0:22:50 > 0:22:57.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09In the midst of an economic recession, we're all in it together,
0:23:09 > 0:23:13but some are in it deeper than others.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17With one in five young people struggling to find work,
0:23:17 > 0:23:22and many dependent on benefits, Britain's youth is being hit hard.
0:23:42 > 0:23:4617-year-old Shelby lives on the south side of Glasgow.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53'When I was younger, I wanted to be, like, famous.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56'Like, I wanted to be an actress.
0:23:56 > 0:24:01'But acting lessons and stuff, it costs money.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04'I just expected, like, I would go to school, and then as soon
0:24:04 > 0:24:08'as I left school, somebody would just discover me and I would be this
0:24:08 > 0:24:13'big, famous actress within a week, but it's just not how it works.
0:24:18 > 0:24:19'Like, you don't...
0:24:19 > 0:24:23'you don't know anything about, like, life, like how hard stuff is.'
0:24:27 > 0:24:30Shelby spent 12 months on benefits...
0:24:33 > 0:24:35..but now she's working five days a week,
0:24:35 > 0:24:37and getting used to the new routine.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41'Like, cos I don't have any experience,
0:24:41 > 0:24:43'I've never had a job before.'
0:24:43 > 0:24:45I messed up in school and all that, so, like,
0:24:45 > 0:24:48most people won't take me for a job, so this is my one chance
0:24:48 > 0:24:50to just...get there, so...
0:24:52 > 0:24:55'For a year there, I was like sleeping
0:24:55 > 0:24:59'all day, like, constantly just lying in my bed all the time, just lazy,
0:24:59 > 0:25:03'cos I didn't have any reason to get up out of my bed.'
0:25:05 > 0:25:07Morning!
0:25:08 > 0:25:11Shelby's job is actually a six-month work placement
0:25:11 > 0:25:12arranged by a local charity.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17'£55 a week is not really that great,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20'but it's only like stacking shelves and stuff,
0:25:20 > 0:25:23'but I'm happy to be doing that cos at least I'm working.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25'Going out and I'm doing something.'
0:25:25 > 0:25:29Despite working 30 hours a week, Shelby's financially no better off.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32The £55 she gets from the placement
0:25:32 > 0:25:34is the same as she would have got on Jobseeker's Allowance.
0:25:34 > 0:25:39I hope it'll be worth the work and I'll get a real job at some point.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41Obviously I'm still going to make mistakes,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44but I'm going down the right path.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51Things became hard for Shelby when she got kicked out of home.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53She ended up in a hostel,
0:25:53 > 0:25:55and when she moved here, she had nothing.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00But I would just, like... I had two quilts
0:26:00 > 0:26:03and my teddy, and pillows and that,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06and I would just lie them there, and...sleep there.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08'And then, cos it was quite cold then,
0:26:08 > 0:26:10'cos this would've been, like, November,
0:26:10 > 0:26:13'I was, like, sleeping on the floor and the cold hurts your back.
0:26:13 > 0:26:18'And then, like, I upgraded to this, but this wasn't much better.'
0:26:18 > 0:26:21As soon as you sit on it, it's like...
0:26:21 > 0:26:22way down here!
0:26:22 > 0:26:25For the first couple of days I was like,
0:26:25 > 0:26:27"Oh, I don't care, this is my house."
0:26:29 > 0:26:32Cos I just thought that everything would just be sorted
0:26:32 > 0:26:35and I'd have a nice house in no time, but...I don't.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50'I spend a lot of time up here, just looking at everything.'
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Don't know, it's sad that I'm 17
0:27:01 > 0:27:03and, like, just looking out the window and...
0:27:05 > 0:27:07Do you know what I mean? I don't think there's anybody else my age
0:27:07 > 0:27:09sitting doing this all the time...
0:27:14 > 0:27:1655 is what I get.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18That's all I've got to live on.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21And then bread's a pound and milk's a pound.
0:27:22 > 0:27:27I've got bread, milk, a fish finger thing, erm...
0:27:27 > 0:27:32cereal, chips, crisps, juice, cold meat and cheese.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36That comes to 14.50, so it leave me £40.50.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40'Before I done the budgeting I'd just go into a shop
0:27:40 > 0:27:42'and then I'd be, "Oh, I want this, I want this,"
0:27:42 > 0:27:44'and then I'd spend, like, £20.'
0:27:46 > 0:27:4912.50, I've left myself, for fags.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52I probably could get more food with that and stuff,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55but fags is about the only luxury I get.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57Well, this week I'm getting myself socks.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59Cos once I've got everything
0:27:59 > 0:28:04I've only got, like, a couple of pound left, so...
0:28:04 > 0:28:09Obviously everybody gets skint but, like, I'm like always skint,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12like, even when I get paid I'm skint.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16I run out of money usually a day or two after I get paid.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34To furnish her empty flat, Shelby applied for a Community Care Grant.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36She was initially refused,
0:28:36 > 0:28:40but eventually given just enough to buy a bed, fridge and microwave.
