In the fourth of my series of posts where I help our MP to get to know his constituents, tonight I talk about baby Eduardo.
Dear MP
It was the Welfare Rights department who first contacted me about baby Eduardo’s parents. They, Francisco and Carla, moved here from Portugal after hearing there were lots of well paid jobs for carers in Lancashire.
Francisco loved working with the elderly and felt it was a great privilege. He’d been a care worker in Portugal and was looking forward to a better standard of living while working here in England.
What Francisco didn’t realise was that every ‘local’ job that he applied for was actually just a hook from an agency based in a not-so-nearby city. He would go for an interview for this local job with an agency based 20 miles away and told he needed to pay for a CRB check. Then he was told that the local job had gone but if he paid to take further qualifications he would stand an excellent chance of finding work. He paid for everything until his savings were gone.
Three months later, the only offers of work had been for a couple of hours in a city miles away which would cost Francisco more in train fare than he would earn.
Carla was now pregnant and their savings were gone. Francisco applied for benefits and for three months he received Job Seekers Allowance and Housing Benefit. But then, after three months (in which time he was desperately trying to find work) he was told that he had to go to a hearing to decide if he had a ‘Genuine Prospect of Work’. This is the test, as you will know, which decides if an EU National will be entitled to any further benefits of any kind.
It was decided that Francisco and Carla would no longer receive any benefits. They had no money to return to Portugal and no money for rent or food. They were referred to the Welfare Rights department who looked at their case and found that there was nothing further that could be done to help them other than referring them for a couple of food parcels from the local food bank. One of the advisors contacted me to see if I could help in an unofficial capacity.
From that point, Francisco helped me to sort through the Lidl bins two days a week to fill my food sharing Hut. Francisco and Carla had the first choice of anything we rescued and even though they literally had nothing other than bread and a few bits of fruit and vegetables they would still present me with a dish they had made from the food every week. My favourite was a dip made with breadcrumbs, tomatoes, garlic and coriander.
I posted on Facebook to ask my friends for help with providing baby goods. Soon we had found everything needed for the forthcoming birth and Francisco and Carla built the cot in the spare room of their damp terrace house where they would soon be in rent arrears and at risk of eviction.
Fortunately, it was Eid about a month before baby Eduardo was due and some of my Muslim friends contacted me to say they would like to provide food for Francisco , Carla and the baby-in-making.
Until the baby was born, the only food that Francisco and Carla had to eat was the shopping that my friends bought for them over Eid and the food rescued from the Lidl bins. Every time I saw Carla I thought what an absolute miracle it was that her bump was expanding even though they had such an insecure and limited diet.
I was immensely privileged to be asked to be at the birth of baby Eduardo. It was a long and difficult delivery and I cannot thank our NHS staff enough for looking after Carla and ensuring the safe arrival of baby Eduardo. I was particularly grateful to the Spanish midwife who was so sensitive and caring towards Carla at a very frightening time in the birth.
Today I was told that my local hospital is now charging £100 a day for a room like the one that Carla gave birth in and it breaks my heart to think that I may never afford to see the inside of that hospital again once it’s been sold off to a private healthcare company.
I hope that when you are campaigning for the forthcoming elections and you meet people on their doorsteps who believe EU nationals come over here and live on benefits for years on end that you will remind them of the truth. And the truth is that even if you are pregnant and at risk of miscarryibg your baby through malnutrition you are still not entitled to any benefits for longer than 91 days unless you can prove that you have a Genuine Prospect of Work.
Once again, many thanks for taking the time to read this.
All the best
Gill x
