A MUM from Wrexham has questioned how people are meant to escape the current pressures of the cost of living crisis. 

In a candid letter to the Leader, Kerry Mackay, outlines the 'poverty experience' she is facing as a mature student amid high energy costs.

Kerry Mackay said: "I feel like I've been swallowed by a big, angry whale. I haven’t, of course, but it’s a good analogy to describe the poverty experience when your world becomes a damp, cold environment overnight and you’re not entirely sure where the exit is.

"My morning routine always starts with a quick check of the electricity meter and my newly established obsession with kW hours. It’s the financial equivalent of weighing myself daily and I rarely hit my targets.

"I then pull out my calendar and once again carry out a projection of financial accounts to pinpoint exactly the date of total, catastrophic fiscal crisis. Soon, but not today.

"So, what does a single mum on Universal Credit do all day? According to social media I am going to crack open a beer and chain-smoke while immersing myself in daytime television. Alas, I have a protocol to write for my degree, detailing the method for purifying my own chromosomal DNA at home which I will complete, standing in the kitchen with no light on because it is the least cold room in the house and, well, that kWh target isn’t going to hit itself.

The Leader: Kerry Mackay.Kerry Mackay. (Image: UGC)

"I was naive, last summer, thinking the series of events that crushed my business would be the furthest I could fall into the chasm of financial uncertainty. I was filled with hope and determination when I applied to study for my degree, absolutely convinced that things couldn’t get any worse. But the ladder out of poverty is purposely inaccessible. Social inequality is invisible to those who benefit from it and in stark contrast to many of us facing monumental barriers, designed to keep us subdued and distracted.

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"Like all students, I will emerge with almost £10,000 of debt to accompany my Environmental Science degree, the standard cost of progress these days. But a mature student relying on the Universal Credit system is further impeded with the student finance maintenance loan, given only to the poorest students, being classed as ‘other income’, (akin to having a pension), and deducted, in full, from your Universal Credit payment.

"There is no incentive to apply for student finance when it adds thousands onto the standard student debt and taxpayers are likely footing the bill for those of us who work this out. There is no ‘55 pence in the pound’ income deduction when you’re a student, they take the lot. I would be so much better off if I just sat at home and did nothing. I’d be much warmer too.

"Why is the system most rewarding to those who choose not to work or advance their education? Is it cynical to wonder if those of us in poverty are ever meant to escape it?

"So, I stand here, studying electron dipoles and DNA transcription in my kitchen. Switching on the light or boiling the kettle has become a luxury, I dare not take a shower and my hairdryer has been consigned to history.

"But this forced recalibration of my life will define the next chapter and I will fight voraciously for social economic equality, which is at the heart of our environmental issues.

"We have a voice and our voice matters. You may not see the escape ladder and the exits are not clearly marked, but there is a way out and when I finally find it, I'll signpost it and leave a guide for anyone brave enough to follow."