As the weather turns colder, Jeanette struggles.
“I get lots more aches and pains because of the cold weather,” she tells us. “I’m not so mobile in the winter, and I don’t really want to go out because I’m frightened of having an accident.”
Since suffering a stroke a couple of years ago, 75-year-old Jeanette has lived with several ongoing health complications that get worse when the temperature drops. Jeanette’s conditions have also impacted the household finances.
“Before I had my stroke, I had a cleaning job for a little bit of extra money,” she says. “I’ve always worked. I was doing a paper round when I was 9, and even when I had my own children I had more than one job to make ends meet. My husband Herbie was working up until my stroke too, but he had to stop to look after me.”
Now, Jeanette and Herbie must stretch their State Pensions to breaking point. But as the cost of energy and essentials has sky-rocketed, they have found it increasingly difficult to get by.
“Since the pandemic everything seems to have shot up in price,” says Jeanette. “I worry about how much it’s going to cost to survive.”
It just doesn’t seem fair. I’ve worked hard all my life, but I feel like a failure now.
A hidden crisis
Jeanette is no stranger to tough situations. After losing her first husband to cancer, she was left feeling overwhelmed and alone. “I’ve never felt so lonely in all my life,” she says of that time. “I didn’t want to be a burden to anybody, but it’s terrible not having anyone to talk to.”
Jeanette has now been happily married to her second husband Herbie for more than a decade. But as the couple have faced impossible financial decisions in recent years, Jeanette has felt that familiar sensation of feeling isolated from the outside world – and has felt uncertain of where to turn for help.
“Once you’ve finished work and have done your bit, it feels like you’re forgotten about,” says Jeanette. “It just doesn’t seem fair. I’ve worked hard all my life, but I feel like a failure now.”
Like many older people across the UK, Jeanette has had to make compromises in order to keep bills down during the cost of living crisis – despite the impact on her health.
“The cold weather really affects my health conditions, but I try not to have the heating on at all,” says Jeanette. “The bills are absolutely crippling. If my house were any colder, I’d be freezing.”
Jeanette’s sacrifices extend to other essentials, too: “I try not to spend too much when I go shopping. I make meals stretch and have cut back on things. Any money I do have goes on living and bills.”
Finding help
Desperate for some support, Jeanette discovered the Age UK Advice Line, and decided to call to see if she would be eligible for some money to help with the essentials. A chat with an Age UK advisor revealed that Jeanette would be able to apply for Attendance Allowance.
“I didn’t have a clue how to fill the form in, but Age UK did it all, sent the form to me, and all I had to do was sign it and send it off,” she says. “I never thought in a million years I’d get it.”
Fortunately, the application was a success. Jeanette and her husband were awarded the higher rate of Attendance Allowance. While the extra money every month doesn't go far enough to fully ease Jeanette's concerns over her energy bills, it has allowed her to buy herself a second-hand mobility scooter to help with her mobility problems in winter and all year round.
“Without Age UK, I wouldn’t have had a chance of getting Attendance Allowance,” says Jeanette. “It’s changed everything.”
