In our How I Manage My Money series we aim to find out how people in the UK are spending, saving and investing money to meet their costs and achieve their goals.
This week we speak to Kat Watkins, 39, who lives in Swansea with her personal assistant and live-in carer, and her dog, Purdey. Kat, an access to politics officer, says disabled people face many additional costs. She believes personal independence payments (PIP) should be higher and thinks the Motability Scheme has become too “Big Brother-like”.
Monthly budget
My monthly income: I take home nearly £1,500 a month from my job as an access to politics project officer for Disability Wales. I work 22 hours a week over four days. My monthly PIP is £730, but this will soon go down to about £400 a month. My universal credit (UC) is variable, but is typically £698 a month. Some of my UC helps with my rent costs. My PIP will go once I get a Motability car again.
My monthly outgoings: Rent for housing association flat, £552; council tax, £88 – I receive a discount as a single person and a discount for my disabilities; groceries, around £160; vitamin supplements, £30; gas and electric, £119 – most of this is electricity; water, £62; broadband, £40; mobile phone bill, £21; Sky TV package, £81; subscriptions like Amazon Prime and Netflix, about £18; trains, £200; taxis, £120; money into cash savings, £200; money into work pension, £80; eating out and takeaways, £40; wool as I enjoy crochet, I spent £80 on wool last month, but don’t usually spend that much; prescribed medicinal cannabis oil, £135.
I grew up with my dad, who had four children, in a village near the Brecon Beacons. My dad worked as a security guard for the Ministry of Defence, and things were quite challenging for us financially as a family. My late dad had to take me to hospital quite a lot when I was a child.
We’d have to go to Sheffield and the trips were always expensive once his accommodation and fuel costs were factored in. I did an undergraduate degree in leisure management and marketing at the University of Portsmouth, before completing some further studies in Swansea.
I now work for Disability Wales and am passionate about making politics in Wales more accessible to disabled people. My work includes facilitating support networks to ensure the full participation of deaf and disabled people in all areas of political life. My take home pay is about £1,500 per month and I work a 22-hour week spread over four days.
I am a full-time electric wheelchair user and have osteogenesis imperfecta, which creates brittle bones. I have stunted growth, am in a lot of pain every day, meaning I have to take painkillers daily, and get severe fatigue. It is difficult to explain the pain I’m in and the fatigue I get, as these aren’t things people can see. I have had to have a lot of surgery, including on my head, as my bones break frequently. As I’ve lived my life with pain, I don’t usually tell people about it, as they’d probably get bored hearing about it.
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Being disabled is expensive. I got a wheelchair privately as it was the only way I could get one to suit my needs. I needed the tyres and wheels on my electric wheelchair changed recently and it cost me about £900. I’ll also need to spend £500 on a new battery for my wheelchair soon. I have to use a ventilator every night, which pushes up my electricity bills a lot. I also need to buy specialist pillows and cutlery.
To manage my pain, I have to get a private prescription for medicinal cannabis oil every month. I didn’t meet the eligibility criteria for it for the NHS. The cannabis oil costs me £135 a month. I don’t pay directly for my personal assistant and carer, but it took a lot of fighting to get that all sorted. When I want to go on trips or to concerts, I pay double as I pay for my personal assistant to go with me. I think PIP should be higher, as the additional costs people with disabilities face are so high.
I wrote off my last car, but am getting a new Motability car soon. It will be a Mercedes wheelchair drive-in V-Class car, which costs £84,000. It allows me to get in the driver’s seat via my wheelchair in the boot. I always feel embarrassed that I’m getting such an expensive car, but it means I can drive, which gives me freedom and independence. The criteria for getting a car like the one I’m getting is always changing. There are always more hoops to jump through.
Since last year, disabled people who have a car via the Motability scheme have not been permitted “premium” vehicles like BMWs. But those people who have the premium cars have paid for those premium cars. They have never been free. Motability has become very Big Brother-like and I’ve read that new telematics systems may be used in the vehicles in future. The system is now heavily controlled.
I live in a two-bedroom housing association flat in Swansea, costing £552 a month. It was new and has been adapted for me, which is great. I’ve been living here for 13 years, and don’t think I’d get anywhere else as good. It’s got a courtyard, but no garden, so I’m out in the park with the dog every day.
I don’t know how to invest, so spread £200 in a cash savings account and cash ISA each month. I have about £3,000 in savings in total. I’ve never been in debt, but I’ve never been one to save either. If I saved too much, I’d get penalised and potentially thrown off some of my benefits. I love going to Formula One at Silverstone and enjoy going to a couple of big concerts a year. I’ll be seeing Take That in concert later in the year.
I add £80 a month to a work pension and have £6,000 saved in pensions to date. Saving money in pensions isn’t a priority for me. I’ve lost so many friends over the years, and would rather spend my money now when I can. You can’t take it with you when you are gone. Like everyone, I’ve also got no idea if I’ll make it to state pension age. I lived for years on very little and survived solely on benefits, so I think I could survive on the UK state pension alone if I had to.
I don’t think I am motivated too much by money. As long as I have enough to live on and do the things I want to do, as well as treat my nieces and nephew, that’s all that matters to me. My dad died a few years ago and I’ll be using some of the money I got from him for a two-week cruise in the Caribbean. My dad would be chuffed with my choice.
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