The Working Poor: Britain's families living on the breadline 

The worst feeling is when u work full time and have nothing to show for it, it can be really depressing....

it all boils down to overpriced accommodation. turning human habitation into money making schemes is just plain wrong.

Some of us don't have any family or friends to help out

Childcare fees is a joke. I've worked in the benefits sections in a college and saw so many people on benefits not working being entitled to free childcare, whereas those who are working and on the borderline have to fork out a lot to pay. It's ridiculous. She's absolutely right, sometimes it pays off not to work.

The MAIN PROBLEM is the way too high RENTS for housing. If they were down, people could live from their income!

£1600 a month? For part-time work?! Pretty decent wage really! Ah wait... London.

House prices and rent are way too high and people wonder why so many people are still living with their parents in their 20s and 30s.

if you work hard-enough you may just end-up in a grave before reaching state-pension age ...thus saving the state more money.

I grew up in care and was chucked out at 18 years old, went to the council to ask for a council flat so I could continue going to work and have somewhere to live, and was told to go get somebody pregnant because if I had a baby they would give me accommodation, even tho I was working at a supermarket I couldn't afford a deposit or private rental so ended up on the streets and lost my job! Took me 10 years to get my life back! And I'm still childless because I was born into the would to parents that didn't want me and raised in care and I didn't want to bring another life into the world to suffer as I have just to tick a box at the council office's!

London is rediculously expensive, why the government is not putting Rent control??!!! Like Berlin did. The landlords impose insane prices for poor condition rooms

My husband worked in London for 8 months and had to pay £800 for one bedroom in a five bedroom crappy home with thin walls, located in a poor, shitty neighbourhood. The kind of neighbourhood where he left his bike out on his porch for 5 minutes and returned to have it been stolen, then 3 hours later when taking out the trash, saw the thief sitting on my husband’s bike only meters from where it was stolen, and when my husband yelled at him and ran after him in his slippers, the thief fell of the bike and then ran away instead of using the bike to escape. He regrets now not spending more, but he wanted to save part of his income. It ended up being the worse few months of his life and the experience made him swear he would never visit the city ever again. We now live in Germany in a beautiful one bedroom flat in a great neighbourhood only a 20 walk from the downtown, and we pay only €400 (about £350) a month. Of course, we are in a small city of only about 300,000 people, but even Berlin’s rents never get to those outrageous prices. Even in Toronto, Canada, where I’m from, £800 can get you decent bachelor’s apartment in a location near a subway station. And Toronto’s rents are also overpriced, in my opinion, requiring about half of the inhabitants to spend half their income or more on housing, which is one of the ways in which poverty is measured. In London, it must be a high majority of inhabitants who need to spend more than half their income on housing, which is insane. High levels of working poverty are common in all places where people’s basic needs, like housing and food, are not available at affordable prices. People should only have to spend, at most, 30% of their income on housing. As soon as a majority of people are unavailable to do so the government has got to step in and start creating rent controls. Everyone deserves a home to live in, whether employed or not, but imagine struggling to afford one while working? It’s just a disaster.

There also needs to be action against payday loan companies charging obscene interest rates which push desperate people into further poverty and fuel homelessness.

The cost of living is an absolute disgrace. I remember when I was 15 earning my £30 a week for working 8 hours over Saturday and Sunday in a cafe' washing the dishes, spending my earnings on whatever I wanted. Now I work 20 hours in a shop and I can't afford to rent anywhere. "Why don't you get a full-time job in a shop," said the man from the job center. I told him if he could find me a full-time job in the area I would be absolutely over the moon, he could not find anything. The government do not understand the fact that people wan't to work and pay our own way but the jobs have to be there and the income has to be there.

I work 50 hours a week and at the end of the month I have about £300 left after paying essentials.you manage to get some money and then bham.something happens.ie car.boiler. drains etc and then your broke again LIFES A NIGHTMARE

Wages are low, rents and mortgages high. It's so disheartening to be working and not be able to live decently, with dignity.

