A recent piece in the i newspaper dealt with a 78-year-old widow, who retired when she was sixty after working for over forty years, but now can barely get by, living on her state pension of £203 a week. Her energy bills in winter are nearly £80 a week.
She cannot afford to go for lunch with her friends, and says that ‘Having two coffees a day is my one luxury.’ She has not had a holiday in decades. She cannot go out as much as she would like, and this damages her mental health. Of course there are many, many others in a similar predicament.
Just one worker’s life, but it says so much.