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Life In Low Income Families In Scotland: Research Report

CHAPTER THREE: UNDERSTANDING EXPERIENCES OF LOW INCOME FAMILIES

THE NATURE OF THE LOW INCOME FAMILY HOUSEHOLD

3.1 Although defined by a common characteristic, low income family households comprise a diverse collection of family and household types. Some theoretical positions - such as the underclass thesis - would portray this group as an 'other', a population which should be set apart from the population at large. These issues - the extent to which low income households are a coherent grouping whose outlook and behaviour set them apart - were explored through the focus group interviews.

Low income family household as a shared experience?

3.2 In the collective forums of focus group interviews, there was explicit and implicit recognition of both the common experiences shared by low income households and the specific experiences of particular sub-groups. There was no objection to the labelling of participants as low income households in the course of the interview, although there was some evidence that institutions use this descriptor inappropriately. In the case of one young adult, his inability to participate in the labour market for the time-being on grounds of mental ill health was emphasised by a mailshot:

P: I got a letter … and it was about if you go back to work you will get this 1000 bonus because the government is trying to encourage people to get back to work if there is no reason for them not being at work. … I just wish they wouldn't send it to everybody, because I mean something like that is an absolute waste. (Young adults, rural town in northern Scotland)

Health was not, however, one of the key ways in which low income family households divided themselves; neither was work status. However, age of children, family composition and gender were each considered to be significant sources of difference.

3.3 Parents of both younger and older children each staked a claim that they had to meet additional expenses as a result of the age-stage of their child:

P: … you can't go on the bus with a double buggy, so you need to get a taxi and it costs you about a tenner going to TayTown and then back again. They don't put that on your bloody expenses and whatever else you're entitled to. (Peripheral housing estate in city)
P: And it seems to be getting dearer every year 'cos a' we get is like all the designer gear and things like that. When they were young you could shove 2 stripe trackies on them. (Peripheral housing estate, small de-industrialising town in rural area)

3.4 Similarly, parents with larger families (more children) noted the additional expense incurred, while some children within larger families observed that there was less to go round. The sex-composition of children could be important, with same-sex child compositions being reported as affording opportunities for the re-use of clothing by younger children.

3.5 Just as parents disputed whether it was more expensive to manage younger or older children, so there was disagreement over whether the experience of low income living was different between men and women in family households. Among those who considered it to be different, there was a division between those who were critical of men, and those who were sympathetic to their particular experiences.

CRFR: Do you think it hits women harder than men - you know living on a low income?
P1: Absolutely. … I think they just let the women worry about it ... and not really give a shit.
P2: Absolutely.
CRFR: So the burden falls on the women would you say?
P1: Men are always spending the money and you're taking the cut for it ...
P3: But I think it's also a lot to do with men's attitude to it, you know where the women deals with everything and then the woman gets to a break ..., she goes to the doctor and the doctor just dishes out the antidepressants. You know and then people say look at her and say, "she's on antidepressants". Maybe if the men did their share, or they coped with trying to deal with all the money for a month. See how they would get on.
P1: ... he just goes out and squanders the lot. I mean I'm not living with him any more. (Peripheral housing estate in a large rural town)
P1 I think men feel a sense of isolation more when you're bringing up your children. Most of your friends are male so they [don't] … usually come round and babysit for you or whatever, whereas mothers tend to network a lot more effectively.
P2 I think we find it more difficult to ask for help as well. (Men's health group, large town)

3.6 Parents of disabled children reported how low income intensified stresses that they encountered as a result of their caring role. For example, it was described how disabled children spent more time at home because of the range of difficulties faced in accessing play; thus it was perceived that heating the home was more of a burden for low income parents of disabled children. Similarly, routes from low income were described as being restricted by the impracticability of becoming a dual income family (see also 3.48):

R I mean the thing is about everybody here that's married, everybody's just got one wage.
R One wage coming in.
R … from my point of view, it's no practical…
R It's no' a realistic proposition to have 2 workers in the family, it's got to be one. (Parents of disabled children support group, city-based)

3.7 The question of whether there is a low income experience, should recognise the particular challenges which lie beyond the familiar social categories of age, gender, disability, etc. Having a birthday in January presents a strain of expenditure soon after Christmas (although January sales may reduce costs) and adult-sized children's clothes must be bought for taller or larger children, within a child-sized budget. That these were deemed worthy of comment is indicative of the margins at which parents budget within low income family households.

A class of Outsiders?

Breaking rules for personal gain

3.8 Those interviewed were scathing in their condemnation of those who over-exploited 'the Social' to secure more benefits than those to which they were entitled. Chastisement and detailed references to known local 'cheats' was a feature of the focus groups:

P1: But they know how to milk the system I think. They do know the Social.
P2: We get treated rough.
P3: It's so unfair.
P4: If you know the system, you're in with a good chance, but if you don't know the system….
P3: We're all trying to bring our kids up…
P4: Decently.
P3: To respect others and other properties.
P4: We're doing a good job. If you do a lousy job with your kids, you get better, better off.
P2: It's true. (Peripheral housing estate in city)

3.9 Yet, many of the same people who criticised others within their community were themselves involved in some kind of rule breaking for personal gain. For example, from the same interview referred to above:

P: [ DWP Investigators] were sitting down our street a couple of weeks ago. You can tell them right away. They're sitting there with their wee polystyrene cups with tea, and I'm like that, 'Social'! Honestly, see when you spot them, you try and warn your pals that have got friends staying with them. (Peripheral housing estate in city)

There were many ways in which rules were bent or circumvented. Participants reported, for example, not paying for TV licences, working without declaring income, using the informal marketplace, and non-compliance with DWP rules for disclosure of expenditure. They manage, however, to distance themselves from those they criticise on 2 grounds. First, the extent to which they are fiddling the system is described as minor. More importantly, they justify these actions on moral grounds. For example, having tried work, the 2 parent family quoted below find that they are barely better off (relative to being on Income Support) and consequently turn to 'tricks' to supplement their low income:

P: And I've been with ma partner since before I hud ma daughter and I'm still with him. And he does go oot an' work. But it still doesn't matter, because, fair enough we might have a wee bit mair than the average person, but he still pays taxes, blah, blah, blah oot o' that, an' we've still got his meals an' like paying petrol for his car, or getting the bus, or his dinner. Ken whit I mean? It does help, but sometimes it disnae help. It disnae seem as if you get any further forward. But that's the only way fur people like us who's on the dole and only get a low wage. That's why we've got tae get up tae tricks or daein' somthin' tae go an' earn money and then when you get caught you get everythin' stopped. Ken whit I mean? (Young mothers, city housing estate)

Accumulation of debt

3.10 Low income family households report that debt is a significant problem. However, this accumulation of debt must be viewed in the context of limited means to service and repay the debt. Debt is not entered into lightly; as illustrated below, it often involves drawing upon the support of those closest to them, even when they themselves are not in a healthy financial position.