It's really difficult. I was living in a one bed lovely apartment for 780 per month. Working two jobs my main one was about 1500 per month. I was so stressed sometimes and very very tired from working both jobs and coming home 10.30 at night and waking up 5.30 to commute into the city. So I left the UK went to Greece and was extremely lucky and blessed to be able to work in a gym and from there I moved on to renting my own space in a small gym with plenty of clients. No stress. My apartment is 250 per month with two bedrooms, I'm not rich and never will be but I'm not stressed out and in the verge anymore. I manage my own hours and try to enjoy life a bit more. I come to visit family and that's it. It's not for everyone of course but it was my ticket out. I thought I was gonna die poor and alone, a really bad time in my life so I can understand very much. Now at least I have a social life.

It's so sad but it is becoming a luxury to be able to afford and have children.

Sadly millions are the working poor and it’s leading to a lot of the anger we see today. Sadly it’s easier to believe the lie that all poor people are lazy when the truth of the matter is most poor people work very hard.

When an employer is paying low he is using the system to make up your wages in benefits. No one should work full time and still have to claim benefits to get by. You should be paid a living wage. That includes enough for your rent/mortgage, bills, food, clothing and transport and even enough to put some aside for unforseen things. If your working full-time and still can't make ends meet it just sucks the life out of you.

All the problems in this videos seem to be down to 1. Having kids when you can't afford to have them. 2. Insanely high property prices. 3 Only working 16 hours a week!

There used to be a time when a man could work and support his family!

No need to be rude but let's be realistic. Why would you rent in London if you are poor? There was a time I wanted to live in London but I realised I simply could not afford it.

And you do overtime and find out you have done 2 extra shifts for free, thanks to the tax man.

I have been in relatively low paid employment for the majority of my life despite the long and unsociable hours and the hard work I put in. I am now 52 years of age. When the Government decided to introduce the National Minimum wage, not only did it ensure that no-one would earn bellow the stated figure, it also, unfortunately, gave every employer the 'right' not to have to pay a penny over this amount, which, lets be honest, has never been suficient since it was introduced. For many people they will not recieve a pay increase until the Government enforces one. Now, the most worrying trend for many is that when we do get a pay rise, it is insuficient next to the constantly rising rate of inflation meaning many of us are sliding slowly but surely into ever poorer circumstances. A pay rise in this day and age would appear to be nothing more than a myth to try and fool us all. Quite frankly, I despair of the modern predicament so many working people are in. Let us never forget that we are the backbone of our Nation and we all, no matter what we do, deserve a good standard of living, free of financial worry and with a future to look forward to. Is that too much to ask?

The biggest problem is private renting just so expensive ( affordable housing is what everybody needs ) over half your monthly earnings on rent alone so sad.

It's not true my son worked his butt off and still couldn't make ends meet in fact was worse off..

Companies pay the CEOs MILLIONS but refuse to pay the people actually doing the work a liveable wage! Shame!

This has really made me rethink my life, I’m a teenager and live with my parents, we are a middle class family, me and my sibling have our own room but not the biggest house, it’s a 3 bedroom house with 2 bathrooms, a medium sized house, I’m in a family of 4 and we all have nice phones and spend £300 on shopping every week and we don’t live on benefits. I’ve grown up going to public schools but there really good ones, I always thought we were quite poor compared to all my other friends because there houses had 5 bedrooms with BMW’s and stuff like that. But watching these have really really made me grateful for everything I have. Also how much better off my family really has it. Before I found these videos I was just complaining about how my parents can’t afford these mansions and Mercedes but now I am so so so so grateful. If your wishing for a massive house or something, think about it , do you really need it or is it more of a want? :(

I work 40 hours a week full time but I live in my car because I can’t afford rent it’s ridiculously high

This woman needs to get money from her kid's father!!! Never any mention of the father's responsibility in these poverty stories!!!

The way this world is, I can't believe people are still bringing children into it. This world is only getting worse, and will probably never get any better. Children growing up today will never know the good life. All they'll ever know is struggle for survival.

I don't think I ever realised until now about how lucky I was growing up in the 90s with my nan and grandad being the support for my mum and step every time they ran of money. Now i have savings and write all my bills down and work out what I'm spending each month to the penny and even write meals for the week and what I'll need in for those meals. Although being better off as an adult it's like my mind is always saying be careful.

