Terrified mum asks ‘how will I feed my child this winter?’ after Universal Credit cut

Sophie Hook is in panic and can’t stop crying but she keeps smiling for her daughter’s sake and says it feels like the Tory government are delivering ‘another kick to vulnerable people, when we are already down’

Young single mum Sophie Hook, 29, broke down in tears as she told of the “panic” she feels about the loss of the UC extra payment.

“I’m terrified. How am I going to feed my child this winter? That extra £20 a week is pretty much the majority of my food shop,” she told the Mirror.

“How the hell am I going to cope? It panics me and I can’t stop crying. But I have to keep on smiling for my daughter’s sake.

“I am sitting here constantly now looking at my budget, wondering what I can cut back on. It’s cold but I haven’t turned the heating on yet, I can’t bear to do it. I’m thinking now; ‘can I keep the lights on?’

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“But already I shop at the cheapest supermarkets, I don’t go out and I don’t do anything for myself. We wear second hand clothes.”

The mum told how she worked in a senior role at an estate agents based in Coventry, earning between £1,600 to £1,800 a month, before Nellie was born two years ago.

She went onto work for Bupa from home during the lockdowns but was made redundant in January.

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Since then she has been struggling to survive on £600 a month but that is about to be reduced to just £520.

“Why could the Government have not just waited until the other side of the winter to do this. Not when I’m paying twice as much for heating.

“It just feels like another kick to vulnerable people, when we are already down. I don’t understand the theory behind it at all, it’s so frustrating.

“My health visitor has told me how the food banks work but I feel ashamed that I cannot provide for my child without resorting to this. It feels like I’ve failed.

“The cost of living has gone through the roof during the pandemic and the benefits don’t reflect that.

“All I want to do is give my daughter the best start in life and it feels like I’m constantly fighting a losing battle.”