Girls Growing up Poor

This programme contains strong language.

Summer, 2012.

The Royal Jubilee, the Olympics.

Even the bad weather can't stop Britain feeling good about itself.

But these are uncertain times.

In the age of austerity, not everyone is celebrating.

For three teenage girls, it's a summer of struggling to get by.

Caught between a disappearing childhood

and an unknown future, this is their story.

Obviously, when you're young you're like, you try and show off,

don't you? I think really I showed off a bit too much,

and cos I showed off, like, I had to keep that

reputation up...if you get what I mean.

But now I regret it, cos look who's there.

They used to say to you in school, like "boffs" and everything,

we used to laugh at them.

"Ha, look at you, you boff, computer nerd," and stuff like that,

but look where they are now, and then look where I am.

SHOUTING

17-year-old Bridie was visiting her best friend Billie.

Slagging Bridie off.

But in doing so, was taking a risk.

She's currently on bail and banned from this street.

What you BEEP on about...?

Had me in front of that BEEP judge, you BEEP all right, you.

A neighbour has heard that Bridie's back,

and is threatening to call the police.

-Crackhead!

-Bridie, leave it.

By the way, she's bailed to my road.

She's bailed to my address.

I used to live with me nan. At me nan's I had discipline,

but then, cos I didn't like what she was saying,

I just argued with her until I just couldn't live with her.

But that's what I wanted back then, not to live with me nan

so I didn't have no rules,

no time in or owt like that, just doing me own thing.

She says I'm on her street when I'm not, so she's phoned coppers again.

I'd have been all right if I'd have kept my mouth shut, but can't have somebody slag me off behind me back.

After this court thing, I'm going for her. I'll get done for assault.

At least I'm getting done for something proper.

Me nan and granddad, they're like,

"Oh you need to get a job," and this that and the other. I used to say, "I'll be up dole, me."

"Ah, d'you know how much you get up dole?"

"How much, Mother?" "Hundred quid, that's got to last thee a fortnight."

I used to laugh... cos hundred quid back then seemed a lot,

and I used to laugh and say, "Oh, yeah, hundred quid, I'd be able to live off hundred quid."

Now she's laughing at me.

Why?

Cos I just can't live off hundred quid.

Have you seen the papers? No, you haven't, you trollop.

I actually want to go in Army...

so I can go back to me Nan and say,

"Look, I know I was a real shit back then but I have come out

"with summat and not just a criminal record or summat stupid like that."

When are you going to make this change?

Soon...very soon.

Bridie, I arrest you on suspicion of breaching your bail conditions.

You don't have to say anything.

Anything you do say may be given in evidence.

This is ridiculous, this.

I'll sit you in the back of this police car, all right?

If they want a scene, let's give them a scene, come on.

Bridie will spend tonight in the cells.

Amber. Amber!

Uh.

Amber, you have to wake up.

-No.

-Yeah!

Ah!

SHE SIGHS

-Simone?

-Yeah?

Will you make me a cuppa?

Amber is 16 and pregnant.

She's never been at her best in the morning,

but the last few months have especially tough.

I'm in here because my bedroom's getting redecorated for ready

for when my baby comes, so, and I don't have no carpet

at the moment cos we haven't been able to get a carpet, so

I can't move back until my carpet's done so I've got to sleep on couch.

You made a right mess. Can tell you don't make cup of teas.

Can tell you don't have a morning person.

I'm sure you can make your own.

'It's hard you know, I'm still a teenager.

'Like I'm scared inside, so being pregnant's a new beginning.

'I've got to grow up.'

-See you later.

-Bye.

D'you want to go to shop?

Thanks.

Love you.

Turning water on.

Do you turn it on and off all the time?

Yeah, cos it wastes gas, if you leave it on,

then it just eats

your gas like I don't know what...

so, and we can't afford that, so...

Despite being 20 weeks pregnant,

Amber has started an introductory hair and make-up course.

But she's also having to get used to being seen as a teenage mum.

When I go to hospital, I just feel awkward sometimes.

You know you look dead young compared to all these...women.

And sometimes you get a few stares as well.

It still feels like...you've done summat wrong,

even though you haven't, but you have, it's weird.

