Single parents hit hardest by ‘awful April’ bill rises

A series of essential household bills are rising at the start of April, with warnings that single parents are among the hardest hit.

Water bills, energy prices and council tax are all going up on Tuesday in what has been dubbed “awful April”, although the minimum wage is also increasing.

The charity Citizens Advice said the finances of millions of people on the lowest incomes were “already stretched to breaking point”.

Many single parents in particular would struggle because a greater proportion of their money was taken up by essential spending, it said.

Laura Roan, a single mother of two daughters from Cardiff, said: “Without my own mum helping, there would be some days when I would not have any electric.”

The 41-year-old, who works part-time in Asda, is using emergency credit on her energy meter and regularly dips into her overdraft.

“I got paid last Friday and it has all gone. I just live day to day.”

She said her five-year-old daughter Prudence brought her joy and often took her mind off the financial challenges they faced.

Those challenges are increasing as a host of price rises kick in. The costs of a TV licence, car tax, and broadband and phone bills are among those going up in cost.

Among the changes:

• Water bills for households are going up in England and Wales by £10 more per month on average, although it varies considerably by supplier, and by almost 10% in Scotland
• The annual energy bill for a household in England, Wales and Scotland on a variable tariff and using a typical amount of gas and electricity is going up by £111 a year to £1,849
• Council tax bills in England are generally going up by 4.99%, with bills in Wales rising by about 4.5% to 9.5%, and in Scotland by at least 8%

“After years of cost-of-living pressures, households across the country are about to feel the extra shock of rising essential bills,” said Dame Clare Moriarty, chief executive of Citizens Advice.

“For those on the lowest incomes, these unavoidable costs are already eating away at their finances, leaving their budgets stretched beyond breaking point.”

The charity said households in the lowest 10% for income were already spending around two fifths (41%) of their earnings – after housing – on water, energy, broadband and car insurance bills. That was a considerably bigger proportion than those on higher incomes.

Single-adult households, and particularly those with children, were more likely than others to be spending 20% or more of their post-housing income on these bills, leaving them more exposed to price shocks, it said.

John Paine is a single dad with three autistic children aged between five and eight. He said he had £100 left over at the end of the month when all the bills were paid.

“It goes quickly,” he said, with a school trip, a picnic or a day out usually taking up a big chunk of that spending money. “It means we do not go out very much,” he said.

Official figures show that a fifth of families do not have any savings, leaving them at risk.

Dozens of people have got in touch via Your Voice, Your BBC News to tell us of their experiences.

Among them is Bradley Bayton-Harvey, who lives with his partner Ange in Dudley. They have three girls, including three-year-old Darcie-Mai. Both have full-time jobs with the NHS.

“We both work nearly 200 hours a month, and it is still a stretch. We’re rejiggling finances again and again,” he said.

“If we can try to get any additional shifts in our rest days to get that extra income, it’s frustrating because those rest days should be family time.

“You shouldn’t have to turn around to your kids and say that you can’t afford to go on holiday.”

Benefits and the state pension are going up in a week’s time. Wages have also been rising at a faster pace than the rate of inflation, and the start of April also brings an increase in the minimum wage. It means:

• The minimum wage for over-21s, known officially as the National Living Wage, has now risen by 6.7%, from £11.44 to £12.21 an hour. For someone working full time, or a 37.5-hour week, that equates to £23,873.60 a year, up from £22,368.06
• For 18 to 20-year-olds, the minimum wage has gone up from £8.60 to £10 an hour. This means someone on a 37.5-hour week would earn £19,552 a year, up from £16,815. However only a minority of people in this age group do work full time
• Apprentices are now being paid £7.55 an hour, up from £6.40. That means their annual wage is going up to £14,762 from £12,513

In addition, experts say there are ways to cut costs to keep household bills as low as possible.

“Our research shows that switching providers if you’re out of contract can slash broadband, pay TV and mobile bills by up to £235,” said Emily Seymour, from the consumer group Which?.

“It’s also worth checking if you’re eligible for any council tax reductions or exemptions and could save money by installing a water meter.”

Some of the UK’s biggest banks have also said they would pro-actively contact customers they believed were struggling financially to offer assistance.

Additional reporting by Kris Bramwell & Bernadette McCague.