Cancer survivor forced turn off heating and use foodbanks as bills soar

Julie Ayer fears cost of living crisis has ‘slowed down’ her recovery

A woman who battled bladder cancer fears her recovery has slowed as she is forced to turn the heating off due to soaring bills.

Julie Ayer was diagnosed with stage three cancer in February 2019 and had to undergo surgery to remove her bladder.

The clinically vulnerable 64 year-old says her treatment made her more susceptible to the cold but due to the surge in energy costs she cannot always keep the heating on.

Julie Ayer (left) with her husband Paul Ayer (right) at the C3 Foodbank (Mustafa Qadri)

She is now one of the millions of people across the country using food banks to help amid the cost of living crisis, as charities say demand is surging.

Speaking at the C3 food bank in Cambridge, the grandmother-of-six Mrs Ayer opened up about the difficulties and hardships she and her elderly husband face.

“I am still recovering from cancer and the cost of living has slowed down my recovery,” she said. “We put the heating on for a little while in the morning to take the chill off but then we have to turn it off. Since I had cancer, I feel the cold a lot more.”

Like many people, the couple faced financial challenges even before the cost crisis but now they’ve deepened.

Food banks have seen a surge in demand (PA)

Before retiring, Mrs Ayer was a cleaner and her husband Geoffrey, 79, was a kitchen installer but the company he used to work for went bankrupt.

“We lost everything,” he said. “We had to sell our house and the council rehoused us, but as we were picking ourselves up again, this happens (the cost of living crisis) and we are back in square one again.”

Soaring energy bills mean they spend most of Mr Ayer’s pension on the smart meter. They used to put £40 on their smart meter every week but are now trying to do what they can to not go past £60.

This means having to use food banks, not only for supplies but a place away from home to keep warm.

Mrs Ayer said: “We come here on a Friday, because we get our lunch here and it saves us from increasing our bills at home.

“We can’t save because there is nothing to save. You’ve been given it in one hand, and it’s been taken twice as much in the other.”

Around seven million households in the UK are in fuel poverty, meaning they cannot afford to adequately heat their homes.

Campaigners have predicted this figure could rise to 10.7 million people in April after the government ends its guarantee limiting the average household energy bill to £2,500.

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition described the outlook as “frankly terrifying” and urged the ministers to focus on a new package of support and energy market reforms, alongside investment in home insulation and renewables.