Introduction

Summary

‘Everyone's had enough. Staff are overworked, we haven't had a pay rise for years, services and patients are suffering and everyone wants to leave or take time off. I work at a private practice some evenings and weekends to get more money. I’ve become a lot more careful. I mean, I’m not extravagant, I never have been, but I do enjoy myself. I go on holiday, but I try to not eat out all the time, and I won't go buy something just because I think it's nice. I can't afford to buy a house right now, despite the fact I’ve been working for almost ten years. So, I do notice it. I can see that things are getting more expensive now and life's getting harder. Living in London, and working in the NHS, it's not easy.’

(Anna, 27, middle-class, white, physiotherapist, London, August 2014, emphasis added)

‘I notice it. Since the last year and a half actually. I can see it. Now I’m working, it should be easier, right? I get Housing Benefit and tax credits and I can get credit now, I have an Argos card, which I couldn't get before. But my Housing Benefits have been deducted. When I first started [working] I was paying something like £36 per week towards my rent and that's now jumped to £60. That's almost doubled in a year. I get in arrears just like that [clicks her fingers]. I’m trying to keep on top of it … but it's a lot of work. People don't see that … they think if you’re getting help [from the state] then you don't put the work in. But sometimes at the end of the month I’m left with £30 to do shopping. I’m sweating to get to work, sweating to get him [her son] to school, and I’ve got £30 to do shopping. And like any kid, my son wants the latest trainers. I do feel bad, but I just can't do it, and I tell him, “I have to buy the bargains or it won't work”. I’d love to know how others are doing it, I really would.’

(Marie, 28, working-class, black, part-time waitress, London, March 2015, emphasis added)