My Mom left a violently abusive husband. She worked three and four jobs to raise six kids by herself. She had Social Security from her deceased first husband which paid the mortgage. The older kids helped with the younger. We are all college educated. However, homes are not as expensive here in the U.S.

I feel for those watching this from another developed country, such as the USA, who work 70+ hours a week and barely get by, with no help whatsoever from the government or any charities. Building communities and keeping an eye on each other, and sharing our love, kindness and wealth is what makes a community strong. This also starts with making basic rights affordable = housing, food and health care.

I can't understand how a person whose well off can say what's good for someone who knows what struggle is?!

Same thing here in the US. Jobs will give you just enough hours or pay you just enough that if you do still need some help from like food stamps or whatever you will only qualify for the bare minimum of benefits that you can apply for.

how people are starved out in the uk is heartbreaking. their life is stolen from them with this austerity. this is a crime

UK, Canada, U.S. This is the norm now for anyone who gets sucked into the wage slave economy of the big corporations. And cities compete for Amazon fulfillment centres. Why? So they can build their supply of working homeless?

I have friends who work full time and haven't had kids yet because they can't afford to. Why should they pay for those who haven't bothered to plan as sensibly?

Why do poor people have kids？Here in Japan if you do not have enough money to take care of kids you do not marry and you do not have kids.

All thanks to minimum wage lowering what were good paid jobs The rich get richer the poor get poorer

She has £1600 a month fair enough but I work 40 hours a week minimum and take home about £1200 a month a day I have to pay rent..car..food..dental...petrol..gas..water..electric. .etc.etc

Wage Subsidies are needed, anyone earning less than £20,000 should be tax exempt, no national insurance, no council tax, nothing.

Always single mums:( these wayward fathers have no sense of responsibility

I work and I’ve never been so poor

Where are all the dads! Off producing more kids ? Are none of the men helping to look after their kids ?

One of the biggest poverty contributors in the UK is the high cost of child care. In Germany for example, child care is publicly funded for everyone and you only contribute relative to your income. Someone earning 2000 € per months, will pay around 100 € for child care. This is why single parents are able to work full time.

Why have children when you cannot afford them? This is irresponsible

I live alone I work 44 hrs a week paid 48 hrs on site it’s a long week and I collect my pay check just keeps the roof over my head :( just have my pride of being independent on no handouts but it’s a struggle

I wish I could work 16 hours a week and afford a studio flat in London. She obviously could move to a cheaper area.

In August 2021, after the Pandemic this is even more heartbreaking. 80% furlough and increased rent, food prices and utilities.

I mean no disrespect when I say this. I used to have this idea in my head of europeans living well with education that far exceeded we americans. I often wondered what was wrong with the US. Stories like this sadden me greatly, but what's worse is realizing how equally hard life is for all of us no matter where in the world we find ourselves.

High rent and low pay. Employers just don't want to pay and simply don't care.

That woman in London getting all that taxpayer money every month needs to move. London is ridiculously expensive. People like myself have moved to another continent for a better life - she can move 150 miles away with far fewer expenses and a better quality of life.

This is the price one pays for not owning their own business. If you don't work at or create your own dream company, then someone will pay you to work at their's, for pennies on the dollar. It is, what it is.🤷🏽‍♀️🇺🇸🇬🇧

The unique thing about Britain now as opposed to 30 years ago and as opposed to other countries in Europe is the people on under 20 grand a year pay almost nothing in income tax. We sooo take that for granted.

As executives and shareholders take more and more, there's less for the people who actually earn the profit.

Childcare is so expensive 😞

Some of us make the adult decision to not have children because we feel that we cant afford to bring them up without state handouts. Isn't that something?

Whilst people are struggling, MP's are upping their pay.

End zero hours and build Council Houses. The way to incentivise work is to create meaningful jobs with the chance to progress and develop.

May I suggest that having/raising children out of wedlock, working only 16 hours a week, and living in an expensive city might be some of the sources of her problem?

People are in poverty because they have kids when they can’t afford them. And a lot of the time these people aren’t having just one or two kids, they’re having 3 or 4. It’s absurd.