P: But then my mum is a single parent … and … so then I sometimes feel guilty if I like need to ask for money. But it is not as if I get money for … things for myself; it is more like for essentials like electric and things. (Young adults, rural town in northern Scotland)
Buying for children, particularly at Christmas, is the most common cause for debt reported by low income family households. This is conceived by many as a debt that is fully justifiable.
CRFR: If you were going to go into debt, what would you go into debt for?
P1: The weans.
P2: The kids.
P3: Christmas presents.
P2: Aye, Christmas.
P3: I'm in debt, this Christmas. Because I'm a single mother now. Do you know what I mean? It doesn't bother me at all.
CRFR: So is Christmas a worry?

P3: As long as my weans have got what they want, I'm no' bothered. (Returners to education, inner city neighbourhood)

Other sources of debt accrue from the inability to meet regular living expenses. Although a minority cause of debt, several participants referred to how illness led to absence from work, which in turn implied lower wages and an ability to meet expenses. Once entered into, debt becomes difficult to escape.

P: That's how my rent arrears occurred, through me being no' well and being off, being sick, you know … so I didn't pay my rent for that month and it just started to build up. (Returners to education, inner city neighbourhood)

Thus, it would appear from the interviews that debt is entered into as a means to cope with everyday essentials (rather than luxuries of choice).

Aspirations

3.11 Although day to day existence on a low income can be grinding, most low income family households aspire to better living conditions. This concern for self-improvement is expressed both for their children (first extract) and for themselves (second extract).

P1: … nae disrespect tae anybody who stays in this area, 'cos I stay in this area. But there's some bairns that I widnae even put ma bairn anywhere near. It's no' a nice thing tae say, but I wouldnae. I wouldnae dae it.
P2: Aye.
P1: I wouldnae.
P3: (returns to room) Wouldnae what?
P1: She's asking what we could dae here. I said 'build a crèche', but then if you were to build a crèche, I personally wouldnae putAlison in a crèche if all the bairns were comin' fae here.
P3: Na, neither would I. Ma bairns no goin' tae school here. I've applied to High Carron . I've applied to High Carron Nursery.
P1: Ma wee lassie's applied to GarnockTown Nursery, She'll go to GarnockTown school. She'll follow in ma footsteps. It never done me any wrong. So, it'll no dae her any wrong.
P3: I went to High Carron . An' it's got a good reputation and I want ma' daughter to go to High Carron . That's why I picked that. (Young mothers, city housing estate)

In this instance schooling decisions are being planned in advance. The underlying reasons may vary - based on personal experience or reputation - but the rationale remains the same, i.e. to give their child the best chances in life. Other aspirations are hardly demanding: in one estate with particular problems of housing supply for low income family households, 'better than' (i.e. a good close) rather than 'the best' (i.e. front and back door) is the level of aspiration.

P: Don't get me wrong, I would love a back and front door, but being up a close, as long as it's a good close, I don't really mind, as long as it's a good wee close. (Peripheral housing estate in city)

HIDDEN HANDS THAT GIVE AND TAKE

3.12 While the nature of financial budgeting of low income family households can be discerned from extensive datasets, there are other hidden factors that enhance and hinder the ability of low income family households to budget successfully. Indeed, the importance of these hidden factors extends beyond the monetary to embrace emotional support and support-in-kind. These are discussed below as sources of support and challenges to be overcome.

Support

Family

3.13 Distinguishing between state and family support for low income family households can be problematic, as many forms of state support assume that the family can and should provide support. Nevertheless, it is insightful to focus on the nature of family support provided to low income family households, whether induced by the state or not.

3.14 On the whole, those living in low income family households report that their families provide invaluable emotional and financial support for adults and children.

CRFR: Do people find that families are supportive?
P1: Well, mine was.
P2: Aye.
P1: Well my mother and father definitely. I ken I can talk to them. …
P2: Oh aye.
P1: …about things aye.
P3: You can turn to your parents.
P1: Aye.
CRFR: Mm hmm…right.
P3: They'd help you if they could.
P1: Aye.
P2: Oh aye that's right. (Peripheral housing estate, small de-industrialising town in rural area)

3.15 However, the breadth and depth of family support renders the lack of family support more significant in the minority of cases in which there is a lack of family upon which to draw. The lack of family support is not merely the result of residential distribution (isolated low income family households); in some instances, family support is withdrawn as life circumstances change. Several young parents referred to at least one family member who distanced themselves from the young parent in the family:

P: We have got family that is scattered around everywhere and you lose contact with them all. And half of them disown you when they find out say if you have got a kid at a young age or anything else like that because they think it's shameful and all that sort of stuff. (Young adults, rural town in northern Scotland)

3.16 Family support encompassed providing accommodation in times of emergency (eviction), support in paying bills, access to credit (use of catalogues), support in managing, buying Christmas presents to be given to their grandchild by their parent, childcare, food (particularly feeding young parents and their children) and helping them to save. The examples reported by participants demonstrated that family support does not stop once children leave the parental home.

3.17 However, family support is not reported as the answer to all problems of managing on a low income. In several interviews, young parents made reference to relationship problems that followed from receiving support from their parents. Terms such as 'obligated', 'feel bad' and 'owned' (below) were used by those for whom their parents had provided support.