And a lot of them are with their partners as well,

and I'm just like, walking, toddling on my own.

I've got to take in a notepad today, and I don't even have one.

When I was younger I wanted to be, like, famous.

Like, I wanted to be an actress.

But acting lessons and stuff, it cost money.

I just expected, like, I would go to school ... and then as soon

as I left school, somebody would just discover me and I would be this

big, famous actress within a week, but it's just not how it works.

Like you don't...

you don't know anything about, like, life, like how hard stuff is.

17-year-old Shelby spent 12 months on benefits...

but she's now working five days a week and getting used to her new routine.

Cos I don't have any experience, I've never had a job before.

I messed up in school and all that, so, like,

most people won't take me for a job so this is my one chance

to just...get there, so...

For a year there, I was like sleeping

all day, like, constantly just lying in my bed all the time, just lazy,

cos I didn't have any reason to get up out of my bed, like,

so I was just lying there and just, don't know, like a beached whale.

Thanks.

Morning!

Shelby's job is actually a six-month work placement

arranged by a local charity.

£55 a week is not really that great,

but it's only like stacking shelves and stuff,

but I'm happy to be doing that cos at least I'm working.

Going out and I'm doing something.

Despite working 30 hours a week, Shelby's financially no better off.

The £55 she gets from the placement is the same as she would have got on Jobseeker's Allowance.

I hope it'll be worth the work and I'll get a real job at some point.

Obviously I'm still going to make mistakes,

but I'm going down the right path.

In Rotherham, after a night in the cells, Bridie's due in court.

Billie and some of other friends have come to hear the verdict.

Because she has previous, there's a chance Bridie could go down.

I hate this court.

HE LAUGHS Why?

-I like Sheffield court.

-Do ya?

Yeah, better than Rotherham, I don't like Rotherham.

I reckon she'll get remanded today...what do you think?

Basically if you're in Court 10, it's game over, Rover, I reckon.

She's just a little girl in a big world, trying to be a big girl.

We thought you were getting remanded, us.

-Did they pass that message onto you?

-Tell me to keep me mouth shut?

The court has renewed Bridie's bail.

She'll be back for sentencing in a few weeks,

but for now she's not going to prison.

Oh, they give me some porridge this morning.

-Did you enjoy it, love?

-It were nice, actually.

-It is, isn't it?

That's why I said, eat everything they offer you.

The night before, I'd been up all night drinking,

so as soon as I got in cell, I just fell straight to sleep

We need to be going McDonald's.

Let me just go to cash machine over there, I'll be back in two seconds.

That's if me card works.

-It will, man.

-It better do.

-Here.

That's if it works, it didn't work yesterday.

Me, if my card don't work...

If you want some money, yeah.

-"Today, you may withdraw nil."

-Uh, why?

-See?

-That don't make sense, why?

-Don't know.

Off my mum?

I don't know. If not, come on.

That's dodgy, that.

Can't you lend her a fiver? Yeah, she'll lend you a fiver, there you go.

Feeling the fresh air, mate?

Need it back, though, cos I'm fucking stony broke.

-Are we going?

-Who's pulling me up?

-You can get your self up.

With a fiver from Billie's mum, they're off to McDonalds.

Donna, they made me sleep in a cell with a...

You should've said, "I want me solicitor here! Now!"

I used to be naughty but I stopped being naughty and growed up.

It's not like you did owt wrong.

For Amber, a lot has happened in the last year.

After falling out with her mum, and dropping out of college,

she went to live with her dad.

But when she became pregnant,

she had to decide what was best for her and her baby.

My dad didn't have no carpets and didn't really have much food

and stuff like that. I knew it wouldn't be stable,

so I chose to come back to my mum.

Amber's return has put an added financial strain on the family.

Hello?

Her mum, Mandy, and her new partner, Scott, are having to support

Amber out of their existing benefits.

Why have you took the floor up?

Cos it's horrible...mouldy.

I don't have no bedroom.

Not quite.

-God, I can smell the damp over here.

-Oh.

With the house already full,

Amber and the baby are going to be living downstairs.

Can you get rid of that black stuff on the wall?

Fingers crossed.

Obviously I feel a lot better now she's back.

