Life is more expensive if you are living in poverty. The ‘poverty premium’ can take many guises. Fuel costs are higher for households that are not accessing the most economical tariff or cheapest billing method, and for those with pre-payment meters (Davies et al, 2016). Travel can cost more for those who cannot afford to run a car (Titheridge et al, 2014), and that is just considering the financial costs, never mind the time spent waiting at bus stops. Relatedly, food and shopping costs may be higher if you live in an area that does not have low-cost options, and cannot drive to somewhere that does (Davies et al, 2016). The list goes on. But many of the families we spoke to in our research were contending with the ‘double whammy’ of a ‘debt premium’ in addition to a poverty premium. Single mother Polly, and her two children – 13-year-old Ruby and 22-year-old Faith – were one such family.

Polly is well accustomed to managing the fragile balance between the amount of money going into her bank account and the amount going out. As a child, she grew up in a proud, “working-class poor” family, and as an adult, working part time as a healthcare assistant, she has never known anything other than being on a low income. So when, three years before our interview, she and Ruby moved into a council owned, two-bedroomed, Victorian conversion flat, Polly knew straight away that she needed to sort out some kind of payment plan for the fuel bills. Bitter experience had told her that, when you are close to the breadline, the smallest margin of error between expected and actual outgoings can be catastrophic. So she called up the energy provider and agreed an amount to pay each month. With the benefit of hindsight, she realises that the amount they suggested was far too low. “I was in cloud cuckoo land … who in their right mind thinks that gas and electric costs £30 odd a month for God’s sake?”

When the bill based on actual consumption came in three months later, she found that she owed £800, the equivalent of a whole month’s salary. Part of the problem was that in comparison to her previous flat, which was purpose built and modern, it was nigh-on impossible to keep her new home warm.