P1: I never contact my family in case I need money or something because they always make me feel bad for taking the money off them.
P2: ... Or it comes back on you later on and you will end up in an argument and you will get it all thrown back in your face. That they did this for you, they did that for you.
P1: You are obligated to them.
P2: Yes. They own you for a while basically until you pay them off and it is hard to pay them back off. (Young adults, rural town in northern Scotland)
In one more extreme case, a lone parent reported entering a payment agreement with her mother only to be burdened with the whole debt when relations with her mother broke down.
P1: I am not talking to my mum and dad now but I was talking to my mum and I got a pushchair. And my mum was helping me pay it off 170. And now that my mum and me have fallen out she has dropped all her part of the money of it. So now I have got to pay it off on my own and she keeps on digging at me about it the fact I have got myself into debt now and everything else like that. And it is just not worthwhile to put up with what they are going to say. (Young adults, rural town in northern Scotland)

Thus, it appears that not all people within low income family households are comfortable with engaging their families for support. Self-esteem is reported as being compromised when close family is approached for support.

P1: It's usually not a family member, because people won't turn to their families. They're either too embarrassed or it causes problems and they turn to a friend before they would turn to a family.
P2: Every time I've been to my mum I feel really ashamed ...
P3: I don't think it's the family that causes that, it's your own head that makes it up, thinking everybody's thinking this of me. But they're really, they're not judging you but you're just thinking that.
P2: Yes. (Peripheral housing estate in a large rural town)

For others still, the problem is not one of self-esteem or relationship difficulties: not all parents of those from low income family households are in a position to offer much financial support (next extract, below), or support in kind (second extract, below).

P: I just had to kind of borrow off family, and they didn't have much money at that time either. (Returners to education, inner city neighbourhood)
P: Ma mum watched ma weans but she's got things to do in her life. And ah need somebody that's gonnae watch ma weans every day. (Peripheral housing estate, small de-industrialising town in rural area)

Friends

3.18 Friendship is reported as being an important defence against the stresses and strains of low income living. Indeed, the support groups from which some of the focus groups were drawn testify to the importance of friendship. Most low income family householders discussed friends in the plural and abstract. However, when specific examples were provided, it tended to be a smaller circle of close friends that provided this support. The importance of quality over quantity is aptly illustrated by the participant who discussed this, and stressed the general value of having, one good friend:

P1: I did have a good friend. Colleen used to live downstairs from me that helped me a lot when I was like your age [addressing teenage mother]. She's very nice. ... If it hadn't been for her I would have ... going to get a bag of sugar and get the teabags and I need 6 pounds until I'll get my money on Monday. So she was good that way. So if it wasn't for her I would have been stuck, very low.
P2: … I've just got to ask. If she's got it, she'll give me it, you know. The same for me ... because we're both in the same boat and we know what it's like. ...
P1: I think there's a lot of people like that, but if you've just got one person like that you can fall back on and say look I've not got a single drop of milk, can I get 2 pints just until Friday until I get my money or whatever. As long as you've got somebody that will do that for you, I think you're all right, your kids are never going to starve, or ... electric, as long as you've got that one person who would give you 2 pounds for the meter. (Peripheral housing estate in a large rural town)

3.19 As for Colleen, it could be inferred that friendships were stronger when people shared the same background and experiences. There were reports of a weakening or dissolution of existing friendships when one of the friends slips into the low income bracket and new friendship formation when low income living brings people into contact with those who share similar experiences. These were most evident for younger parents:

P1: I'm only 17 and, apart from just one person, I've lost every single one of ma' schoolfriends', an' I had quite a few. There's only one girl that's stuck by me.
P2: Yeah, that's the same for me. I've only got pal from school that I talk tae. I've lost all the rest of them.
CRFR: How come, because you've lost all those contacts?
P2: They're actin' like …
P3: … stupid wee lassies.
P2: Aye, an' you've got tae grow up really quickly.(Young mothers, city housing estate)

3.20 In each of the young people's groups, reference was made to the social exclusion of the poorest children: it was reported that this exclusion extended beyond participation in leisure to encompass [a lack of] friends.

CRFR: But what folk in the school would you tend to find walking [by] theirsel'?

P: People like who don't have very much money … (Mid-teens, peripheral housing estate in city)

3.21 It would appear that the dynamic of income level change implies life changes, which in turn places strains on existing friendships and affords opportunities for friendship formation. People in low income family households value their friends and many draw upon them for support.

Neighbours

3.22 Where community and neighbourhood were discussed as a source of support, the prevailing sentiment was that communities are less closely knit today. The only favourable assessments for the neighbourhood as a whole came from people who had migrated into the area and who were sometimes able to contrast this with their experiences of less hospitable communities.

3.23 At the more personal level, there were mixed opinions over neighbours. It seemed from the viewpoints from those in the groups that there is a random factor at play which determines whether you end up with good or bad neighbours (below).

CRFR: So you're saying … that it's quite good in terms of relationships and people helping one another ...
P1: No, you don't get neighbours that do things like that anymore, no, no. That used to happen years and years ago, but now, no.
P2: My neighbours are quite good, mine's is alright.
P3: Mine's is no bad.
P1: You do get some good neighbours, see if you're up a good close and you get some good neighbours, that's, I mean that's brilliant. But there's a lot of closes that there's no', and a lot of people that are strange coming into the area now and all, and they just keep their door shut. You don't want to go and chap their door and say, listen, could I get a couple of slices of bread. (Returners to education, inner city neighbourhood)

Officials

3.24 Many organisations offer support to low income family households. These may be from the statutory, voluntary or community sectors. When discussing the nature of this support, there was a tendency to speak of the organisation in the abstract, as opposed to any individuals in particular. The overarching theme is one of officials/institutions that are insensitive to the concerns of low income family households. The objection is not that they wish to withhold support, but rather that they have no real conception of the everyday realities of managing life on a low income. These criticisms were frequently directed at 'the Social' (first extract below); in large estates, there were concerns with how the housing service operated (second extract below), and there were also some isolated incidents that were unwelcome (such as the insensitivity of an Assistant Head Teacher to the ability of some pupils to purchase school uniforms - third extract below):

