'I go to bed with my six kids to keep warm and we've all been ill for weeks'

In the snaking queue for the Sheppey Support Bus people raise their hoods against the wind screaming off the Thames Estuary.

Harsh winter sun throws tired under-eye shadows into sharp relief. These folk in Minster-on-Sea, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, are here to ask for help and that’s hard to stomach; for many, embarrassing.

Chantelle Stroud, 33, is out of electricity today.