Hardship knocking on the door of
a single mother of 8 who said the £2000 being given to her by the government is
not enough for her to provide the needs of the family.
The 31-year-old mother whose
children are aged between 12 years to 2 months lives in a three-bedroom housing
association house in Selly Oak, Birmingham has lamented that the house is too
small for them to live in, and has put an application for a bigger house.
Marie Buchan also stated that her
benefits have been reduce to £500 from £582 per week as a result of the benefit
cap introduced by the government, as a result, she has been struggling to
survive with her children.
Due to the hardship she faces,
the Miss Buchan now owes her landlord about £2000, and is being worried that
she may likely be evicted because of her inability to pay the outstanding
rents.
She stated: 'The benefit cap has
hit me hard - money is very tight. I am
£82-a-week worse off and, when you have eight children, every penny counts.
'I don’t waste my money -
everything goes on my children. It is tough bringing up eight children on your
own, a constant battle.
'I feel the threat of eviction
all the time. I have already been to court once due to rent arrears and I fear
I may be dragged there again.
'I am scrimping and saving to try
to get the arrears down but it is very difficult.'
Miss Buchan's monetary issues are
intensified by the way that she owes £600 in bus path fines subsequent to
getting ten tickets for straying in bus paths in Birmingham downtown area in
three days.
She says she was gotten in bus
paths while searching for a parking spot when taking her child, Olivia, to hospital
for treatment for bronchiolitis.
Miss Buchan, an occupant of
Bourneville Village Trust in the south-west of Birmingham, used to get £385
seven days in child tax credit, £100 child benefit and £97 pay income support.
Be that as it may, the benefit
cap, presented recently by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to lessen
the weight on the state, restricted her handouts to £500 seven days.
Miss Buchan, whose association
with her previous partner and father of every one of her kids finished for the
current year, has youngsters Tia, 12, Leah, 11, Latoya, 8, Joshua, 7, Alisha, 5,
Mikayla, 3, Amelia, 2, and two-month-old Olivia.
She lays down with three of her
kids in one room of her £200,000 semi, while another four share a moment room
and Joshua has the third to himself.
Miss Buchan placed on the waiting
list for about 4 bedroom house, but was deleted from the list when she fell
short of her current rent.
A DWP representative stated: 'The
benefit cap sets a fair limit to what people can expect to get from the welfare
system.
'Claimants cannot receive more
than £500 a week, the average household earnings.
'We have been working with claimants
for 18 months to help them prepare for the cap.
'Already 18,000 people
potentially affected have been helped into work, as those receiving working tax
credits are exempt.'
Bournville Village Trust
representative stated: 'It is normal policy for social housing landlords not to
transfer households to larger properties when there are rent arrears,
especially of this level.'
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