P: I had dampness in my other house and I told them to come out, and I claimed for trainers and everything. The lot! Wee leather jackets my ma had bought the weans and they turned round and says, "Got a tumble dryer in your kitchen, you'll no get your claim". I looked at him and I went, "You mean to tell me you can't reimburse me for everything that's been ruined because of a tumble dryer?" I mean that's at the opposite end of the house! (Peripheral housing estate, small de-industrialising town in rural area)
P: So you're in bed and breakfast and you've got no facilities for cooking, no facilities for keeping baby's bottles in, you've got nothing. So although you don't have to pay rent while you're there you've got to spend a fortune on takeaway food for your children. So it's catch 22. They say you don't have to pay rent while you're in there so you can save up for furniture so that when you get your house you're going to have all this big savings right. But you spend all the money on takeaway food because you've nowhere to cook and you've got nowhere, even a fridge, you've got no fridge to keep things in. You've got to use a lot of bread. You're taking the kids out every day because you can't sit in that one room every day, just doing your head in. Then you finally get your house and they say, " Where's all your savings? You've not paid rent for 6 months". (Peripheral housing estate in a large rural town)
P: Ma friend cannae afford the blazer. He just has the school jumpers, but they don't have them any more. And our Assistant Head always stops him because he's got different jumpers on and he cannae tell him that he cannae afford it … He gets annoyed because people have got these blazers and he's… kinda one of the only wan that hasnae got it. (Mid-teens, peripheral housing estate in city)

Support from formal organisations such as DWP and Housing is thus often described as being at a cost of surveillance and disclosure of what would otherwise be private business.

3.25 While the tendency was to talk about institutions in the abstract, several participants made reference to the importance of the credibility of the officials with whom they meet. To be effective in providing support implies more than a pleasant persona and willingness to help. The participants seem to be suggesting that experience is, if not essential, then at least preferable.

P1: There's a debt manager guy works in the rent office.
P2: And he'd probably look down his nose at you as if to say.
P1: No, he's actually really nice. ... he's actually very nice. But as to how much help he is I'm not quite sure.
P2: Is that ...
P1: John' s his name. He works inside the rent office and you have to make an appointment to see him like. But he's nice and he does advise you but I don't think he knows what it's like himself, so I don't think he's the right person for the job. (Peripheral housing estate in a large rural town)

3.26 Thus, support is accessed from family and friends, and to a lesser extent, neighbours and officials within organisations. This is not to suggest that there is adequacy of support. From the fieldwork it is evident that the needs of low income family households are such that demand for such support is high.

Costs

Work

3.27 To conceive of work as a cost seems illogical, as working out of welfare is the favoured government approach for lifting people out of low income. However, the experience of work for the vast majority of those in the focus groups was that it did not pay sufficiently well to offset the hidden costs that are associated with it such as additional job expenses, national health care charges, local tax payment, welfare withdrawal and childcare. This appraisal of work was common across the focus groups:

P: [They say] Lets get you off Income Support into a job. We'll give you such and such amount of money. But then you've got to pay full rent, pay full Council tax and pay school dinners. And it's just gone again and you're ... They don't tell you that on all these big adverts on the telly and everything. (Peripheral housing estate in a large rural town)

Illness

3.28 In addition to coping with the stresses of physical and mental illness, participants also associated such illness with a loss of income or an increase in expenditure, neither of which could be managed easily on a low budget, as the following extracts illustrate. The first example also highlights additional difficulties endured by working parents, particularly lone parents with sole responsibility for childcare.

P: … if you've got a job you've got to have these 18 hours to get this Family Credit. It's timing as well and that, if you haven't got somebody else to look after your kids, if you're sick for a day and you have to stay at home for a day and look after your kids, they take that off you. But you're not getting it back again. You're maybe losing that 10, maybe you've got 2 days off sick with the kids, you've maybe lost that 10, there's no way you're going to, you can't go to the Social and say, 'I was off these 2 days'. They'll just say, 'That's just tough'. ... That's basically why I don't [work]. (Peripheral housing estate in a large rural town)
P1: Clothes that don't fit. You've got to wear the same things for ages.
P2: You get depressed and you eat more and you put on loads of weight, and you ask the Social for money for clothes, and…
P1: You don't get it.
P2: And you don't get it. So you have to squeeze yourself in the wardrobe that you've no got! (Peripheral housing estate in city)

Poor housing

3.29 In several focus groups, the problems associated with housing were discussed. Typically, these problems were related to housing allocation. However, in several cases, the problems associated with living in sub-standard accommodation were discussed. The health implications of living in these housing conditions is further compounded by the need to spend more money simply to manage the residential environment (and see 3.24 for Bed and Breakfast accommodation).

P: Well anyway the 2 bedrooms are absolutely as damp as you could get and the Council … telling me to open the windows and put my heating on. (Young adults, rural town in northern Scotland)

Participation in social activities

3.30 The primary problem for areas of poverty was described by participants as the lack of facilities and activities, particularly for those in their teen years. A secondary problem is the direct cost of participation. However, there are hidden costs in children's participation of group activities. It was evident from the fieldwork that free membership of facilities may be inadequate if target groups still cannot afford the supplementary expenses associated with participation.

P1: No, it's just too expensive. If you're on the dole, you get a membership for next to nothing, eh, but it's still money. You're still shellin' oot.
P2: … the bairns go that much, and you go yourself and you're still forking out for costumes. And it's no' that; if you take them to the swimming and they see the café an' the fruit machines. (Young mothers, city housing estate)
P: You could go out for a walk or something like that, but then you're thinking what's the point? You're going to spend maybe a couple of pounds on a cup of tea and you're coming to the end of the week and you think shit, I could use that couple of pounds to ... You think 'safer to stay in home'. (Peripheral housing estate in a large rural town)

Place

3.31 In both rural and urban areas (especially peripheral estates), focus group respondents made reference to the declining choice and increased costs of local shopping. These costs tend to make travelling longer distances to access shopping more attractive, a proposition that implies additional transport costs and time commitment, particularly in rural areas.

