Kyle*, 23, has been receiving support from youth homelessness charity Centrepoint through the Covid-19 crisis. After work dried up in his security role for football stadiums – with shifts already tough to come by – he was left trying to make ends meet off a small amount of Universal Credit, which he first applied for in 2018. But unexpectedly receiving furlough pay meant his UC payments were drastically cut and he was forced to cut back further on essentials.
I wasn’t doing too well before the pandemic. Work was every so often – I’d get a shift once every other week which can be quite stressful when you’re struggling to find other work. I’ve never been able to find a job that can give me guaranteed shifts, I’ve been stuck on zero-hour contracts all my life.
I was okay at the start of lockdown, I was able to pick up a few shifts through my company’s new contract. But there was so much travelling – it was extremely expensive and tiring, a two hour journey each way with a nine-hour shift in between. After three shifts I realised I couldn’t afford to keep on working. Partly because of the impact on my Universal Credit payments and because my mum is classed as vulnerable. It meant I had to choose between putting her at risk or bringing in money to be able to support myself. Because the work wasn’t guaranteed anyway, I went with the former.
I was furloughed for two months. I didn’t get a say in the matter, I just started receiving the payments – which meant having to accept that my next Universal Credit payment would be £225 less than normal. It just meant more stress, which is constant. No matter what I try to do to dig myself out of this hole, I end up digging myself deeper and my mental health has suffered.
Having no access to the internet outside of my phone is a big problem I’m facing. Because there are no libraries open near me, I can’t access a computer and so there’s no way for me to upload a CV from the USB drive I keep it on.
I have to really cut back on food to make ends meet day to day and my electricity bill is a serious source of worry. I worry about how much I’m using because I’m in the house all the time and have nothing else to do. I can play my Xbox, that’s what I’ve got to pass the time and enjoy myself. I can watch films on my phone but then I constantly have to charge it which still uses electricity.