MPs hear about cost-of-living impact on women

A charity supporting women to improve their lives in Lancashire has told a cross-party group of MPs how women have been disproportionately affected during the cost-of-living crisis.

As a result of their work to tackle inequalities, Lancashire Women’s CEO Amanda Greenwood was invited to give evidence at the Women and Equalities Select Committee in Parliament alongside national charities like StepChange and Gingerbread.

The session was part of the Committee’s ongoing inquiry into the rising cost of living on women.

As part of her evidence, Amanda told MPs about the work the charity does in communities across Lancashire to lessen the impact of the current crisis.

The charity supports around 5,000 women each year to improve their lives and push through barriers they face, offering support with employability, mental health, wellbeing, money advice and energy support.

Lancashire Women’s Senior Programme Manager Mandy Taylor said their impact has been aided by the flexibility of the funding provided by British Gas Energy Trust.

She said:

“Our energy work is funded by a couple of different organisations, British Gas Energy Trust being one of them. The funding allows us to do a lot. The fuel vouchers are great, but they’re often just a sticking plaster.

When we get into people’s homes, we find lots of problems. Put simply, people don’t have enough money. People are going to bed at 5pm because they can’t afford to heat their homes.

So, our energy handywoman service is really useful. They’re handywomen, but also energy trained. So, they’ll not only help with home assessments, but they’ll actually do some of the quick fixes there and then, like fitting draught excluders, turning boilers down to their eco settings and putting foil behind radiators. They have machines that tell them where draughts are coming from.

And our warm packs we distribute with hats, gloves, blankets and hot water bottles are really needed by the people we see.

One of the most interesting things we have found recently is that hardly anyone has a washing line any more. People are drying clothes indoors and getting damp in their homes. So, we purchased a load of retractable washing lines to distribute to people, and it starts to make a difference – even in Lancashire where we don’t get that many dry days. But even if someone airs ten lots of washing outside each year, it’ll make a big difference.

British Gas Energy Trust funding allows us to do this.”

But Mandy also believes the current economic issues means they’re seeing a new cohort of people using their services.

She added:

“We’re seeing a lot of working women now. We don’t have a lot of living wage employers in Lancashire, so when we go into workplaces to tell people about our services, we get a lot of referrals from people who have never needed our services before. There’s a fair amount of stigma around seeking support from those who are working. There’s talk of the Just About Managing group, but a lot of people out there who are only just surviving.

Women are disproportionately affected by the cost-of-living crisis – they’re more likely to be the main carers, have part-time incomes and be in lower-paid jobs. If they have a family and a child is off sick, they’re more likely to take time off work to care for them. And if they’re a single parent, they’re the only person who can care. It’s a tough time for women.

The Select Committee didn’t give too much away; they were constantly probing for evidence and statistics but I do think there should be an increase in benefits. Not only that, but I think the threshold for being eligible for benefits should be looked at too if you want people to do more than just survive.

It really is food versus heating for a lot of people.”

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