A winter of discontent

Among the results – more than half of those surviving on Parenting Payments could not afford a visit to the dentist, while nearly 30 per cent had no money to pay for medical treatment.

Single dad Craig Horkings is one of them. He's living on a financial knife's edge in a rental property in Frankston. He's already looking after his son, but now his teenage daughter has also moved back in with her baby son. The only way he can keep a roof over their heads he says, is by combining his parenting payment with his daughter's carers allowance. And there is never any letup from the financial stress. "I've had weeks where I haven't been able to pay some bills," Craig says.

"I need glasses and my son needs braces but there's no way that will happen. I worry about the cost of turning the heater on, but can't have my grandson cold. It would be nice to say there's light at the end of the tunnel but it's a bloody long tunnel and it's very dark in there."

Parents who took part in the Survey say they are forced to cut back spending on their children's education, with a quarter of participants unable to afford up-to-date schoolbooks and uniforms.

Nobody would choose to live this way. But life can sometimes get in the way of choice. We are a country with one of the highest costs of living, but with an income support scheme that's lagging badly. Welfare Agencies lobby Governments for better funding – but it's uphill all the way. The last word here goes to Susan at St Albans.

" I'd like the politicians to get on a pension and live how we live. Then they'd have to understand our situation. We don't want the world, just a tiny bit of help. "