Cost of living rise hitting Herefordshire 'working poor'

Working families in Herefordshire are facing a hidden struggle to pay for food and heating amid the cost of living crisis, a community trust says.

Parents in steady employment are now coming forward in larger numbers for help, South Wye Development Trust said.

People in south Hereford and Leominster are among the top 25% most deprived in England, council figures show.

Mother-of-three Nicola Kinson said everything had to be budgeted, or they cannot afford to live.

Mrs Kinson, a part-time teaching assistant and also a university student, said they pay £800 a month in rent for their Hereford home, yet despite her and her husband Rob both working, the pressures of rising energy and food bills limit other parts of their life.

Holidays are a luxury and they cannot afford to run a car.

"Our rent is astronomical, we don't get any help with that. Our council tax is high, we don't get any help with that," she said.

"So it's those bills, you're having to pay more out and you're not getting any more support or help, whereas if you're in social housing, your rent is lower and you're getting support and help towards the cost."

Mandy Evans, from South Wye Development Trust, said its Kindle Centre in Hereford was supporting hundreds of families and when it offered food hampers and picnic boxes, most people taking them were in work.

"Most of our customers were working people that I think are suffering - [it] could be the working poor really that's come to us," she said.

Ms Evans described the current situation as "really serious" and said many people in the area were facing a tough choice this winter whether to put the heating on.

Herefordshire residents have less than a third of the disposable income of many areas of the UK, while an estimated one in 10 children are living in poverty, council figures reveal.

Before the pandemic, there were about 3,900 children living in income deprivation across Herefordshire, representing 12% of the population aged under 16.

The local authority recognises the issue and has said there were "pockets of real hardship, ill health and inequality".

Electricity and gas bills for a typical household will go up by £693 a year in April, a 54% increase and the government said financial support - partly based on council tax bands - will help cover some of the rise.

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]