She's had to get used to the idea that there's rules

and regulations again and getting back into the routine

that there's a bedtime and we eat at a certain time.

If we're not on top of it and everyone don't

pull their weight, before you know it, the whole place has crumbled.

Went through a bad part in my life where I went through a lot of...

I met a lot of boys, did a lot of bad things, you know.

I've been that so-called slapper what you meet.

Every now and then she has a little blast-out.

Especially her hormones and teenage years mixed together.

Erm...

but, yeah, she still does try to get away with murder, if she can!

She's been quite aggressive - swearing, back-chatting,

erm, not much regard for other people, at some points.

She's such a lovely girl, though, really, you know,

probably part of this is the stress at her age.

I've had a lucky escape to be pregnant

because it's made me change the way I were.

I'm going to try my best to make sure he has the right way of life,

you know, he might come off o' track.

I hope he's not like most of the boys I know.

I don't mean, like, my close mate boys

but, like, the more, like, the nasty attitude, the hurting women,

you know, being a complete arse.

And if he got someone pregnant

and he did what my baby's dad done to me I'd be so ashamed.

I was 19 when I had Amber.

Erm, obviously I were a bit more grown up than her,

erm, but I still were in a bit of a similar situation,

where I weren't prepared to have a baby.

I didn't have the things that I needed.

Erm, it weren't an ideal...situation either.

'She's got the same kind of thoughts as me.

'it's not, not who puts you there, it's who raises you.

'It's who brings you up.'

Shelby spent her teenage years moving between her dad's,

her aunt's and her friends.

Currently she has little contact with her dad.

'I'd go and, like, stay somewhere, and I'd just, like, be like,

' "Oh, I wont stay here for long,

' "I'll be somewhere else in a couple of months."

'At the time I was like,

' "Oh, they don't want me, they don't care about me,

"they don't love me."

Obviously, they couldn't handle me.

Shelby ended up in a hostel

before getting her own flat on the south side of Glasgow.

When she moved here she had nothing.

But I would just, like, I had two quilts

and my teddy, and pillows, and that,

and I would just lie them there, and...sleep there.

And then cos it was quite cold then,

cos this would've been, like, November,

I was, like, sleeping on the floor and the cold hurts your back.

Ugh.

It was quite straight to start with but...

No.

'The social worker got this, like, charity

'to give me all this second hand stuff -

'the couch, that unit the telly's on, the table, that chair.'

To start with I was lying on the floor,

and then, like, I upgraded to this but this wasn't much better.

As soon as you sit on it, it's like...

way down here!

For first couple of days I was like,

"Oh, I don't care, this is my house."

Cos I just thought that everything would just be sorted

and I'd have a nice house in nae time, but...I don't.

After leaving her grandparents,

Bridie moved around Rotherham living with various family and friends...

..but a few weeks ago she moved into a two-bed shared house,

after being referred to a youth housing charity.

Although part of her rent is paid for by the housing benefit,

she has to manage on her income support of eight pounds a day.

Sometimes I'll buy some cloths and stuff

but mostly just, like, shopping...

like, rent and stuff.

'How much does it cost to live here?'

Er, well, housing actually pay me rent

but I have to pay, erm...

I think it's 13 pound for, like, me gas and electric, and stuff.

Bridie never knew her dad, and she's never lived with her mum.

'Me mum were a drug user.

'Crack and smack, and deep stuff like that.

'I can't say she's ever looked after me

'but she knew in her own head that she weren't here, though, so.'

She never properly mothered me or owt like that cos me nan did it.

It was her nan who encouraged her to join the army cadets.

'I just think that in't army'

you've got, like, a lot of work to do and that,

but it's, like, you can tour t'world and stuff like that,

and meet different people, and see how other people live,

and stuff like that.

I think, if I get done again,

I think this time it will go on me record,

which means I can't go in't army.

Bridie's not yet applied for the army...

instead she got on a training course to improve her qualifications

but it didn't work out.

So now, she has little to fill her days.

I chose to be a knobhead and go out with all me mates,

-and do what

-I

-wanted to do, and look where it got me...

..nowhere.

I don't want discipline but I need it to...

to be able to carry on living.

Without discipline I'm going to be a bit fucked, really.

