‘This isn’t 1939, it’s 2022’: The families with nothing to live on aren’t going away

Poverty, hunger and hardship shames modern Britain and is an indictment of decades of policy that has dehumanised people and torn apart Britain’s social safety net. Ben Chapman speaks to families who can no longer cope

For large numbers of families, the cost of living crisis is not new (iStock/The Independent)

Lexie spends much of her life confined to her bedroom, unable to afford electricity for the stairlift that links her to the outside world. “I’m pretty much segregated from my family now. The lift is just energy consumption that I don’t need to be using,” the 48-year-old says, battling through a persistent, hacking cough; a symptom of recurrent bouts of pneumonia that can’t have been helped by her freezing cold home.

Osteoarthritis, among a host of other conditions, means she struggles to make the journey downstairs without assistance. Her four boys – aged between eight and 18 – always come first, but even for them, warm showers have become a once-weekly indulgence. Hot water must be carefully rationed if there’s to be enough to go round.

The rest of the time, at the family’s home in rural Wales, a kettle is heated on the stove and the kids try their best to wash themselves with a flannel.