Hannah Hawkins lives with her two-year-old son Bodhi, surviving on an income of benefits which, disturbingly, leave her below the poverty line.
It is not the life this bright 25-year-old envisaged, or chose, for herself.
Bodhi wasn’t planned and, although Hannah is still in a relationship with his father, the couple don’t live together and he is currently unemployed and only able to offer piecemeal financial support.
Hannah, who lives in Middlesbrough, used to work full-time at a bank but says because of childcare costs she cannot return to work until Bodhi is three, and eligible for a free nursery place.
Hannah’s benefits do not cover her outgoings and she only scrapes by thanks to family and friends.
Hannah spoke to the Mirror as we launch our Give Me Five campaign . We are calling on Boris Johnson to increase child benefit by £5 a week to end the scourge of child poverty.
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Figures from the End Child Poverty coalition show around 35% of children are growing up poor in the North East. In Middlesbrough alone there are an estimated 14,054.
We spent Tuesday, March 3, with Hannah and Bodhi…
7.15am
Cuddled up to his mummy, Bodhi’s sleep-encrusted eyes flicker open to the familiar sight of a bare bedroom wall speckled with a grey shadow of mould. The wall is bare because Hannah fears drilling into the damp plaster to hang cheerful pictures or put up shelves.
Bodhi’s streaming nose is cold. Outside, it is around 1C and in here little more. He has woken early because he is poorly with a cold which has lingered for two weeks.
The waiting list for social housing is so long, Hannah rents her home from a private landlord, the cost covered partly by housing benefit.
The property is not in good repair. Plastic bags are stuffed in holes for “insulation”, the radiator in the bedroom only heats halfway, a saucepan sits on the landing to catch drips from the attic.
Setting her heating to come on before she and Bodhi wake up is unthinkable.
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Hannah says: “People even set the thermostat to come on during the night. Can you imagine?”
Her solution is to bring Bodhi into bed with her. She can, at least, provide body heat for her
little boy.
Today, there is another problem. They must try to do without heating because Hannah has just 40p in
her account and her gas meter, which is perched on the top of her fridge, reads just £1.10.
That will only buy a couple of hours at most and in this drafty Victorian semi it takes at least an hour for the heating to be felt.
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Her weekly child tax credits of £52 will not land until half-past midnight, so she must save her precious gas until the evening, when the darkness makes the house even colder. Hannah tries to keep Bodhi snuggling beneath the covers but he is restless, so she wraps him in a fluffy dressing gown with a bear face on the hood and braves downstairs.
Sadly, her own dressing gown is stained and can’t be washed because her machine has packed up.
11am
Bodhi clambers on a cushion that reads Dream Big Little One. He has had a sweet waffle for breakfast – Hannah can buy a five-pack for just 89p so they have become a staple.
Hannah hasn’t eaten. “I’m used to not eating during the day,” she says. She has even gone two days without. It helps the food stretch.
Bodhi gurgles happily, making joyful sounds, but he doesn’t talk. Hannah blames herself. “I haven’t been able to socialise him enough.”
She can’t afford playgroups very often and says: “The cheapest group is £1 but some days that’s the difference between a loaf of bread or not.”
There’s another reason she finds herself avoiding them, too. Embarrassment. She can’t afford a coffee with the other mums and hasn’t bought new clothes since Bodhi was born. She admits she has been a week without using deodorant.
Now she has started to feel anxiety rise when she’s outside the home. Her faded canvas bag reads Yummy Mummy but she feels far from it.
11.30am
Hannah is crying. Her local councillor, who has also become a friend because of the volunteering Hannah does, has called round with an envelope.
Inside is £60, collected by a group of mums so that Hannah can buy a second-hand washing machine.
A wave of relief and gratitude trumps embarrassment.
Hannah is hardened to asking for help. Frantic WhatsApp messages to her mum asking for £1 top-ups to her account, accepting her sister’s offer to pay for Bodhi’s birthday party.
But this time, she didn’t ask. Hannah says: “I only survive because of my friends and my family. Because I have them, I’ll never regard myself as poor.”
1pm
Spring sunshine dapples the lounge’s uneven carpet tiles but Bodhi and Hannah remain inside.
Bodhi is mesmerised by cartoons. They spend a lot of time indoors, TV on. There aren’t many free options for going out, especially in winter.
And with no car, and buses costing £2.70, Hannah can’t go far. She says: “Some days he doesn’t go out the front door, I feel sad and guilty.”
Today though, there is another reason to stay in. Hannah is waiting for the landlord. She has been asking for repairs since she moved in and is desperate for the bedroom radiator to be fixed, and a radiator to be fitted in the bathroom.
She says: “When I bath Bodhi it gets so cold I have to keep the shower running, for steam.”
But what she loathes most is the “garden”. A pipe which carries waste water from the toilet and household appliances is leaking in one corner. A film of white scum covers the mud. There is no way Bodhi can play here.
The Home Sweet Home sign on the lounge wall rings hollow.
2.45pm
Bodhi flashes a cheeky grin as he clambers on top of a gravestone.
We are in a nearby cemetery. Hannah comes here most days.
This is Bodhi’s garden.
Hannah explains that the nearest park, 15 minutes away, is frequented by drug-users. The cemetery is beautiful but there isn’t another child in sight. Bodhi is having a ball but a two-year-old should not have to make a graveyard his playground.
5.30pm
Bodhi is having omelette for tea, again. Hannah contemplates spending some of the washing machine money on something different but she stops herself. She has a couple of eggs, a tin of tuna, and cheese – “a luxury”.
7pm
Every corner of the house is icy cold. Hannah stares bleakly at bread, cheese, days-old lettuce and grapes – the only fresh ingredients she has. She snaps.
She takes a note from the washing machine fund and pops to the shop to top up her gas by a couple more quid. She finds it “mortifying” doing this in person and usually uses a phone app to save face.
She also buys some chicken, although not the two fresh breasts she wants but a pack of six frozen pieces for £1.69.
She pops Bodhi in his cot and settles in front of the TV, again.
“People say broadband is a luxury but this is my only entertainment,” she says, explaining that she borrows her sister’s Netflix account and has ditched live TV to avoid having to pay the licence fee.
Tomorrow, she will repay her washing machine fund, and workmen are coming to fix the radiator at long last.
Hannah’s income
- Income Support: £140 a fortnight
- Child tax credits: £52 a week
- Child Benefit: £20.70 a week
- Healthy Start Vouchers strictly specific items inc milk and fresh food for baby: £12.40-worth a month
- Total: £583.20 per month (£142.80 a week)
Hannah’s basic outgoings
- Rent: £125 a month (the remaining £400 is covered automatically by housing benefit)
- Council tax: £30 a month (heavily discounted)
- Food: Approx £125 a month
- Broadband: £30 a month
- Gas and Electricity: Approx £160 a month
- Phone: £22 a month
- Nappies: Approx £40 a month
- Toiletries and household necessities: £25 a month
- Public transport: Approx £40 a month
- Total: £597 (without including clothes, toys, outings, or ‘treats’)
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