I don't want to sit and have this lifestyle for't rest of me life.

Quite sad, like, I spend a lot of time up here,

just looking at everything.

Dunno, it's sad that I'm 17

and, like, just looking out the window and...

Do you know what I mean? I don't think there's anybody else my age

sitting doing this all the time...

..bored and there's always people fighting, and stuff, like,

cos you'll get people that are drunk and then...

they'll be down there

and they'll just be making a pure fool of theirsel'

and it's quite funny but...

..dunno.

Yeah, you want some more?

Amber's also got more time on her hands...

He'll push it t'back o't spoon and then he can't reach it!

..she's decided that continuing with the beauty course is too difficult.

Um!

Her friend Sammy became a mum six months ago and relies on benefits.

This too will be Amber's only option as well,

so she's made an application for income support...

Open your mouth then.

Is that nice?

..for both, pregnancy has meant completely rethinking their futures.

I didn't think you were going to have kids.

I didn't plan for it to happen but I wouldn't change it

cos obviously I was expecting it to be a lot later

-when I was having children.

-Talked about babies sometimes...

-Yeah...

-..but we'd rather just chill.

-Listen to music and...

Yeah, listen to music and be proper teenagers, really,

and then that's... I think that's why it's a shocker that we're both...

-Yeah.

-But then, to be quite honest, I didn't want a kid,

I was so dead set on wanting my career at college and stuff.

Even though I'll be in the shit at home I wanted my career.

That what... I wanted to, like, get a job and everything,

-and then have children when I found someone.

-Mm.

But then it just...

We said if we ever had a baby I wouldn't get rid of it cos it's well tight.

Yeah, I wouldn't have got rid of him.

There's no way I'd have done that.

I thought, "I'm not going to be able to cope."

I didn't know about the money schemes and stuff,

I thought, "I'm not going to have no money, what am I going to do?"

Obviously, at the beginning I'm on't dole but what am I supposed to do?

I need to provide for my baby

so I ain't got much of a choice at the moment.

You know it's going to be way harder if we were on us own.

55 is what I get.

That's all I've got to live on.

And then bread's a pound and milk's a pound.

I've got bread, milk, a fish finger thing, erm...

cereal, chips, crisps, juice, cold meat and cheese.

That comes to 14.50, so it leave me £40.50.

Before I done the budgeting I'd just go in a shop

and then I'd be, "Oh, I want this, I want this,"

and then I'd spend like £20.

I need new socks...

probably be about two pound...

..12.50, I've left myself, for fags.

I probably could get more food with that and stuff

but fags is about the only luxury I get.

Well, this week I'm getting myself socks.

cos once I've got everything

I've only got, like, a couple of pound left, so...

Toilet roll, I need toilet roll.

I always imagined, when I was younger I would just live normally,

and it'd be easy just to have things and buy everything you need.

Obviously everybody gets skint but, like, I'm like always skint,

like, even when I get paid I'm skint.

I run out of money, usually, a day or two after I get paid.

I wouldn't dare fetch my kids up in Ferham, no way.

It's horrible.

There's no hope for nobody, there's no...

There's no future for anyone.

Can't wait to just get a bit of money behind me

and then just that's it, straight out of Rotherham.

Never mind just Ferham.

Bridie's been sentenced for the incident at Billie's house.

She wasn't sent down but has been hit with a £170 fine.

Hi, you!

Today, she's come to see Tina, who lives with Billie's mum.

Pussy!

Tina has got to know Bridie well and wants her to stay out of trouble.

'Now, now, don't hurt him!

'You don't realise how serious jail is, Bridie.'

No, freedom whatsoever - that's when you have got to do as your told.

Like it or lump it.

Keep thee gob shut!

It's not that I don't listen to people,

it does genuinely go in me head.

It doesn't stay there, it goes in there and straight out of there.

Because, two minutes later,

you've done exactly what you said you weren't going to do.

Cos she always comes back to her, to her roots, which is here in Ferham,

right, and it's not good.

It's not good because her roots here, of course,

do nothing but trouble all her life, you know?

It's, it's not been good for her, so she's...

I know me nan used to say to me,

"What's thou want to go up fucking Ferham for, eh?

"Eh? With all them lot, eh?"

