Aberlour warns many Scots families are just one bill from crisis

Aberlour have launched their latest campaign.

Many families trapped in poverty in Scotland are just one unexpected bill away from crisis, according to research.

Analysis of emergency grant applications received by Aberlour, the country’s biggest children’s charity, has revealed thousands of Scots living on the brink.

The charity rushed £278,000 of emergency cash to almost 1,500 families with 2,926 children last year and applications to its Urgent Assistance Fund (UAF) reveal how an unexpected event suddenly propels many into crisis.

The applications detail how families barely making ends meet are pushed to the edge by the need to repair a broken washing machine, for example, or replacing bedding ruined by damp.

The average grant is £306 and delivered within days of applications being made and approved.

SallyAnn Kelly, chief executive of Aberlour, said: “These are relatively small sums, a few hundred pounds, but the money is needed immediately so families can eat and heat their homes.

“Many families are surviving on the very edge of crisis. It is stressful, uncertain and ultimately unsustainable.

“Sooner rather than later, things are stretched so tight they snap. The kind of advice and support our frontline teams provide is crucial but, right at that point, those families need money and need it as a matter of absolute urgency.”

Aberlour has called on the UK and Scottish Governments to ease child poverty with the urgency, determination and ambition that shaped the political response to the pandemic.

The scale of the crisis is revealed by applications to the charity’s UAF which has sent more than £3.3 million directly to families in just four years to help buy food, heating and clothing.

In Glasgow alone, the charity approved 698 applications for urgent cash last year. Two out of five applicants asked for money to buy food, half needed clothing and one in four needed help to pay for heating or bedding.

The analysis coincides with Aberlour launching its poverty relief fundraising campaign with every pound donated going to the UAF and paid out to families in the most extreme hardship.

Here, in harrowing accounts from the frontline of Scotland’s poverty crisis, applicants, with names changed, reveal their desperate need for urgent assistance.

Donate at aberlour.org.uk/povertyrelief

Mark’s story

Part of the ceiling came down in our son’s bedroom so he is sleeping in our bed at the moment and we’re on the sofa.

We’re waiting for it to be repaired but the landlord is saying it won’t be before Christmas now and he will just fix the hole not redecorate.

It’s a cold flat and the whole block has problems with damp and ventilation. There’s mould in the bathroom and the hall.

We were scrubbing it off for a while but were told not to because the mould could be dangerous. It kept coming back anyway.

It feels like we’re living hour by hour, not even day to day, and my partner’s mental health is not so good. She’s stressed and anxious because of how we’re living and not seeing a way out of it.

If we could get the bedroom sorted and keep the flat warm, that would feel like something.

It’s relentless. Sometimes it feels like too much.

Michelle’s story

It’s hard to talk about because I get upset but my daughter is going to school in shoes that are falling apart.

They were new at the start of term but were cheap and started letting in water a few weeks ago. Her feet are soaking by the time she gets to school. She asked me a few times about getting a new pair but stopped because she knows I would get them if I could.

She is getting cold after cold and it breaks my heart to see her going off in the morning like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders.

£30 for a new pair of shoes doesn’t seem like much but when you don’t have it and can’t get it, it might as well be a million.

Patrick’s story

We got infested with bed bugs a month ago, every bed in every room, the sofa, everywhere.

We’ve got four kids, including a baby, and we were all bitten. It was horrible, the kids were scratching till they bled. It was really distressing.

We had to wash everything. We spent £200 at the laundrette in the space of a few days and had to spend more on plastic containers for the clean clothes and antiseptic creams. We had to throw out the bunkbed, double bed and a sofa bed. The vacuum stopped working eventually because we were using it so much.

I work but don’t make anything like what we need. My partner is on maternity leave but her money has just been cut so things were really hard even before this.

We are sleeping on blow-up mattresses and trying to get money for beds together. The kids have been great but it’s no good for them. At night my partner is just breaking her heart. We can’t even think about Christmas.

Amy’s story

It was just an accident but it pushed us over the edge.

It started when my house was flooded. A tap was left running when I went to work and it caused thousands of pounds worth of damage.

I had lived there with my mum before she died when I was 16.

I had nowhere to go but before giving me the lease, the housing association insisted I would be liable for all repairs. I had no idea what that might mean.

I studied nursing at college and went to university after having my daughter. I work as a nurse in the NHS and have a decent salary. We were doing fine but, after the flood, we couldn’t stay in the house.

I was trying to get it dried out so that we could get the repairs done, trying to get money together for the repairs. I was borrowing from family and friends but so much had been damaged, the flooring, appliances. Everything was damp, our clothes, my daughter’s toys.

I was taking money from one thing to pay something else and payments for rent and council tax were being missed because I was desperate to get the house sorted. I eventually saved about half the £2,000 needed. Then my bank account was arrested, £1,000 straight out, and then up to £300 a month after that. I was back at square one.

Sometimes I had no money for food when the bills were paid. I was earning around £1,600 a month but the first week of the month was the only time I was able to buy shopping. I had to use the food bank and, meanwhile, nothing was happening on the house.

The housing association were taking me to court for rent arrears. It just seemed never-ending and I became more and more depressed and anxious.

It was affecting my daughter, too, which made me feel even more guilty and ashamed. She was staying with relatives but when we were together, we couldn’t do anything or go anywhere.

I was taking extra shifts but that just meant more money being taken from my wages. I was falling even further behind.

I felt so alone and didn’t know how I could go on.

It only turned around when Aberlour got involved, helping me settle my rent and council tax and apply for a grant for toys, books and paint to decorate my daughter’s room. It paid for her school clothes and a winter coat.

Today, my payments are up to date and we are looking forward to my daughter’s first holiday.

At last, I feel like I can breathe again.