'This is not a life': The tower block where they put foil behind the radiators and wear dressing gowns all day to keep warm

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Sam* is 10 months old. He spends most of his days wrapped up in mittens and a woolly hat. He’s at home all day.

His older sister, Natasha, is three years old. She’s in a dressing gown. So is their mum, Jane.

For them, this is life in Malus Court — the Pendleton tower block stripped of its cladding.

The energy bills the family-of-three have to pay are astronomical — and what makes it worse is the fact that their thermostat is only set to 11C.

Inside the block where children stay in hats all day

It’s a freezing cold house. Jane cannot afford to put the lights on, so each room is lit dimly by an overcast winter’s afternoon and the occasional lamp.

“I sit at night, scared, wondering where I am going to get the money from,” Jane says from her kitchen as Sam and Natasha play. “I cannot break into the kids’ money. That's for nappies…”

Jane and her two children moved into Malus Court in October 2021. She had been waiting for a council flat for six years, and previously was sharing with her mother in another apartment in the same Pendleton complex.

“We were all in a one bed property before,” she explains, adding that the situation was chaotic.

When children do fly the nest, most parents don’t expect a visit from their loved ones every day — but Jane sees her mum once every 24 hours.

That’s not just out of a desire to catch-up — it’s also out of a necessity to eat.

“I have to go to my mum's to have my tea. I cannot afford it,” she continues. “The other week, I came back [after Christmas] on December 27 and I turned my boiler off holiday mode.

“There was no hot water [so] they gave me halogen heaters but I cannot even use them.”

Jane works part time, and is also on universal credit. While her income is low, it’s the sky-high energy