Like many people, Marek Powalski is worried about the rise in living costs. But his more pressing concern at the moment is the cost of working.
The NHS community support worker is paying to do his job.
The sharp rise in petrol prices has doubled the cost of filling his car which he needs to visit the patients under his care in his home city of Stoke-on-Trent.
Although he claims some of the mileage cost back the amount he receives has not been increased to reflect the rocketing prices at the pumps.
“We are feeling massively the pinch. I’m paying the NHS to do my job,” he says.
He adds: “More and more staff are out of pocket. Some people are down £120 a month.
“In order to make up the shortfall staff are taking on extra shifts so they get less time with their friends and families just to make sure they have enough food.
“I speak to staff who are in tears. The pressure this is creating is causing people to go off with stress and that then creates more workloads for others.
“They say the NHS is creaking. To me it’s as good as broken.”
Mr Powalski, 49, says the rise in petrol prices is not the only way the cost of living is affecting people’s lives. Many of the patients he looks after do not have enough money to eat.
“I’m buying food for the patients I see out of my own pocket because they have none,” he says.
The NHS worker was one of hundreds of people who attended the TUC’s “Stoke Deserves Better” rally earlier this month.
Almost every person in the audience has been affected by the cost of living crisis.
Ian Poole, 49, from Birmingham, a GMB union member who works in a supermarket. He says his colleagues are in despair at trying to make ends meet.
“We are at the point where a lot of retail workers cannot afford to shop at the stores they work in. They have to go to a discount retailer.
“In a recent survey of retail workers there was a high percentage using food banks or having to borrow from friends and family.”
Mr Poole’s wage will increase from £9.66 an hour to £10.10 a hour from July but says the 54p increase will be “eaten up very quickly” by inflation.
The father-of-one says he and his wife are keeping their heads above water by not going out.
“As food bills go up our socialising is disappearing. It’s between that or heating, feeding and clothing. Going to the pub is a thing of the past,” he said.
He says the situation is far worse for many of his colleagues.
“People can’t afford housing or rent. For a lot of people the idea of getting on the property ladder is never going to happen,” he says.
He fears the increased competition among the big supermarkets to attract customers with less to spend will result in job losses.
“As the cost of living starts to cut the retailers will start going to war. Their first instinct is to start cutting costs and that means bodies going off the shop floor and less overtime,” he says.
Adam Colcough, who works for a distribution company, says people are in “real fear” over how they will pay their bills.
“I volunteer for a local mental health charity and people are struggling. The stress from insecure work is damaging their health,” he said.
In main shopping area of Hanley in Stoke almost everyone the Mirror spoke to feared the situation was going to get worse.
Kate Donaldson, a 63-year-old care assistant, said she had downsized from a terrace house to a flat to save money.
Her main concern was for the future of her family. “What have they got? They have got nothing. The world needs a big shake up somewhere,” she said.
Mother-of-three Menik Udaveediya was also worried about the rising costs. “It will get worse. My heating is really expensive and clothing is going up. I’m living with my three boys and you know what teenagers are like, they all want branded clothes,” she said.
Pensioners Grace and Peter Kenworthy said they were making ends meet. It helped that they didn’t smoke or drink, they said.
“I’ve got a small private pension and I get disability living allowance but it they took that off me I would be up queer street,” said Grace.
“We are concerned but there’s no point worrying about it. You have to face it. It will make you ill if you keep worrying,” she added.