P: Village shops are closing. Now everything is being centralised. Living in TweedTown if you want to get anything [you go to] your basic function shop. The rest is all basically [at] your big places. There are a couple of places in TweedTown but if you want a bigger variety, choice you have got to go to Stinchar . Even the same stores in Stinchar that are in TweedTown they don't offer you the same options - you have got to go to Stinchar to get that. (Anti poverty campaigners, rural northern Scotland)
P: you're cheaper going into TayTown for your shopping than you are here - it's expensive to shop up here. (Peripheral housing estate in city)

DEBT

Extent of debt

3.32 For the focus group participants, debt seems to be synonymous with life on a low income. As the first extract below suggests 'everyone … is in debt'. There is little sense of shame at having debt, although this should not be taken to imply that those living on a low income are indifferent to it. Rather, debt is understood to be part of everyday life (next extract, below). Debt is owed to family, friends (to a lesser extent), private companies, DWP (Social Fund) and loan sharks (second extract, below). Debt is understood to be something best avoided, but which few actually manage to (third extract, below).

CRFR: Is there anything else you find yourself doing that you'd rather not?
P: ... getting into debt I think is the biggest one. Everybody I know is in debt. (Peripheral housing estate in a large rural town)
P: You go up there on a Monday and you'll see all the money lifters!
CRFR: Aye?
P: They've got big books. Aye, they've actually got wads of books, and every time somebody comes near, they get the book and give it to them. (Peripheral housing estate in city)
P1: I've just always sworn I would never get into that. Purely just for the reason that if I haven't got it they just get a wee thing, small and that's it.
CRFR: Mm hmm.
P1: No, you definitely benefit yourself by getting out of debt.
P2: Uh-huh. (Peripheral housing estate, small de-industrialising town in rural area)

Impact of debt

3.33 Adults from low income family households reported a range of ways in which their lives are affected by debt.

3.34 Many appear resigned to a life with debt (next extract, below). The means to address this debt rest in the realm of chance. In the most extreme cases (second extract, below) the psychological impact of debt leads people to extreme courses of action. The worry caused by debt was also found to bring ill-health to some debtors (third extract, below).

CRFR: Is there any way that cycle [of debt] can be broken?
P: See once you get into it, it's just a circle, there's just nae end to that circle unless somebody chapped yer door and said 'There's a million pounds' (Peripheral housing estate, small de-industrialising town in rural area)
P: Ah had a lassie in ma work who tried to commit suicide because she says she couldnae afford to pay her debt. I think the Social Work paid it all aff for her. (Peripheral housing estate, small de-industrialising town in rural area)
P: I'm borrowing from my mum and dad and everything … I was off sick off my work because of the situation. I couldn't cope with it.
CRFR: Yes.
P: A huge impact on me. And I lost a lot of weight just with worrying. But it affects your health. (Peripheral housing estate, small de-industrialising town in rural area)

3.35 In one case, the crippling effect of debt on life was illustrated by the state of limbo that it induced. Seeking to establish his own business and to buy his own flat, one young adult from the north of Scotland found that this debt would have to be settled before moving on. With a debt of 2000 and only limited means of servicing this debt, the prospects were not bright:

P: I plan on buying my flat and starting my own business but I need to pay off my debts first and get other stuff sorted out. It just seems like there is going to be a long wait so I am not looking forward to that. I hate that I have got 2000 worth of debt and you know I want to get money in hundreds and pay off as quickly as possible. All I can do is have a fiver here, a fiver there and pay it off and it just feels like you are always going to be obligated and I can't really spend or do anything important that I want to do until that debt is cleared because that is the first priority so I am pretty much stuck where I am until I pay that off. I wouldn't be bothered if I was blacklisted I really wouldn't care apart from the fact I wouldn't get a business loan so I have got to pay off that debt otherwise I don't know where I would get the money from. (Young adults, rural town in northern Scotland)

Ease of accessing credit

3.36 Adults within low income family households referred to a range of credit sources on which they can draw. While this may appear to be a comfort - extending the list of options when a crisis point is reached - in practice, the ease with which credit can be accessed implies ready access to exorbitant interest and the spiral into increasing poverty that this could bring.

3.37 The not-so attractive options open to adults from low income family households include those which provide instant access to money, and pawning outlets which allow clients to buy back goods deposited within a set period. Other options are Social Fund loans (which, while interest free and payable back at a sum that is manageable from income, tend to provide an inadequate sum to meet needs), family (which brings with it unwelcome ties and relationship problems) and Credit Unions (which are preferable to the aforementioned sources, but are only available in a limited number of locales).

3.38 Although it is acknowledged that many sources of credit charge high rates of interest, their use is typically described as invaluable, particularly in providing for presents at Christmas (below).

P: … if I didn't have a catalogue, my daughter wouldn't have what she's got. (Peripheral housing estate in city)

3.39 However, in several focus group interviews, people from low income family households recounted unethical practices of those selling credit on the doorstep. Effectively, this amounted to preying on vulnerable people in a manner which is hard to resist. The hard sell is recognised, but proves difficult for many to overcome.

P1: … they come knocking on your door and you can't resist it when they are waving like 100 under your nose.
P2: I just find it hard to resist when they turn up on the doorstep with like 100 and they are waving it underneath your nose. You know you want it.
P1: They do show you the money they talk to you about it and how easy it is to pay it off and everything else like that. You don't think what is really going to happen when it comes down to it. You don't think, 'Oh no. It's not going to be that easy'. … It is like I was 16 when I first got a loan - the woman, the agent, knew my age. It was her commission and she faked a National Insurance number for me. (Young adults, rural town in northern Scotland)

3.40 Vulnerability of low income family households to high interest credit is heightened at Christmas. The social norm of providing a Christmas means that families without means are prepared to enter debt in order to provide for their children (both examples below). The approaches of doorstep credit seem particularly welcome at this time of the year (first extract, below), although there is recognition that, as a result, debt will be a feature of household budgeting for the whole of the year ahead (second extract, below).