Like that. And then I used to say, "No, cos I've got me mates up here."

I love her to pieces and if I could wish for a daughter

I would wish for it to be Bridie

but she's just got to learn to keep her mouth shut.

Give me some of that pop.

-Oi-oi-oi...

-It's 35p drink!

-Me boyfriend's away and I ain't got no money.

-How much have you got?

-A tenner.

-That's all right.

-Oh and what am I going to live on for the next three days?

-Water.

Fuck off, I ain't, I'm living on no fucking heating, as it is.

Why fetch us in this earth, like, just to be plonked here

and then not give us enough money to explore, if you get what I mean.

When I get paid 100 quid I have to get me shopping,

then me, like, me rent thing,

and then by the time I've done

it's like, "Right, make sure I've got enough shopping

"to last me two week..."

Look, regardless of what we think of the government

they do give us money

and they do give us enough to live on, only just...

No offence but I think they should give younger ones an extra bit.

We can't afford to go swimming, or fucking skating, or to t'cinema

-and shit like that...

-Tough.

-..only eight quid...

-What do you mean "Tough"?

-Tough.

Right, get up off your arse, go and get a paper round, yeah?

Thy get up and get a fucking job!

Listen, I'm fucking 50 years old, I've done my bit!

Right? And if I could get up and go out there

and get a job tomorrow I would.

You'll never have nowt in this life

if thou not prepared to get up off thee arse...

No, I am prepared to get up off me arse

but not for a fucking paper round to save about 15 quid at end of week.

Cos your brain's ticking for something to do

and if it's not doing owt you're bored, so you want, you're asleep,

yeah, or on the street.

Bridie, this 17 years has not been brilliant

but the next 17 years can be fantastic

and 17 years after that, and 17 years after that

but it's only you can make it any better.

-Tina, ain't I stopped sniffing?

-Have you fuck.

-She has.

I've stopped sniffing, stopped drinking, smoking next.

Amber's finally heard about her income support claim...

it's not good.

-You all right?

-Yeah.

She's only eligible when 29 weeks pregnant

and mistakenly she had applied too early.

Right, so what we have to do

is take another look at how we do us shopping.

We both smoke, so we'll have to both stop smoking

and what were the other thing we use too much of?

-A bit of milk.

-Mm.

-Yeah?

But you're going to have to do without the clothes.

It's making the best of a situation now

but you're going to eat, you're going to be warm, OK?

Mm.

I just don't want to be one of them shit mums

that baby doesn't have nothing.

Shouldn't have put myself in this position in't first place

but it's happened and at least I'm trying to make it work.

It's like Amber's following the same path

and obviously I've tried to do everything possible.

You were... You are a good mum.

Oi.

Come here.

Sh.

Everything's going to be fine.

Amber will have to wait and reapply.

Under budget.

I spent...10.25, so I've got, like, four pound left to play with,

so I got all this for a tenner.

To furnish her empty flat, Shelby applied for a Community Care Grant.

She was initially refused

but eventually given just enough to buy a bed, fridge and microwave.

But for the last ten months, she's had no cooker.

I got this, this is quite nice and it's only a pound,

and it goes in the microwave.

It's just, like, fish fingers on, like, a wee bun thing,

that's quite nice.

Cos it's more expensive, this stuff for the microwave.

Like these chips, like, it's two for 2.50,

whereas if I was to get chips that you can make in the oven,

you get, like, two big giant bags for 2.50

and it's, like, do you know what I mean?

So, it'd be save me money and there'd be more chips,

and...it'd be better.

My auntie's got a cooker for me but I just need to get, like, the money

to like get it, and a van up.

I'd be a lot better off if I was to be able to, like,

just cook proper meals, like, the way real people do.

I know I've got a big appetite.

I'm always hungry, like, even if I've ate I'm still hungry.

Like, so I'm just like, "Right, you're just greedy,

"you don't need more than that, you don't need more than that," so.

If you drink too much coffee you get, like, this sicky feeling

and you just don't want to eat, so, if I drink that then...it helps.

MUSIC: "Rescue Song" by Mr Little Jeans

Will you shut up?

Ignore her.

Getting a feel of it now.

It's all right, I've got a fiver.

