'You can't buy something extravagant like school shoes'

Like many others across Scotland, Gill McCormick and her husband, Kyle, will be trying to help by ­opening the doors of their ­Glasgow foodbank on Christmas Day.

The foodbank has seen an upsurge in use in the run-up to December, with people struggling on low incomes or suffering the effects of benefit sanctions.

Gill McCormick says the festive celebration is often the last things on the minds of service users.

She said: "Our numbers have gone up recently after we had quite a quiet period, and now we're at double what we were, it's definitely getting harder for people. We are calling them the 'inbetweeners', who don't fit in to one category or another, they just need our help.

"People are talking about ­Christmas already but in foodbanks, there's no mention of it - people are just looking for a meal there and then, trying to think through each day. It's a completely different ­attitude from everyone else."

She added: "We had a man come in asking for a tin of Spam because he hadn't eaten meat in days and he was just desperately needing meat.

"People are so down and out that they are just trying to put ­Christmas to the back of their minds."

McCormick anticipates serving up a three-course meal to about 100 people on Christmas Day. The foodbank is also having an appeal to gather toys for children and plans to deliver meals to elderly people who are unable to leave their homes.

"We couldn't imagine not opening on Christmas Day, we just couldn't stay closed," she said. "I plan to make it really special.

"For the children I'm planning on making it special by having a hot chocolate station, making sure they have marshmallows and cream, and Santa will be visiting.

"We'll be singing Christmas carols too - everything you would expect from a real family Christmas."

Just more than three out of four Scots believe the true meaning of Christmas - celebrating the birth of Jesus and love for one another - has been lost, according to a new study by the charity Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund.

However, the survey also found 73% still feel that the festive season is a time to help people in need.

But with the annual deluge of festive adverts and shop displays, it is unsurprising parents feel huge pressure to provide their children with gifts.

John Dickie, director of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland, said many faced "impossible choices" between buying presents, paying bills or getting into debt.

He said: "For some families, increasing levels of benefit delay and unwarranted sanctions are leaving them with literally no money at all and dependent on foodbanks. Is this the Christmas families in 21st-century Scotland should be facing?

"Wherever further devolution is proposed in the coming weeks, the immediate priority for 2015 must be to repair our broken social security system, promote decent wages for working parents and cut the costs of childcare, housing and school."

The CPAG is carrying out a long-term study of 10 families to find out the impact of poverty and benefit changes on their lives.

One of the participants is Donna, who is married with a six-year-old son who has complex needs, and a daughter of 19, who is about to start university but remains at home.

She said: "We noticed that [things are getting tighter], everyone noticed that, at Christmas actually.

"We said, right, let's cut it back a lot, because the adults would always get each other presents and that just stopped."

Donna, from Edinburgh, manages not to get into any debt for Christmas by starting her ­shopping in September, which gives her four months to pay for presents.

She added: "If I start early enough, I can make it."

Also taking part in the study is Joanne, who lives in Fife with her two sons, aged 10 and 12. She is unemployed but volunteers. She previously worked but finds affordable childcare difficult to access.

She said: "I manage for the weekly essentials. I get the ­majority of my money on a Thursday so I go on a Thursday and I get my gas, my electricity and my weekly shop, and petrol.

"And that does me for the week. But if anything was to come up, like if the bairns need school shoes ...". She pauses. "Just after Christmas last year it was snowing, and he come in with his school shoes with no sole on them.

"He had pulled the sole right off somehow, and I was like, 'how am I going to manage to get his school shoes?' You know, you haven't got any money, you can't put money aside for savings because you just don't have any left.

"There's no way you can go and buy something extravagant like school shoes. You can't, there's just no money for it."

Citizens Advice also reports the two months following Christmas as the busiest time of year for people seeking help with debt.

In the first three months of 2014, it dealt with almost 10,000 more debt issues than in the previous quarter, October to December 2013.

Susan McPhee, head of policy and communications at Citizens Advice Scotland, said: "Christmas is a really hard time of year for people on low incomes who want to ensure their families have a good time.

"It is a period full of temptation and pressure to spend more money than we can really afford - that's true for everyone and has been the case for years."

Borrowing money to pay for presents can tip people who are just getting by into debt, leaving them struggling to pay for essentials.

Fraser Sutherland, policy officer at Citizens Advice, added: "There's a lot of people borrowing money that might actually be affecting the debt they are already carrying, and that little bit extra more can tip them over the edge. They might simply be getting by and then feel they have to borrow more money to get through Christmas."

Sutherland said a lot of people would struggle to pay for many things which would be considered part of a "normal" Christmas.

"I think a lot of people would be very shocked at how difficult things are at the moment for others," he said. "You can say, 'It doesn't cost much to buy a turkey,' but if it's that or heating for a week it really is a big cost. Some will not have much left to buy presents or, say, Christmas-themed food. There are some folk who are not going to be able to afford Christmas at all."