P1: A guy came round the doors last week, 2 weeks ago.
P2: See at the beginning of November, one came to me, 'there you go, take 50 and we'll give you 200 for Christmas'. (Peripheral housing estate in city)
P1: I widnae like to get into debt but … I'm gonnae have to go into debt for Christmas there's nae doubt about it, I'm gonnae have to … I'm gonnae have to go into debt for Christmas.
CRFR: So you're looking ahead to get into debt for Christmas?
P1: I mean this year I'm still paying a Christmas present aff fae last year and it'll take me tae next year to pay that aff. (Peripheral housing estate, small de-industrialising town in rural area)

POVERTY

Low Income Dynamics

Routes into low income

3.41 A range of reasons were given by participants for why people end up living on a low income. Lack of work, low paid work, relationship breakdown and family formation are each recognised by some adults within low income family households as contributing to their status.

3.42 Across explanations, trigger events are often cited as being the key to a descent into low income.

P: …I worked in the Rannoch , I was a mother of 3 young children and my husband worked, but when he was off sick, he didn't get paid. He had Scarlet Fever and he got like 30 for everything, and I was just totally, 'What do I do?' So I went up to the Social Security and I said to them, "Look, this has happened to him, could you help me out"' and they just said 'There's the door'. I said, "Look I'll pay it back as soon as he gets back to his work". I got nothing. ... He was off, I mean he was off with the Scarlet Fever for a few weeks, and when he went back it was like, you know, another week [before he received his wage], so it was like a month or something before I had any money. My rent was in arrears by that time, and all the other things in arrears. (Returners to education, inner city neighbourhood)
P: I'm actually on Income Support at the moment, and that just happened just before Christmas, and we are so much in debt now, because we're just no' able to keep up with the things … like you've obviously got standing orders and direct debits, you've still got to pay your mortgage and things like that, and that's just a nightmare. (Parents of disabled children support group, city-based)

3.43 Drug users feature prominently in both adult and children's accounts of low income. Young people are inclined to identify users are being amongst the poorest in their area (alongside homeless people), whereas adults are more likely to chastise Social Security and Social Work for over-providing drug users with financial support. They tend to depict drug users as wasters, rather than impoverished people in need.

Routes from low income

3.44 The primary focus of adults within low income family households is managing their current condition, rather than escaping low income. This seems to reflect the intensity and difficulty of this challenge, rather than any lack of ambition on their part (see 3.10 and 3.11).

3.45 There is a belief among, children and adults, that education could provide the means to escape low income. The benefits of parents receiving an education are conceived as much for their children, as for themselves (next extract, below).

P: I left work to go to college to try and get a better education for my son. (Young adults, rural town in northern Scotland)

Young people acknowledge the benefits that could result from education; however, for those from areas without a tradition of young people pursuing higher level studies, there is an additional barrier or peer pressure and local culture to overcome (below):
P1 Stick in at school and things. Like I mean I know loads of people that have just dropped out of school after 4 ^th year because they're 16 and they can leave school now, and like I'm there because I want to be, 'cos I'm 17. I could leave if I wanted, but I want to get a good education. I want to go to uni' and things. I want to get away from here. … Some of them … just don't know what they want to do with their lives, they're just wasting it.
P2 And they failed their exams, so they just made a choice that, I'm just going go on the dole sort of thing. And then there's people that actually want to do stuff and they bring them down sort of thing. Like there's people, like say your best pal, like and he'll be out in the street, ken, and then he'll be like oh just come out, ken, just come out, and you'll be like, ken, but you actually want to do something but you don't want to say to them, ken, I want to do this, because then they'll just slag you sort of thing, and they just pull you down with them.

P1 You're going up the way, and like there's a road block that you've got to try and get round. You always get them in your life, but it's just, you get more of them when you're younger sort of thing. (Girls group, mid teens, city housing estate)

3.46 The majority of adults in low income family households agree that work is, in principle, a means of escaping low income, although in practice the difficulties faced by parents in negotiating work, the lack of suitable opportunities in the local labour market and the hidden costs of work render less gain than otherwise would be anticipated.

3.47 One mother reasons that she is now better-off (financially) as a lone mother without work, than she was when she was part of a 2-parent unit in which both she and her spouse worked. While relationship breakdown would herald a loss of income for the majority of people, the particular intra-household distribution of resources implied that she, at least, experienced financial gain.

P: I have to say personally I am much better off on benefits than I ever was when I was in a married relationship and the 2 of us working. (Peripheral housing estate, small de-industrialising town in rural area)

Perpetuation of low income

3.48 Low income is reported to be perpetuated by the direct additional cost of living and its impact on low income budgets (e.g. high cost of local shopping), but also the loss of support and welfare resources as income increases. Although the additional gain from earning is acknowledged, the loss of welfare is considered by the vast majority of adults in low income family households to reduce this gain.

P1: … And the minute you come off the drugs, you're like left.
P2: There wasn't a backup after you're off the drugs. There wasn't any help for people after they're off drugs.
P1: We had that discussion, in fact it came up at one of the area group meetings, that one of the ex-students that I had, she was an ex-heroin addict and she was on a methodone programme. She was actually weaning herself off and was going really well, and she commented how difficult life was because when she was a drug user, life was so much easier for her financially, that she had so much help taken away from her. (Returners to education, inner city neighbourhood)
P1: And ... maybe it's me, but I found when I was working I was still no better off. Even though I was getting my wages ...
P2: By the time you do work out all the bills. It's not just the rent and the Council tax, you know, that you've got to pay yourself once you start working. It's the other things like school dinners, prescriptions, dentist, going to the opticians, doing all these things. (Peripheral housing estate in a large rural town)

Over a longer time frame, parents of disabled children envisaged a future in which low income would be ever-present in their lives:

P: We haven't even got a pension to come. We're going to retire poverty struck and we still carry on working for our children, and everybody else is going the old pensioners clubs and everything else, getting their free bus passes….. If anything happens, you're going to get a state basic pension of sorts because of all your caring that you've done, but we're still working for the invalid care allowance, that's a job. (Parents of disabled children support group, city-based)

Poverty and the poor

Definition of poverty

3.49 The most common understanding of poverty is that it equates to a lack of disposable income. Several participants were at pains to stress that this did not imply that the financial experiences of all those claiming shortages were comparable. Not having money on a low income was considered to be more intense and to have much more significant consequences:

