People across Scotland are worried about not being able to pay bills with just under a quarter cutting back on food to try and make ends meet.
A recent survey from Sagacity has revealed that just under a quarter of Scottish households are having to cut back on food to pay for electricity, gas and water bills.
The survey looked into how worried people were about the rise in costs when it comes to monthly bills and the results showed that 1.8 million, 71 per cent, of households were concerned about how they will pay for household essential services.
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Yet, of the people who are struggling, or worried that they may struggle, only five per cent are asking utility companies for help when it comes to these bills.
Some are taking it to extreme lengths by reducing the amount of times they hug their pets or even wash less frequently to ensure the bills don’t rise too much.
Terry McTernan, who is the project lead and secretary for Paisley's Darkwood Crew in Ferguslie Park, has said that the community market that they run every Thursday has ran out of food for the first time ever and this happening deeply concerning.
He explained: “The cost of living is an epidemic of its own, and for me, it is a far more serious situation that I encountered during the pandemic. During covid, people were isolated and people were feart, but now this is a totally different situation.
“We operate a community market every Thursday. Today, in the two years we have operated, is the first time ever we have literally run out of food to give to people, so that is deeply concerning and it seems to be the energy bills that are the number one concern.
“Major changes absolutely need to be made, we have people coming to the community market in Ferguslie from other communities, and that is not a problem as we as a crew believe we have no postcode. We have seen that number increase of people coming from outwith the postcode to get food.”
The Sagacity report further shows that Scottish households that are worried about bills are being kept up at night, with almost a quarter of people admitting that they can’t sleep at night due to the concerns. On top of that, more than a third of households are concerned about their families well-being if they need to forgo electricity, gas or water.
Anita Dougall, CEO and Founding Partner of Sagacity, says this is something that shouldn’t be happening in 2022.
“One in five of us have seen our bills more than double since last autumn, and with prices set to increase again in October’s price cap review, we are fast approaching crisis point,
The idea that families should be considering extreme measures, such as giving up food or having to compromise on hygiene, should be unthinkable in 2022.”
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