‘I’m not getting through the month’: five Britons on the cost of living crisis

Kate Locke, a primary school teacher from Reading, says she has become ‘really worried’ about money in the past two months. Photograph: Kate Locke

‘We use hot-water bottles in the evening’

Most of primary school teacher Kate Locke’s salary goes on her rent – and in the last month, that’s gone up by 10%. Combined with the rising costs of food and energy, Locke, 39, is increasingly worried about money. “By end of month I’m in my overdraft, I haven’t been able to save anything – there’s no stability,” Locke, who lives in Reading, says.