Oi, look at him, he's a crackhead!

He can't afford a normal haircut! THEY ALL LAUGH

MUSIC: "Rescue Song" by Mr Little Jeans

We'll get the potatoes when we go out.

Which eggs?

Is it a pigeon? I think it is.

Are we going to fetch it up

-and then it'll come back to us when it's older?

-Shut up!

-It will.

You feel like a kid again when you get these, don't you?

Julie's got you a syringe to feed it. It's got half a needle in it.

WOMEN SHOUTING

No, I'm not using that, that's been in a smackhead, that.

He don't want water, he wants a worm, he wants a worm.

What about Ready Brek?

Right, so we've got a bum there, today.

You've got a little dark line running up from your pubic line,

here, it's going to meet your belly.

Amber's now six months into her pregnancy.

Healthy babies wriggle around that much

so it's a really, really good sign.

Right, chick, are you feeling all right in yourself, yeah?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

How are you doing wi' smoking?

Well, I went off a day cos we didn't have no money for no cigs at all,

so I went all the day without having a cig, until right,

right late at night, from not having none for all day.

-Er, you know already...

-Yeah.

Single biggest preventable cause of babies dying,

so if we can knock those ciggies on the head.

Erm, have you had one of these?

-I don't know.

-Right.

Don't get horribly confused about it, all right?

If it don't make any sense to you

just sling it at your mum, all right?

Cos, erm, it's got some, some information about, you know,

your claim for child benefit and that kind of stuff

cos you're over 29 weeks now, so, you know.

-Yeah, my first payment should be day before my birthday.

-Excellent.

So I can finally get him something!

-SHE EXHALES

-At last.

My uncle Mark's girlfriend,

-she has given me a Moses basket and stuff, so...

-Excellent.

So all you need, really, is nappies, isn't it?

Yeah, and I need a carpet in my bedroom

-so that's what I'm going to get out of Maternity Grant.

-Fair dos.

I was just going to say,

rather than spending your money from your Maternity Grant

you could apply for a Social Fund loan

and then they'll take it directly out of your benefit, you know,

before it comes through, cos that's meant for emergency bits of kit,

cos you can't be without, for example, a cooker or a bed, can you?

You, kind of, need those things, they're absolutely essential.

I need to remember everything, I always forget everything.

-Do you not put alerts in your phone? I save...

-Don't have a phone.

Oh, do you not? Well, it's not end of world.

Right, sweetheart, I think we're all sorted and done, and dusted.

Dealing with realities of adulthood has become even harder for Bridie.

Her debts have caught up with her and now, her home is at risk.

Housing sent me a letter saying that I've gotta pay me arrears off

otherwise I've got, like, three week to get out.

'How much is the rent arrears?'

I think it's about 180, something like that.

'And what's your weekly rent?'

I ain't even got a clue.

'Do you mind me asking why you haven't been able to pay it?'

I don't know, I just didn't pay it.

I just let it build up.

'Have you been worried?'

A bit yeah cos I got me fine to pay off as well.

So there's nowt much I can do.

But for Shelby, things are looking up.

Up to the right, Shelby, aye?

Er, no, left.

A colleague at work, with a van,

is helping her collect her aunt's old cooker.

At the front.

-Be lying here for long, Shelby?

-Aye.

And there's an added bonus -

thanks to her aunt's neighbour.

I've got two nice couches...a cooker, so...

I'm happy.

-Oh, thanks a lot, man.

-All right, straight through?

Er, you can go that way.

And Mandy's managed to find £78 from the family's budget

to do up Amber and the baby's new room.

It ties it in, don't it?

-Not really!

-That's artwork!

-They look cool together.

-No, it don't, it looks shit.

Flower that you've cut out not even look good either!

I'm going to buy a blue one, though.

A blue what?

Sheet and quilt.

-Yeah, well you can do that with your own money, can't you?

-Yeah.

Being on me own I don't mind, it's just the house, I don't like it,

it's horrible, I can't do nowt here.

I can't decorate, I can't do nothing.

Everything just does your head in.

It's horrible.

I just don't like it.

I'm going to move in with one of me mates.

There's no point worrying about t'future, that's ages away, innit?

Thanks.

Teddies on that one.

