Childen Webmag - Stories from the Edge Courtesy of Dave Wiles

Penny and her three kids used to live near me on the Easterhouse estate in Glasgow. But they had to flee Penny's abusive partner and the trauma and subsequent moves around Scotland had a particularly damaging effect on her son, who went into public care. During his teens he was sent to a young offenders centre, where he tried to kill himself. Penny, who with her two daughters eventually moved to an English city to escape her former partner, has no car, so to visit her son she obtained a rail warrant. Because the authorities would not pay for an overnight stay Penny had to catch a train at 6.05am. To reach the station on time she had to pay for a taxi from her Income Support money. The train was cancelled.

Penny knew that if she was late arriving at the centre she would not be allowed to see her boy. She contacted me and I arranged to meet her at a Scottish station that, via a roundabout route, she had managed to reach. I rushed her to the isolated centre by car - it was impossible to get there on time by bus. We found her son depressed but glad to see us. Penny was due a double-length visit but had to leave early to catch the train back home. She need not have bothered as it set off late. It then broke down and Penny, who could not afford any refreshments on the train, eventually arrived at her home station after midnight and had to take a taxi again. The visit had taken a total of 18 hours. Penny wanted to see her son again before Christmas, but she was not entitled to another warrant because less than a month had elapsed since her previous visit. A train ticket was too expensive for Penny to buy herself, so she borrowed the coach fare and I met her again. Although Penny could not afford a Christmas present for her son, the renewed contact is helping to heal the breach between them.

Penny's plight, wanting to stay in contact with her son, is particularly poignant but her financial predicament is far from unique, shared by up to three million people who are also dependent on Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance. Despite the new Labour spin about improving benefits, these people's incomes are still meagre. Penny's family receives a maximum of £130 a week from Income Support. However, because she is repaying a state Social Fund loan Penny actually gets only £110. After accounting for her basic outgoings - £45 for food, £31 for heat, light and water, £12 to a clothes catalogue, £10 for fares and £10 for household goods - she is left with only £2 for any other items. People such as Penny find it impossible to save and so cannot cope with unexpected expenditures. Our youth and community project in Easterhouse sometimes helps Income Support recipients who, for example, need new shoes for a child, a second-hand pram, the fare to visit a dying brother, etc. Holidays, school trip abroad, brownies' uniform, are out of the question - let alone a car. When Penny had to pay for taxis she had to cut down on food for herself - she puts her children first. No wonder she is in bad health.

What can be done? The government should set up a poverty unit, which should establish the precise minimum income necessary for a decent lifestyle and then monitor whether the government is legislating for it. Like the social exclusion unit, the poverty unit should have access to the cabinet. But unlike the social exclusion unit, it should be made up of poor people, not affluent professionals. The voice of those young people who experience poverty and unemployment should be part of that unit.

In this way, when cabinet ministers arrive for meetings in their chauffeur driven cars, they could meet people like Penny and so at least understand a little more about the reality of poverty.

Bob Holman is an FYT supporter in Glasgow