P: You get these people with the big fancy houses and their mortgage and they say "I've got so many thousand pounds to lay out and I've got this to lay out and I'm skint". [They] have no idea. My skint is looking down the couch, making up all these 5 pences to get a 1 ... that is skint. And she's going 300 she paid to buy a set of curtains and I'm paying 3 at Oxfam to get a set of curtains for my house. … they have no idea of the concept of the word skint. … my skint is looking down the back of the couch on a Friday, having absolutely no money Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday because the [lack of] money the Government are giving me… . (Peripheral housing estate in a large rural town)

3.50 Both adults and children in low income family households drew a distinction between being on an even keel and experiencing poverty. Through this distinction, they tended to position themselves above poverty, while acknowledging that the quality of life they experienced was still inadequate:

P1: I would class poverty as not having ... to me that would be poverty. I'm all right, I'm on an even keel just now, I've always got electric in my meter and I've always got food in my fridge. That's the most important things ...
P2: I always have had [electricity and food], I've always got that.
P1: That's, to me that's an even keel, that's not. Poverty is worse ...
P2: I don't want to live like that [on an even keel].
P1: No, I know nobody wants to live like that. [But] To me poverty is worse off than I am which is no food on the table. (Peripheral housing estate in a large rural town)
CRFR How would you define poverty?
R I would say poverty's like the people who … sleep on the streets and things like that.
R I think that if you've got a house, and you have clothes sort of thing and you do go to school, you're not.
R You're well off, even if you've just got that. (Girls group, mid teens, city housing estate)

3.51 One conception of poverty was to understand it with reference to social relations, as opposed to a condition describing access to resources. The vision portrayed was one in which they perceived that they were being ground down by others. The personal impact of poverty is intensified in this understanding:

CRFR: What would you understand poverty to be?

P: Well there is 2, there is relative and there is absolute. I mean obviously the people in this area that are homeless and basically have nothing but what is in a plastic bag that is absolute poverty. But relative poverty I mean the situations that we find ourselves in or we have been in that is being sort of like you know at the bottom rung of a ladder and everybody sort of like stepping over you. (Anti poverty campaigners, rural northern Scotland)

The poorest

3.52 In response to the question "who are the poorest?", adults in low income family households suggested a range of social groupings without any particular group being widely held to be the poorest. Interestingly, pensioners did not feature prominently among the poorest, although this may be because of the research focus on families with children. The limited horizons/lifeworlds of some young people are suggested by the response that everybody is on a low income these days.

CRFR: … is there one group you think are really poor?

P: I think most people nowadays are struggling as much as everyone else. It is getting worse. More and more people are on security funds and everything else like that. And the council just house you in the wrong houses in the wrong areas. They stick you in the middle of it all. (Young adults, rural town in northern Scotland)

3.53 Many adult participants consider it difficult to identify the poor. The availability of inexpensive clothing is cited to explain this difficulty (see below). More identity/fashion conscious youth would strongly disagree: for young people it is not state of repair, but the quality of the label/brand that sets apart rich and poor.

P1: Years ago you could tell. But nowadays you can't.
P2: Aye.
P3: But clothes are so cheap now.
P2: … 'cos people just look the same. (Peripheral housing estate, small de-industrialising town in rural area)

3.54 In several groups, the starting point for discussion of 'the poorest' was workers. The prominence of workers among the poor is an indication of the types of jobs to which the poor have access to in their local labour markets. Workers are considered to barely earn enough to compensate for the loss of welfare benefits which accompanies the transition to employment.

CRFR: What kind of folk would you say are the poorest people in this area?
P1: Probably the workers.
P2: Aye, probably.
P3: Probably the workers. Aye. The worst.
P2: Aye. Because the yins that don't are in all the fiddles of the day.
P1: Aye. (Peripheral housing estate, small de-industrialising town in rural area)

Deserving poor

3.55 Amongst adult participants, there was widespread condemnation of a minority of local people who could be described as an undeserving poor. Discussion was animated at this point and many references were made to specific families and incidents, particularly relating to drug users.

3.56 Criticism of this undeserving group of benefit swindlers, drug users, alcoholics and anti-social tenants was also directed toward the institutions which supported them in the local community - strong words of criticism were reserved for social security (next extract, below), housing (second extract, below), and social work (third extract, below) services. Those in low income family households seem to sense that these institutions are party to the erosion of the quality of life in their communities which dominant minorities are effecting.

P: That's right Sarah , I mean, I was in the Social, it was 3 weeks ago, at the actual social security office, and I was there wi' ma sister in law and she was finishing up work so she was going in to see how she stood when her Family Tax run out. And oot a' all the people that was in there 99% of them were alcoholics and drug users and every one of them were getting counter payments … (Peripheral housing estate, small de-industrialising town in rural area)
P1: They're putting all the bad tenants back in brand new houses.
P2: They're getting the brand new houses!
P1: And we're left.
P2: We're left with the tenements. The ones that are taking care of their house, we're just not getting them. We're getting nowhere fast. It's shocking.
P3: And they're giving them the brand new houses - taking them out of one brand new house and putting them in another size.
P1: To wreck them. What the coop is actually doing, they're actually losing their good tenants. They're going elsewhere.
P2: ... My sister's even went up and said to the coop, have you got to have social workers, have you got to be a drug dealer before you get moving into these new houses?
P1: I think you do actually have to have a social worker, because the woman who, her sons cause utter havoc, has just - and we're all miffed at this - she has just been given an 8-apartment, and that really pisses us off.
P2: She said that the weans are burning stuff round about her? All the weans - it's her ane bloody weans! (Peripheral housing estate in city)
P1: The thing that really pisses me off is these drug users and these alcoholics get counsellors and everything because they're drug users and they're alcoholics. But people that are trying so [hard], they don't get anything.
P2: Just recently one of the kids over there started getting taxis to and from school paid for by the Social and I'm like my kids are walking up there in the howling rain and everything like that. And they don't get nothing, they don't even get a bus pass.
P1: ... they're [using] the drugs, the kids get their outings paid for them, Castle Towers [residential activity outdoor centre for school children] paid for them, their new school clothes, they get banned off the bus because they've been bad on the bus, throwing stuff at the bus driver, the bus driver complains, the kids are thrown off the bus. … the next day they're getting chauffeur driven in a minibus all to themselves. And these people haven't worked a day in their lives. (Peripheral housing estate in a large rural town)

ON GOVERNMENT AND SERVICE PROVIDERS

Tackling low income

Responsibility

3.57 Adults from low income family households are prepared to assume personal responsibility for tackling low income. However, there is a sense of dismay among young adults that their family relationships should be a factor which determines the level of support to which they are entitled. This reflects pragmatic concerns (such as the wider family being unable to provide support) as well as principles (not to be obliged to family support at a time when they seek to establish their independence).