Watch!

There you go, girl.

I had to climb up top o't cupboard to get them.

I'm going to get my baby's footprints and handprints put on the wall.

-Now, you take care, right?

-Thanks.

So, you'll just have to wait a couple of weeks, now, to get your carpet.

Yup, and then my wardrobe is my next thing.

It's all on you from now on.

It's down to you to change and make things better for yourself.

Shelby has just discovered that the cooker has no power cable.

Ugh, just a bit...

I don't know, because I want... I wanted to go make a soup but...

..I need to wait until, I don't know.

Oh, there's just, there's always something,

there's always, always something.

Never mind.

I've had to grow into an adult, I've had to change a lot of my ways.

Obviously, at the beginning of my pregnancy,

I weren't going to do it straight away

because it were a big jump from being a one certain person

to another certain person.

From being a child, really, to an adult.

So, and obviously it's had to build in time to become an adult.

It weren't going to just happen like that.

So, but yeah, I think you have to, though, you have to mature.

You can't just... You can't be a kid looking after a kid, like...

You can't act like a child and be looking after a child.

Can I get the hang of being an adult before I could, like...

have a baby, like?

Like, there's so much, like, I think it...

Responsibility, like...

having a house, like, can you imagine having a house and a baby?

I just... There's no way I could do it right now.

Don't start pissing me off now.

Well, I've got a headache!

I need to go Donna's, pay me nan the fucking money back!

Bridie's boyfriend isn't able to help with the pressure she's under.

-SHOUTS:

-I've just said fucking stay then, don't start mouthing at me!

When you come here I'm not going to be here, I swear now.

-I've had enough, man, I swear now.

-Ah, get out!

-When you come back...

-No, get out now.

-It's not your fucking house, is it?

-That's it, I swear now.

-So we done?

-Yeah, we're done.

-Well, get out of me house now then!

-SCREAMS:

-You're doing me head in, just get OUT!

Just comes from everywhere...

..house, me fine, arguing with everyone, it's everything.

And then I just start screaming and just let it all out at once.

For Shelby, who rarely has any spare cash,

the options to save or borrow money are limited.

Doorstep lenders would gladly help but at a cost.

While the chances of getting a loan from a High Street bank

are almost nil.

But she's heard of a possible alternative.

Hi, erm, I'm looking to start, like, a Credit Union account.

No problem. Any family members who are members,

-who've directed you here or what was your...?

-Erm...

-..your initial reason for coming in?

-Well, it was a friend who told me...

The main purpose of our Credit Union is the benefit of its members.

People who are on low incomes or people who are financially excluded.

-Are you living yourself or with parents or...?

-Myself.

-Yourself?

-Yeah.

So I can imagine it'd be quite... Like, financial...

-Like, finances are quite an important part of day to day...

-Aye.

Have you ever had any, like, any problems with, like,

money management or anything?

Erm, yeah.

So that you can save up and make a commitment to the Credit Union

you need to deposit at least one pound

into your shares account, to start it up.

You can deposit more if you wish but it's a five-pound joining fee

and a one pound into your shares account.

So in your first loan you can borrow twice what you've saved up.

So if you save up £150, it'll be £300.

-What age are you just now?

-17.

You can join the Credit Union when you're 16, but you can't borrow money.

Legally you can't borrow money until you're 18 years old.

Er, you'll need two forms of identification,

so do you have a passport or a driving licence?

I don't have any photographic ID.

-Have you got anything with your photograph, a student card...?

-No.

If you want to stand here by this door... Yep, just here.

Then we'll take your photo...

The Credit Union are used to helping out people in Shelby's position.

Like saving them the cost of an ID photo.

Yeah, that's fine, we'll get that printed off for you just now.

It's dead adult-y, going to a Credit Union.

Definitely want to make an account.

-There's your photographs there, Shelby.

-Thanks.

Even so, it will be a challenge for Shelby

to find the six pound needed to open the account.

Today is Amber's 17th birthday.

With the £78 budget for her new room all spent,

she can ill afford setbacks like a broken bed.

I didn't think it was going to be like this.

So, now I've got to get my bed removed

and I've just got to stay on mattress but I'm getting another bed.

