David Hilferty: framing the cost of living crisis in terms of individual choices is entirely to miss the point

Last week the media was a-buzz about a seven percent reduction in the Ofgem energy price cap. And we all dutifully played the quarterly game of jumping from one price cap to another and responding to the headline narrative each time.  

But to be honest I’m getting a bit tired of playing this game.  

Because we get caught up in these moments, don’t we? We say what we think of this individual event and then we move on to the next one. Last week it was a new price cap. Last month we were all talking about “April Cruel Day” - the name given to the 1^st of April this year as multiple bills all hiked on the same day.   

The devastating relentlessness of increase after increase – where basic everyday living costs are all increasing – means the essentials are out of reach for many people.  

We see the reality of that in the CAB network. So recently I was invited on to Radio Scotland to discuss the impact of the latest increases. A few minutes into the interview, we got inevitable question: “What can people do?”  

Energy switching was suggested as an option. But average energy debt across the CAB network is £2,500 – that’s debt accumulated just to keep the lights and heating on. An average price cap saving of £129 won’t make a dent in that.  

But my heart well and truly fell as one of my fellow panellists started talking about how people should look to make savings like cancelling Netflix and Disney Plus.   

For me that’s the new ‘avocado toast’ chat. Remember that one, where the reason young people couldn’t get on property ladder wasn’t soaring wealth inequality – because they were spending all their money on avocado toast? 

Well we’re really scraping the barrel aren’t we when we’re now down to this kind of narrative? It’s as insulting as it is absurd.   

Netflix and Disney Plus aren’t driving the increases in CAB advice numbers. Poverty is.   

Framing the cost of living crisis in terms of individual choices is entirely to miss the point. It puts blame on the choices that individuals or households make, when these choices are increasingly impossible. 

Because the kind of people we see in the CAB network have already made every cutback, explored every option to cut spending. They’ve long been experts at budgeting. But still they’re in a position where they cannot afford the essentials.  

What that tells us is that the cost of living crisis is a problem of such scale that the solutions that will really make a difference lie in the decisions and choices of governments and regulators. 

So the next time one of these moments roll around, let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture – that cumulative and compounding harm that people consistently experience just to cover the essentials like food and energy.    

And let’s push back when people ask what individuals can do, and instead keep looking to governments and regulators, and get them to ask themselves: ‘what better choices can we make?’ 

David Hilferty is director of impact at Citizens Advice Scotland.

This column was first published in the Herald www.theherald.co.uk