A former soldier and stepdad-of-three who relies on a food bank to feed his family has said the news that inflation will exceed 10% comes as "no surprise" after a years-long struggle to stay afloat.
Harry Lay, 36, said rising household and food costs have left his family "in despair" as they rely on local food bank donations to stay afloat.
This comes as new Office for National Statistics data released today (17) has revealed the UK inflation rate is the highest it's been since 1982, at 10.1%.
He said the newly-released figure comes as "no surprise" as he has been noticing the effects of price rises for years already.
Harry, a former soldier from Cricklade, Wiltshire, lives in social housing and the family receives universal credit but they still struggle to make ends meet each month.
He said he and wife, Kittie, 36, have no idea how to afford their kids' new school uniforms before September.
Harry is calling for change and said his situation is "the reality for millions of others" - and fears it'll get worse before it gets better.
He said: "The repercussions of these inflation rises will be catastrophic for so many families.
"The price of food keeps increasing and the price of fuel, is just - I can't even find the words for it. It's indescribable.
"We've already struggled for so long on a daily basis but we've had to cut back even more.
"We don't have a single penny spare, not even down the back of the sofa - I once had to choose between buying loo roll or cooking oil.
"Any second we do have some money, it goes on the kids, and we're back to nothing again.
"Thanks to the food bank, we do get by, but then there are lots of people in even worse situations than us.
"This isn't going to be the worst of it - it doesn’t feel like there is an end in sight."
In winter, each year the parents are forced to choose between buying food and keeping their kid's warm thanks to soaring oil prices.
And this is one of many things they have tried to cut costs on to stay afloat after Harry had to take time away from work due to his mental health.
He said: "I know from experience it’s not just the physical form of not having money to survive that makes it hard, it’s the mental health problems that come with that.
"It's a struggle on a daily basis."
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