Rachel Smith has spent more than a decade caring for family members, including her two daughters and her elderly father, and the responsibility has prevented her from going back to work.
Rachel, from Northallerton in North Yorkshire, looks after her eldest daughter Lillian, who has type 1 diabetes, and her father, who has terminal cancer.
The 43-year-old used to run a cafe within a bookshop, a job she loved but which she says earned her “just over minimum wage”.
Now, as a full-time “sandwich carer” – looking after dependent children and an elderly parent – Rachel relies on universal credit, carer’s allowance and child benefit to survive.
She receives around £1,030 a month in universal credit and just under £200 a month in child benefit, while Lillian also receives disability living allowance.