P: … you go into them for a crisis loan they're like that 'away and ask yer family'.
CRFR: That's their first response?
P: They've says to me, "Have you no got any family that yae can ask?" I says, "all my family's on the bru. They cannae afford to lend me money." It's like pulling teeth trying to get money aff them … (Peripheral housing estate, small de-industrialising town in rural area)

3.58 In addition to chastising the 'undeserving anti-social poor' (3.56), a minority of participants in several interviews called for greater levels of personal responsibility to be shown by adults. For example, many failed to understand why the poor continued to have children when they had no means to support them.

P1: … they've got maybe a couple of weans. And then they go and get another one.
P2: Aye.
P3: Aw, right.
P1: And other yins, and other yins.
P2: Aye.
P1: There's never a father there. They just keep … and then folk look and…we're, our tax payers moneys paying for that.
P3: That's right, aye. (Peripheral housing estate, small de-industrialising town in rural area)

Government

3.59 Participants acknowledged the scale of the task faced by government in tackling low income. A multi-faceted approach was deemed necessary to address the complex array of issues, as the following extract illustrates.

CRFR: What else should they be doing, the government?
P: Probably a million and one things. (Returners to education, inner city neighbourhood)

3.60 A minority of participants recognised - through personal and second-hand experience - the value of current government initiatives. Changes to the family tax system (next extract, below), the introduction of a National Minimum Wage and steps to provide better childcare services were all acknowledged as steps in the right direction. However, these changes were deemed insufficient to address the depth and breadth of low income related problems (second extract, below).

P: I think the Family Tax does help a lot of folk that way.
CRFR: What ways is it making a difference then just…?
P: Eh well about 130 a week better aff. (Peripheral housing estate, small de-industrialising town in rural area)
CRFR: What else would folk say the Government should … What do you think they are doing about poverty and stuff like that?
P: Not enough, quick enough. (Young mothers, city housing estate)

3.61 In one sense, the government seems to have won over the low income population: evidence abounds that, in principle, they agree that education is a means to employment (see 4.5) and employment is a means to a better life (extract below).

P1: … I mean I'm 22 and I've got a 3 and a half year old bairn and I would love to go out to work. If you gave me a job right now. 5 days a week, 8 o'clock in the mornin' 'til 5 o'clock at night. I'd say thank you very much. I'd go oot an' work.
P2: If I could get a job that would pay for childminders and ma rent and that and still let me have money in ma pocket, aye I would be oot. I would be oot the door working. (Young mothers, city housing estate)

3.62 However, a number of specific concerns were raised with the government's programme for addressing low income. There is concern that the move toward banking Child Benefit will deny them access to the small sums within this benefit (the pence and the odd pounds) that are important for budgeting on the margins (first extract below). There is also concern that the money provided to low income family households to survive does not take account of essential expenses and hence underestimates need (second extract below) and the disincentive of declaring small weekly income is considered a barrier to self-improvement (third extract below). These were particular concerns expressed by individuals, but they capture the breadth of their concerns over government interventions.

P: And the thing is most people get annoyed about the money, like Child Benefit for 3 kids is 36 a week. I'll only be able to take 30 out of that , I can't take 36 and 85 pence straight out the bank. I would have to leave some of that in there. Now even 85 pence to a person that's really on the breadline, that needs that 85 pence. They really need that money, they cannot do without it and I think that's quite a hard one that. I think it is quite stupid. (Peripheral housing estate in a large rural town)
P1: I would like to meet the person that actually made up the rules of the fact that you can live on 400 a month.
P2: I'd love to meet them.
P1: I'd like to meet them and punch his eyes out. (Peripheral housing estate in city)
P2: See this carry on, you're only allowed to earn 20 and then you've got to declare it. I mean, that's no' fair either. It doesn't give you enough. … see if you make 2 over that 20, they take your book off you. They take it off you. No, no, no way. Some of they wee chinkies and all that, they'll take you on, but they give you 24 a night plus a chinkie, but they take that into consideration. Aye, they take that into consideration. They say well, it's 4 for the Chinese, 4 for the meal. You're paid 28 - you owe us 8. So you're like that, well there's no point in working in there. You're only doing things to try and make yourself a wee bit better, and then you get caught. (Peripheral housing estate in city)
P: That's the thing. I mean you say you have got your own business and they think [you] ha' no problem. But there is not, if we are lucky there is 100 a month coming out of the business. (Anti poverty campaigners, rural north Scotland)

3.63 Most importantly, and as been discussed (3.08), there is a strong sense from the fieldwork that adults from low income family households are not better off working. The will to work is reported, but the logical response is to remain on welfare.

Local action

3.64 There was little reference in the interviews to local initiatives that were making a positive difference to tackling low income. Indeed, some of the local strategies adopted were roundly condemned by participants, such as the promotion of the local area as a low wage economy (next extract, below) and complex rules governing access to childcare at local colleges (second extract, below).

P1: But the other thing is … trying to encourage big business into the area with lots of …
P2: Cheap labour.
P1: Cheap labour. They are actually saying in their literature thatForth is one of the…
P3: ... lowest wage areas.
P2: We are one of the lowest in Britain and the lowest in Scotland.
P1: Yes. And they are advertising that fact. (Young adults, rural town in northern Scotland)
P: I am signed off. I am supposed to be at college I am supposed to be doing therapy and I was signed off by my doctor again for depression. Now the college are saying you can't miss the course you have got to give back all the equipment plus you have got to pay back money you are getting. God knows where I am going to find 160 that they gave me. (Young adults, rural town in northern Scotland)

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