Erik J on 28 June 2021

My teenage daughter has three weeks left at school before the start of the summer holidays, this is causing me a lot of anxiety for several reasons and even my daughter is not looking forward to the long break. We live alone and due to the pandemic I am finding it very difficult to leave home due to being at higher risk from Covid due to health problems, which still causes me a lot of anxiety despite having had both doses of a vaccine. Then of course there is concern about money when you are living on a low income without any family to help out in any way. We do have internet access at home and basic tv channels but I can't keep my daughter locked up in front of a screen for the summer. With inflation rising but no increase in benefit payments for a number of years money is becoming more of a struggle where even the cost of basic food and utility bills are a constant worry, before you even start thinking about days out or replacing school shoes and any uniform before she returns to school in September. I don't expect to be given everything on a plate for free but I try to be as careful as possible with the income we do receive, it is just not enough to enable families to be able to have any sort of reasonable life without the constant worry of not being able to provide for the people you love and inevitably this is going to have a huge effect on their future. Why should the situation I find myself in also have an effect on my daughters life and future prospects ?

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