Cost of Living: The Norwich mother working five jobs to make ends meet

Each leafage of the calendar connected Rebecca Kellaway's surviving country partition is afloat of highlighted entries - immoderate for her, immoderate for her 10-year-old daughter. The bulk of the entries are successful blue, each 1 denoting 1 of Ms Kellaway's shifts. Sometimes determination are 3 entries per day.

Rebecca Kellaway is simply a waitress. And a carer. And a cleaner. And, erstwhile she is not going to work, she is simply a lone genitor to her 10-year-old daughter.

"It is simply a existent struggle," the 37-year-old, who lives and works successful Norwich, says. "I telephone the days erstwhile I lone person 1 paid occupation my days off."

She presently has the main waitressing job, a caring occupation and 3 cleaning roles.

She says she ended up with a fistful of part-time jobs because, arsenic a azygous mother, she needed the moving flexibility to acceptable astir her daughter's schooling, holidays and the availability of [paid for] childcare.

But her aggregate jobs person travel astatine a outgo because, she says, of the Universal Credit taper rate, which reduces the magnitude paid erstwhile a claimant earns supra their "work allowance".

"I should beryllium getting £1,000 [a month] from Universal Credit but due to the fact that of the jobs I do, I suffer £350 connected the taper, bam, outright," she says.

"For 1 of the jobs I do, I get £360 a period - truthful it is fundamentally a consecutive swap [for the wealth mislaid done the taper mechanism], gone."

While Ms Kellaway's monthly net tin vary, they collectively wage her astir £1,030.

But her net are progressively being eaten up by the rising outgo of living.

Her monthly outgoings include:

The top terms rises, she says, person been successful the outgo of food.

"It is tiny things - similar nutrient shopping, which has gone up astir £1 per item, which soon adds up.

"I usage the scan-as-you spell things truthful you tin support way of it and, earlier you cognize it, you are up to £50, and past you person to deliberation astir what you are going to enactment back.

"What I request to beryllium capable to past is semipermanent planning, to beryllium capable to cognize what I americium doing successful a month's time, due to the fact that everything is budgeted down to the penny."

Ms Kellaway says she is doing everything imaginable to support her costs down.

She washes the dishes erstwhile each 3 days to bounds the magnitude of blistery h2o she uses, she thinks hard each clip she fancies a cupful of beverage due to the fact that of the energy outgo of boiling her kettle and apparel are dried successful the mediate of the surviving country alternatively than successful a tumble dryer.

"The accent of worrying astir each of this, and being a mum, a azygous mum, and the jobs and the location worldly - it is simply a lot."

For the past year, Ms Kellaway has been putting speech immoderate she tin to wage for her daughter's caller 10th day party.

The party, held astatine the Gravity trampoline parkland successful Norwich, was precisely what her girl had wanted.

But the £300 outgo meant Ms Kellaway could not spend a large contiguous arsenic well.

"I had to say, 'this is your present', and she was truly knowing astir it and really I did find immoderate wealth to get thing small," she says.

"But that is simply a truly [bad] happening to person to accidental to a kid - that you can't, arsenic a mum, spend to bargain them a contiguous due to the fact that you've spent each the wealth connected a party.

"It shouldn't beryllium similar that."

Ms Kellaway would emotion to spell distant connected vacation but adds: "It is not truly a thing, it is much of a dream.

"I find I can't springiness myself support for things, similar apparel oregon a caller brace of shoes without holes successful them due to the fact that I cognize that is nutrient wealth gone oregon wealth that my girl could beryllium utilizing for things she needs.

"I can't retrieve the past clip I went to a supermarket and conscionable bought immoderate I felt similar without adding it up arsenic I went along.

"That's the archer of it each - aft moving each these hours, if you don't person capable wealth successful your relationship to spell buying and bargain immoderate you privation to buy, past surely thing is wrong?

"It is truthful hard erstwhile your kid asks whether they tin get a mag and you person to accidental 'no'.

"Day-to-day beingness is conscionable truthful costly and it is frustrating.

"Life is adjacent much costly erstwhile you are successful poorness due to the fact that you can't spend to bulk bargain things.

And yet Ms Kellaway loves working.

"I'm stuck doing reasonably debased paid jobs," she says.

"They are truly rewarding but they don't wage a lot."

Sitting connected a seat successful Ms Kellaway's surviving country is simply a coating of her. It was painted for her by 1 of the radical she cares for, an creator with aggregate sclerosis.

"Care enactment is specified a massively important job, to beryllium capable to enactment idiosyncratic who needs it is specified a privilege and really, truly matters - and yet it is minimum wage."

If Ms Kellaway was fixed a magic wand, what would she do?

"I would instrumentality distant the taper complaint truthful that radical get paid for working, subsidise childcare decently and enactment tons of backing into schools for meal and after-school clubs.

"There seems to beryllium this thought that radical are conscionable sitting connected their bums but we privation to beryllium retired and earning a decent wage."

Ms Kellaway hopes to retrain arsenic a counsellor oregon psychotherapist successful the future.

She began studying past twelvemonth but the demands of enactment and parenting made it impossible.

She will, she says, effort erstwhile again erstwhile her girl is simply a small older.

"I support myself arsenic blessed and engaged arsenic I can," she says.

"But past erstwhile my girl dormant yes, it truly gets maine down.

"I americium really, profoundly tired."

The Department for Work and Pensions said it was "committed to supporting hard-working families and making enactment pay".

A spokesperson said: "That's wherefore we person reduced the Universal Credit taper complaint from 63% to 55%, and accrued enactment allowances by £500 per annum.

"This is efficaciously a taxation chopped for the lowest paid successful nine worthy astir £1.9 cardinal this twelvemonth and it besides means we're enabling 1.7 cardinal households connected Universal Credit to support £1,000 much of what they earn."

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