Last winter, Tracy Julian had to go without a warm coat so she could afford to feed herself and her two children. Julian, a full-time carer for her disabled nine-year-old son Sasha, is living below the poverty line. She receives £200 to £230 a week, including disability living allowance, income support, carer's allowance and child benefit. This is almost all obliterated by bills of around £140 a week, excluding shopping. Steep rises in fuel and food prices have hit the family hard. "Food gets cut back so I can stay afloat with the bills," she says. The family, who live in London, sometimes have to stop buying fruit to save money and the children wait weeks while she saves up the cash for uniforms, clothes or shoes.
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