Put a little love in your heart and show Christmas solidarity

ONE in five British families who care for a disabled relative are planning to cancel their Christmas celebrations this year due to soaring prices, research by a charity suggests. According to a survey of 1,007 families, released by disability charity Sense, more than half said they were in debt and over a third were skipping meals to save money. 

With energy bills soaring as temperatures drop below 0 across the country, over a third (38 per cent) said they will not buy Christmas presents, and a fifth (22 per cent) said they will cancel celebrations altogether. The government has pledged to increase benefits in-line with inflation in April next year, but Sense warns that the delay to the uplift will leave “millions” of disabled families struggling to afford food and energy this winter. 

The Morning Star newspaper reported how people with disabilities typically have higher living costs which makes them more vulnerable to soaring prices. These costs are often associated with a persons disability. Sense chief executive Richard Kramer said the government’s energy price guarantee cap doesn’t recognise that some disabled households use more energy. The charity is calling for targeted support for people with disabilities, including a social tariff. 

Richard Croft had never struggled to feed his three German shepherds before, but when he was forced to stop working after being diagnosed with cancer, their monthly food bill was difficult to keep up with. “I was spending between £100 and £110 a month on dog food,” he said. “It was difficult. I was always looking for bargains and special offers but it’s still a lot of money.” 

He is one of dozens of people who have turned to the Blue Cross pet food bank in Grimsby, set up in June to help people in the area struggling to feed their pets amid the cost of living crisis. As Jessica Murray reported in The Guardian, Stocked entirely by donations from the local community, there is a steady stream of people stopping by to pick up food for their dogs and cats every Tuesday and Thursday. In a two-hour period the food bank helped 76 animals from 32 families. 

Staff said they wanted to dispel any shame about seeking help for pets, and remind people that most of the time it was not a case of people taking on animals they could not afford. “We’ve had all sorts of stories, different people in different situations. A lot of the animals that we’re seeing are older animals that people have had for years and their circumstances have just changed.”

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