Bev

Names and ages: Bev – 48, Liam – 10

Occupation: Full-time Chef

Household Income: £19,000

Location: Stratford, London

Housing: Flat - Housing Association tenant

Current situation:

• Bev works unsociable hours as a chef and is reliant on her babysitter, a friend who comes to look after Liam when she leaves for work at 5.30am.

• Bev is £6,000 in debt which she has accumulated from past benefit overpayments and credit cards which she uses to pay for large items.

• Bev’s limited income and debt repayments mean that she has to be a meticulous budgeter: she knows exactly what goes in and out every week and can cite the cost of each item on her weekly shopping list.

Challenges:

• Meeting large debt repayments on a very limited income

• Dissatisfaction with the service she receives from her Housing Association

• Dissatisfaction with her local area which Bev feels is too unsafe for her son to play outside alone.

Aspirations:

• To pay off her debt

• To move to a better area and into a house with a garden.

 

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