Why is it that the poorer people are the more children they seem to have? It’s crazy!

Henry George explained this fully in 1879 - the problem can (only) be fixed by shifting taxes from wages and commerce onto land values. Everyone understood this in 1910. Yet no one wants to talk about it today.

Whenever anyone argues for UC, they always ignore the actual issues being created by the system. People are suffering BECAUSE of UC, not in spite of. It’s not that hard to comprehend

This is heartbreaking it really is, I wish people could be able to have money left to treat themselves and be able to do things. These people and to those of you reading this in the same situation, shouldn't feel bad. You are trying and it's not your fault.

You can't really expect to work 16 hours a week and to be able to afford everything specially in London. Working 40h on minimum wage will give you the minimum not restaurant meals and holiday

I worked 3 jobs, one would pay the rent, the second payed bills and transportation, the third was babysitting whenever I had free time for it, and that was my food money. If I didn't babysit, I wouldn't eat. I maybe slept 3 - 5 hours a night. Until I could finally get a job for my qualifications. After being hired for a proper full time job, the first weekend off was like a gigantic luxury.

Me and my boyfriend both have graduate jobs, both with good degrees (science and engineering) from russel group universities. We both work full time , from 9-6 pretty much. We both need cars to travel, and the only flat we can afford is a small flat above a shop which has a lot.of.mold, heating that constantly doesn't work, hot water that we never turn on having a storage heater it costs to much, and we both have very little money at the end of each month. I.dont think it's just working parents, I cuts are effecting a lot of people. For me it's the rising house prices and not so rising salaries

Having kids with two parents really helps. Two incomes are always better than one. I couldn’t comfortably afford my life by myself, but my husband and I together earn almost $110k/year which makes owning a house quite affordable. Single parenthood is a money killer.

I wish more reporters would cover the real story, the criminality of the 1%. Everyone has to become involved in politics! Become politicians and nationalize essentials things needed for life

take the money from the queen and give to the poor

It's the rent that pisses me off. When you see the wealthy owning a home for themselves and another which they rent for extortionate prices it's very frustrating. Can't afford your own home and can't afford to rent. It's ridiculous.

I was born and raised in a Brazilian favela. Trust me, these people don't know what real poverty is. I had to watch our electricity be constantly cut down because my parents couldn't pay the bills, we would eat badly for days, all the clothes I had was my old cousin's clothes and still we would constantly be robbed and fear for our lives with the shootings in the neighbourhood. Criminals could shoot you to steal a few bucks in your wallet. That's what poverty is, and some people had it even worse.

Where are the fathers? Where is their financial support of their children?

higher living costs, less social and affordable housing, low wages, zero hour contracts, and most importantly an austerity government that creates policies and "solutions" that are indirectly meant to make the rich richer and the poor poorer

5:30 I feel for that guy. Man said he sometimes feel like ending it. But his responsibility to his kids. Also they should use protection. Stop making kids you cannot afford.

High cost of housing, healthcare (in the US) and most importantly: childcare. We are a two income family, we both have advanced degrees, we both have jobs just under the national median. Once we pay for student loans, healthcare, childcare, rent for modest housing, and savings for our son's college fund, the vast majority of our income is gone. This is a huge problem which could be solved by reduced housing costs and more affordable childcare.

The rentals market should be tightly regulated through price caps. When I lived in London, roughly half of my earnings were lost to the monthly rent that I had to pay for a tiny apartment. I've heard from mates that things got even worse since.

Like when they say “unemployment has fallen” that really means “fewer people claiming out of work benefits” which years ago meant the government temporarily employed me to do unemployment training, where we guessed TV theme tunes and ate biscuits all day

Those of us older ones that work and are not entitled to help suffer too. Fortunately it’s only myself I have to worry about but it makes me cross when other people come to this country and get everything for free that I have to work for. These poor UK families are really going to struggle now. our system really needs to change . My work pension isn’t enough to retire on but with my combined state pension I would just get by, I’d love to retire due to ill health and let someone else take my job that has a family but I can’t... it’s just crazy. The older people have to work and leave the younger ones sat at home with nothing to do and kids to feed and clothe... seriously it doesn’t make sense! My state pension would be worth no more than anyone on benefits and it’s not like I haven’t paid for it, I’m not even eligible for pension credits because I’ve overpaid into the state pension so technically they government would be better off!

