My ears joined the conversation as Jim (a smartly dressed, enthusiastic but downbeat guy who clearly struggles with the hand he has been dealt in life) casually tells Craig (a fast-talking support worker who appears to be trying to help Jim improve his lot) that he hasn’t got any electricity in his home for the next ten days until he receives his next benefit payment.

Craig is clearly shocked by this revelation and spends the following twenty minutes on a verbal investigative hunt in an attempt to ascertain; firstly how Jim is going to survive the next ten days without the key source of energy that is so important in todays world, and secondly why, having helped Jim through a budgeting process previously, he can’t afford to pay his electricity bill.

Jim seems frighteningly nonchalant about being without power for a while, leading me to think this isn’t the first time he has found himself in this situation.
“It’s alright, I can listen to my radio” he says.
Craig asks how he will power his radio without any electricity.
“Batteries, you see” Jim informs him.
“Don’t you have food in your fridge” inquires Craig.
“Yep, I’ve got chicken, and I’ve got turkey” replies Jim, clearly thinking that Craig is inquiring about his ability to buy food and nourish himself.
“But how will you stop the chicken and turkey going off if you haven’t got electricity?”
“I know, it goes off quicker this time of year when it’s hot outside doesn’t it?”

Craig sounds stunned. Unable to get a logical answer, he tries a different tack. “How come you haven’t got any money left to pay your electricity bill?”
“I don’t know, I’ve only got £20 left to last me until next week” says Jim.

Craig decides to do a basic budget for Jim there and then. He asks him exactly how much he gets from his Universal Credit payment and then proceeds to ask him to list his outgoings; rent, council tax, electricity, gas, water, television license. Then how much he spends at the shops each week on food and other sundries. His total outgoings still leave Jim with about £80 a month spare.
“So where is the rest going?” asks Craig, sounding resigned to not receiving a straight answer by this point.
Craig must have asked him a dozen times where the rest of his money is going and Jim, bless him, answers every single time, totally innocently, that he does not know.

“Do you drink?”
“No, not any more” says Jim.
“Do you smoke?”
Jim says he does. Craig asks him how many and receives the response of twenty to twenty five per week.
“But I know a place on the Dudley Road where I can get them cheap, for £3 a pack” Jim quickly adds.
“But that still doesn’t make up the shortfall in your budget” Craig states.
“Do you like to go anywhere else on the Dudley Road?” asks Craig.
“Yeah, the chippy.”

It’s at this point that Jim admits he has a tab at his local chip shop.
“It’s ok though because I know the owner and he gives me a discount.”
“Ok. How much do you have on your tab at the moment Jim?”
“£47. But it’s ok because I’ll pay it all off next week when I get my benefits.”
“So how often do you go to the chip shop?” Craig asks, thinking he might finally be getting somewhere.
“Usually about five or six times a week.”
“And how much do you usually spend when you go there?”
“Maybe four or five pound” Jim replies.
“So that’s £120 a month mate. That’s where all your money’s going.”

“Oh yeah, I suppose it is.” Jim admits innocently.

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**The names in this account have been changed to preserve the privacy of those involved.