Dealing with the Cost of Living Crisis Report

Dechomai Limited
The current cost of living crisis has impacted people living in the UK very hard. Its detrimental impact hit
harder to those in precarious conditions or people in early stage of their entrepreneurship journey
without a steady stream of income from their businesses. As an organization closely working with the
Black and Ethnic Minority women in precarious conditions helping them find financial independence
through providing support on their entrepreneurial journey, we noticed the hardship that the members
of the community it serves as a result of the crisis. Dechomai decided to offer a helping hand by
providing vouchers for £50. As preparation we ran a survey with 16 questions to understand the impact
of the crisis among our alumni and kind of support they are looking for. This report combines the result
of our survey.

54 participants responded to our survey over a period of 10 days. Out of 52 respondents 5 persons have
a single member family while 14 people have 2 members, 6 people have 3 members, 15 people have 4
members, 8 people have 5 members, 3 people have 6 members, 1 person have 7 members in their
respective families. 52 respondents’ household expenditure was affected by the increasing energy
price. 51 participants reported their weekly food shopping being impacted by the crisis

Figure 1: energy price affecting household expenditure Figure 2: Negatively impacted the weekly food shopping

For example, a participant responded, “We are spending more on bills and so just getting basic grocery
items we need.” Another replied, “High cost of energy has reduced income for the household groceries.”
A participants mentioned, “The energy bill are very high and the cost of buying food is also going up so
much.” Another participant noted, “l am single mum of three children.. it is extremely difficult for me to
make up with the monthly bills.” Many responses indicate that people are forced to cut their food to
pay for the energy so that they don’t have to live in a cold home during the height of winter. A
respondent replied, “We have reduced the amount we spend on food so that we can heat the home and
not have a cold house.” Another account with reference to this is, “The energy price cap increase has
affected all spheres of life and the impact is the ripple effect of the cost of everything rising. From the
cost of petrol, to our food to even our rent. It now means that I'm checking prices of things a bit more
and looking for discounts, especially when food shopping.”

23 of the participants are in receipt of benefits while 30 are not. In response to whether the recent crisis
impacted their business development, 42 participants replied affirmatively. 30 people had to stop their
entrepreneurial activities because the rise in the cost of raw materials impacted their business and the
selling price couldn’t be increased yet in 45 cases. (Please see the table below.)

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Figure 3: Crisis impacted business activities Figure 4: Entrepreneurial ventures had to stop

Figure 5: Rising cost of material impacted negatively Figure 6: Have they increased their product’s price
In response to how they are planning to support their family over the next 6 months, we received some
really painful accounts. Most people have to either work on multiple jobs or actively looking to find
extra work, which under the present job market, adds another layer of hardship to their already difficult
lives.

Answering the question on further support for their business the next 6 months, 35 people responded
that they need funding while 21 people wanted networking event with others signaling the need for
further business training (please see the diagram below)

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