Single Scots mum Faye Dearnaley has been left unable to sleep because of the worry that rising prices will leave her and her daughter unable to afford to eat.
The music student, from Leven in Fife, has £1080 coming in from Universal Credit, Child Benefit and the Scottish Child Payment.
After budgeting to pay rent, utility bills, council tax, shopping, internet and the cost of running a car, she and her two-year-old daughter Ayla have just £17 left at the end of the month.
If prices rise by as much as economists believe they could, our calculations suggest Faye will need to find an extra £200 every month.
Faye, 38, said: “At the moment I am only just managing to keep my head above water and it is a constant stress that I won’t make it through the month.
“I don’t go out, I just pay the bills and shop as basically as I can.
“My daughter has asthma, so I need to heat the house.
“I have sleepless nights worrying about what would happen if I didn’t keep enough money by for food
and I ended up in a position where social services wanted to take Ayla away.
“It is a terrifying thought. I could never let it happen but it is the sort of thing that preys on your mind when you are so close to the edge.”
Faye, who plans to become a teacher, has already seen prices shooting up.
She said: “Things like a three-pack of tights used to be £4 but now they cost £7. Vegetables are going up – a bag of potatoes is about £40p more than it was.
“It doesn’t seem like a lot for one thing but it is a lot when it is across the board.
“I am terrified of what will happen when my fixed-cost gas and electricity deal comes to an end in the summer.
“I pay £150 and if that was to double, as people say it could, it would wipe me out.
“It is obvious that inflation is way above five per cent for people on low incomes and the effects are going to be devastating for millions of people.”
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