I got no family at all, and after having moved around so many times (ex is military) don’t have any longtime friends either. I work 2 jobs like a mule. That’s it.

I didn’t become a dad until I was 49. Yes I know, late in life, but I had bought my house in a pleasant neighbourhood and didn’t have any debts. I have one daughter and wouldn’t have any more because I know we would start to struggle a bit financially. I keep credit card use to a minimum. Sometimes we don’t have a holiday if other expenditures like a new boiler take priority. I live within my means. Too many people see holidays, takeaways, cigarettes, booze, and a car as basic human rights. And then wonder why they end up over their heads.

A woman with no marketable skills gets pregnant from a man who is not a husband and has no commitment to her and then she works part time. Work is not her problem but impulsive, reckless behavior

None of these people shown are living in poverty. Some also have chosen to live in expensive areas like London, and they’ve chosen to have children. The first woman earns more than me and I work more hours, and if she only has £17/month left over then clearly that’s her fault for bad budgeting.. lol and then she decided not to work after filming; she just wants the government to pay. These single women who have children are wilfully putting themselves in difficult financial situations, especially when they have more than one child; that’s a choice, and clearly only done to get extra benefits.

The system sucks im currently out of work due to disability and the said thing is im better off. The system doesn't work for a start im not having to spend £200+ a month on fuel i dont need food at work im not having to spend money on maintaining a car. I dont need work uniform like work boots i had to pay for prescriptions or dental. The whole system sucks i feel for people on lower incomes i worked in a supermarket on £11.50 an hour and now i dont have to pay for chikdcare and the lunch for kids at childcare. Ok i dont have alot of money im very lucky to have a council property so my housing isnt too bad. Imagine having a mortgage and two people on say £10 an hour it just isnt possible. It wasnt like this when i was a kid in 90s my dad worked in a factory and mum was at home with me and my sister they had a mortgage a car we never went without on a pretty average wage.

The real problem is wages are not high enough, they need to bring minimum wage in line with the cost of living, Minimum Wage in London should be £10 an hour for example

people can like it or hate it but at the end of the day there is no need for name calling and to be honest no one knows what happened before they came single parents.

She works 16hr a week and gets £1600 per month, that's £23 per hr.

When work doesn't pay its because your living beyond your means there is plenty of cheap areas to live and plenty of cheap healthy food options!

Most of the poverty show here is as a direct result of the breakdown of the family. There are three basic rules to avoid poverty: 1. Finish your education. 2. Get and keep your first job for at least a year. 3. Wait until you’re married to have children. If you follow these rules you have a 98% chance of avoiding poverty.

The biggest problem is payment towards high levels of accommodation /rent which chews up mostly from people's salaries, then the cost of living keeps going up; which utility companies are putting the costs on their customers.

The problem is worldwide, I live in Vancouver Canada , rents are insane. In the late 90s, a friend of mine rented a closet in a house for 300 bucks. He could hung his cloths and sleep inside on the floor. I has 2 roommates myself. I got reno-vected twice in 5 years. It really hard , it seems that the whole planet is privatized and soon we gonna pay for oxygen we breath.

What should be the shame is companies who use the benefit system to support their business by having the state supplement the low wages / inadequate hours they offer to their work force.

Childcare should be free for working parents it’s ridiculous how people who don’t work get 15 hours free childcare from 2 but working people don’t !

Why aren't the fathers of the children paying child support or hard labor prisons

Anyone wanting to see a portrayal of modern Britain and the Welfare System and Job Centre difficulties including Benefit Sanctions should watch the brilliant film 'I Daniel Blake' directed by Ken Loach. Absolutely brilliant film. For Me, definitely one of his best !

Poverty is a state of mind. I grew up poor with 4 brothers, single mother etc. But it is not a disaster, it is just a period of time for the majority of people. The lesson I learnt that poverty is not for ever and life choices is the biggest impact if you stay poor or you slowly move out of poverty.

Maybe if he hadn't spent hundreds on tattoos she might have managed better.