0:28:40 > 0:28:44But for the last ten months, she's had no cooker.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47Cos it's more expensive, this stuff for the microwave.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50Like, these chips, like, it's two for 2.50,
0:28:50 > 0:28:53whereas if I was to get chips that you can make in the oven,
0:28:53 > 0:28:56you get, like, two big giant bags for 2.50
0:28:56 > 0:28:58and it's, like, do you know what I mean?
0:28:58 > 0:29:01So, it'd be saving me money and there'd be more chips,
0:29:01 > 0:29:03and...it'd be better.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08My auntie's got a cooker for me but I just need to get, like, the money
0:29:08 > 0:29:11to get it in a van up.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14I'd be a lot better off if I was to be able to, like,
0:29:14 > 0:29:18just cook proper meals, like, the way real people do.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22I'm always hungry, like, even if I've ate I'm still hungry.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25So I'm just, like, "Right, you're just greedy,
0:29:25 > 0:29:28"you don't need more than that, you don't need more than that," so...
0:29:28 > 0:29:31If you drink too much coffee you get, like, this sick-y feeling
0:29:31 > 0:29:37and you just don't want to eat, so, if I drink that then...it helps.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48For Shelby, things are looking up.
0:29:48 > 0:29:50- The right, Shelby, aye? - Er, no, left.
0:29:53 > 0:29:54A colleague at work, with a van,
0:29:54 > 0:29:57is helping her collect her aunt's old cooker.
0:29:57 > 0:29:59- Been lying here for months, Shelby? - Aye.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03- Oh, thanks a lot, man. - All right, straight through?
0:30:03 > 0:30:04Er, you can go that way.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13- Now, you take care, right?- Thanks.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21Shelby has just discovered that the cooker has no power cable.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24Ugh, just a bit...
0:30:25 > 0:30:29I don't know, because I want... I wanted to go make my soup but...
0:30:30 > 0:30:32..I need to wait until, I don't know.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38Oh, there's just... there's always something,
0:30:38 > 0:30:40there's always, always something.
0:30:46 > 0:30:48Never mind.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54Shelby would like a safety net of savings for the future,
0:30:54 > 0:30:58so when things go wrong, she can afford to get what she needs.
0:30:58 > 0:30:59Like a cooker wire.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03Credit unions are similar to high-street banks,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06but are better able to support people on low incomes.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09Shelby is going to see about opening an account.
0:31:10 > 0:31:11- What age are you just now?- 17.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14You can join the Credit Union when you're 16,
0:31:14 > 0:31:15but you can't borrow money.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18Legally, you can't borrow money until you're 18 years old.
0:31:18 > 0:31:20Er, you'll need two forms of identification,
0:31:20 > 0:31:22so do you have a passport or a driving licence?
0:31:22 > 0:31:23I don't have any photographic ID.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26- Have you got anything with your photograph, a student card...?- No.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29If you want to stand here by this door... Yep, just here.
0:31:29 > 0:31:30Then we'll take your photo...
0:31:30 > 0:31:34The Credit Union are used to helping out people in Shelby's position.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37Like saving them the cost of an ID photo.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39It's dead adult-y, going to a Credit Union.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41There's your photographs there, Shelby.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43Definitely want to make an account.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46Even so, it will be a challenge for Shelby
0:31:46 > 0:31:48to find the £6 needed to open the account.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57'I think my life could've been a lot easier...
0:31:57 > 0:31:59'if I would've just behaved myself
0:31:59 > 0:32:02'and, like, I wasnae always cheeky to my dad
0:32:02 > 0:32:04'so then I wouldnae have got kicked out.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06'I'd have probably been at, like, college
0:32:06 > 0:32:09'or going on holidays and stuff
0:32:09 > 0:32:12'cos I would've had the financial support.'
0:32:15 > 0:32:18After not seeing each other for six months,
0:32:18 > 0:32:21Shelby decided to make contact with her dad.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25She wanted to show him how much she's changed.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28'My dad came up and fitted my cooker in.'
0:32:28 > 0:32:30It was good, like, just,
0:32:30 > 0:32:32doing the cooker with him and, like, wiring it up.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35It was good, like...doing something with him.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38Seeing her dad leaves Shelby reflecting back on her childhood.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44You're only, like, a child for so long and then...
0:32:45 > 0:32:47..Like, it's up to you.
0:32:47 > 0:32:49You make what you want to make of your life, really.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52I don't feel, like, bad about where my life is.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55It's not ideal, but I'm still only 17,
0:32:55 > 0:32:57I've got a lot of time to...
0:33:00 > 0:33:03..make what I want to make of my life so...
0:33:04 > 0:33:09Don't know, it's just, like, a kind of temporary position - hopefully!
0:33:25 > 0:33:28Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd