October 27, 2022
caption,Rebecca Kellaway has a waiter job, a janitor job, and three cleaning jobs.
Hanging on the wall in Rebecca Kellaway’s living room, each page of the calendar is filled with notes and highlights — some for her, others for her 10yearold daughter. Most entries are in blue ink, and each describes work shifts. Sometimes three trips are written in a single day.
Kellaway is a waitress, janitor and cleaner. When she is not working, the single mother takes care of her 10yearold daughter.
“It’s a huge challenge,” says the 37yearold, who lives in Norwich, UK. “If I only have one job, I consider my day off.”
She says she had to take on a handful of parttime jobs because, as a single mom, she needed flexibility at work to meet her daughter’s school duties and vacations.
But keeping multiple jobs comes at a price, he points out. As a result of her work, she is suffering from a cut in Universal Credit, an amount paid by the UK government to help lowincome families.
“I was supposed to get 1,000 pounds (6,100 BRL) of Universal Credit a month. But the work I do makes me lose 350 pounds (2,100 BRL) in withholding fees right away,” he calculates.
“One of the jobs makes me 360 pounds (R$2,200) a month.”
caption,
Kellaway analyzes the calendar on the wall of the house
While Kellaway’s monthly earnings vary, together they make around £1,030.
But the wage bill is increasingly being eaten up by the rising cost of living, a phenomenon affecting many families in the UK.
Monthly family expenses include:
- Rent: 360 pounds (R$ 2.2 thousand)
- City tax: 80 pounds (R$490)
- Transportation: 73 pounds (R$ 450)
- Electricity: 60 pounds (370 BRL)
- Food: between 100 and 120 pounds (between R$ 610 and R$ 740)
- Babysitter: £5 per hour (R$30) during the day or £9 (R$55) at night
The biggest price increases, he estimates, were for groceries.
“It’s small things like grocery shopping, which has increased by about a pound per item. So the values add up and get high.”
She reports that she usually goes to markets where it’s possible to calculate the total amount during the purchase, before arriving at the cash register. This allows her to return the items if the budget is beyond what she intended to spend.
“To survive, I need a longterm plan that allows me to know down to the last penny what I’m doing throughout the month.”
Kellaway says he’s doing everything he can to keep costs down.
She washes the dishes once every three days to limit the amount of hot water she uses. The woman also says she thinks a lot every time she feels like a cup of tea because of the cost of electricity to boil water in the kettle. Clothes are dried naturally in the middle of the room without using any equipment.
“The stress of worrying about jobs, chores and being a single mom is just too much.”
caption,
Last year, Kellaway dropped everything to pay for her daughter’s 10th birthday party.
Last year, Kellaway dropped everything to pay for her daughter’s 10th birthday party.
The celebration, which took place in a trampoline park, was exactly what the girl wanted.
But the £300 cost meant Kellaway couldn’t afford a big gift.
“I have to say that the party was her gift. My daughter was understanding and I even found some money to buy something smaller,” he recalls.
“But that’s really bad when you tell a kid that because you spent all your money on a party, you can’t buy anything as a parent. It shouldn’t be like that.”
Kellaway would love to go on vacation but says today is “a dream”.
“I don’t think I can afford to buy clothes or a new pair of shoes because I know the meal money is gone and the leftovers can be used for something for my daughter.”
“I can’t remember the last time I went to a supermarket and bought what I wanted without doing any math on the side.”
“If after all these hours of work you don’t have enough money in your bank account to buy everything you want, then something is wrong.”
“It’s really hard when a kid asks if they can buy a magazine and you have to say no.”
“Everyday life is so expensive and frustrating,” he says.
caption,
One of the people who cares for Kellaway is an artist with multiple sclerosis who painted a picture and gave it to her.
Despite the difficulties, Kellaway says he loves to work.
“And I’m stuck in jobs that don’t pay well,” he says.
A painted portrait of Kellaway sits on a chair in the living room. It was a gift she received from an artist with multiple sclerosis whom she cares for.
“Being a caregiver is an extremely important job. You have to be able to support someone who needs you, even if it’s minimum wage.”
But what would Kellaway do if he had a wand?
“I would take the uniform credit discount rate so that people get more. I would also subsidize childcare properly and put a lot of money into the schools to pay for breakfast and extracurricular courses,” he lists.
“There’s the idea of housing people who are waiting for welfare benefits. But we want to work and get a decent salary.”
Kellaway hopes to take courses to become a psychotherapist in the future.
She started college last year, but the demands of work and motherhood made an education impossible at this point in her life.
The woman wants to start teaching again in the future when her daughter is a little older.
“I keep myself as happy and busy as I can,” she says.
“But when my daughter sleeps, I’m depressed and extremely tired.”
The UK Department for Work and Pensions has said it is “committed to supporting families and celebrating work”.
A spokesman for the agency said: “That is why we have lowered the overall credit reduction rate and increased work allowances by £500 a year.”
“This is effectively a tax cut for the low paid worth around £1.9 billion in 2022. It also means 1.7 million households on universal credit have a thousand pounds more than they earn.”
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