She said the support outlined by the Chancellor "just isn't going to cut it" and said she was now inevitably going to start spending more than she was earning.

"I've just about been able to balance things up until this point but I'm now facing paying out more each month than I'm making," she said.

"What are you going to do to address the soaring cost of energy?

"And if you're not doing anything, please tell me what else you suggest I can be doing to help myself."

In response, Mr Sunak said he "can't imagine" her struggles and said he also had two kids, but had "my wife and other help".

"Enormous admiration for what you're doing and it sounds like you're working your socks off to look after [your children]," he said.

"On energy bills in particular, you're right, they are going up and we have something called the energy price cap, which has protected people's bills from going up but in April it will go up... and that's going to affect almost everybody."

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He told Huzl about the £350 support for energy bills, and the £150 council tax rebate.

"That hopefully will make a difference," he said.

He then addressed her plea for how to "put more money in your pocket".

"The measure I announced today, I'm sure will help you and that was significant tax cut on national insurance, so, again, not knowing your particular circumstances, but a typical worker's going to see a £330 tax cut starting in July and I hope that that's helpful to you and your kids," he said.

"Seventy per cent of workers - and probably Hezl given the situation she described herself being in, would be in this category - seventy per cent of workers will pay less tax even after accounting for the new levy.

"So it will really help put extra cash in people's pockets."

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But Huzl said the Chancellor's response "just isn't relative at all" to the rising costs.

"I think the response from Rishi is difficult because the support that is apparently being offered just isn't relative at all to what the rising costs are for us," she said.

"The fact that energy is going to be going up again in October, despite how significantly it has gone up already, you're going to see more and more people relying on food banks, then also not able to afford to work, and you're going to have people in low-income families or families such as myself who may well get very, very ill because they are unable to afford to heat their homes."