So that's another thing I've got to pay out for.

So...

Cos obviously you're happy to wake up on your birthday,

be able to open presents but, like, I don't think it's really...

I'm not really bothered.

It's just, I don't know...

You get that birthday feeling when you're opening presents and stuff,

it's like, you know, it's your birthday then but, like...

..it don't bother me if I'm not doing it.

It's still my birthday!

I want to save up and get a carpet.

I think I could squeeze, like, a fiver a week.

"Are you currently employed?"

Mm.

I put, "currently employed."

Oh, no, I put, "Unem..."

Oh, I thought that said, "unemployed". Shit.

I-I don't know, like, where it would come under.

And then it asks you're your number of hours worked per week.

I'm doing... Six, two, 18, 24, 30 hours a week.

Er, that's...

Thir... That's 1.83 an hour.

Is minimum wage no, like, four pound an hour or something?

Like, five pound an hour, something?

That's quite bad!

I never thought about it like that.

Mm.

Feels like I'm getting ripped off a bit!

Mm.

Mmm.

Is it them?

CHATTERING

Who is it? Who is it?

Basically, my sister's phone's got pinched

and now we're just trying to figure out who's got t'phone.

Oi, listen...

Bridie, too, has got used to living without family support.

I just don't like asking for help.

'Like, especially people you don't know.'

-He knows who it is, him.

-Who?

-Him.

-Show me where he is.

'I knew I had to be independent

'but I didn't think it would be this hard.'

But, then again, it is an experience to stand on your own two feet

and be able to not rely on everybody all t'time, and just be independent.

No, would I go police? No!

Cos then you gotta deal with it police way,

you want to deal with it your own way, don't ya?

If police get involved you gotta do it legally

and you can't do what you want to do.

'But I miss being at home, I miss being at me nan's.

'I miss it now, because there is nobody there to say,

"Oh, well, you're doing this wrong. Oh, you can do this, this way." '

If you waste all your money then you're going to end up with nowt.

Your baby's going to come, you'll still have no carpet,

you're still going to have not what you need.

At least doing this, it gets it out of the way

and then when you get some more money

you can go buy some bloody clothes and stop nicking your sister's.

You're funny, you are, aren't ya?

Amber's income support claim has finally been accepted.

-Did you get your receipt?

-I didn't ask for a receipt.

I'm richer than you, Mum.

'It's free money but, then, we wouldn't be able to live

'if we didn't have it.

'No-one would be able to live if we didn't have it.

'Cos there's so many people on't dole, so many people.

Are you happy that you're getting a carpet?

-Are you that down because you want other stuff?

-No...

Cos I'd be, I'd be so... I'd be happy if I were getting a carpet!

-Trying to say I'm ungrateful, or something?

-Yeah, you are sometimes.

Just look at the cheaper ones for now.

Is that all right for baby, don't pull 'em out but £69 that size.

3.99, Amber.

You can't just use your living expenses on it.

Do you like them?

They'd look nice in your room, them, actually.

-£96, including fitting.

-Is that with underlay?

-No, you don't need underlay...

-You don't need underlay, that one.

-I can pay it all today.

-Can you?

-I've got enough.

-All right.

-Yeah.

-Thank you.

'Everybody struggles, everybody finds it hard to pay for things,

'and I know some people have it a lot worse off than me

'but my mum, she is the one that's been there every step,

'every single day.'

Well done, love.

'I think my life could've been a lot easier...

'if I would've just behaved myself

'and, like, I wasnae always cheeky to my dad

'so then I wouldnae have got kicked out.

'I'd have probably been at, like, college

'or going on holidays and stuff

'cos I would've had the financial support.'

After not seeing each other for six months,

Shelby decided to make contact with her dad.

She wanted to show him how much she's changed.

I don't like carrots!

'Erm, my dad come up and fitted my cooker in for me.'

It was good to, like, just, I don't know, like...

doing the cooker with him and, like, wiring it up.

It was good, like...doing something with him.

With her dad's help, Shelby is able to have a proper meal at last.

Cos me auntie makes soup and stuff, and so does my granny, so.

'After making this, how much money will you have left?'

Nothing.

I've got no more money for the, like, the rest of the week,

I've only got 90-odd pence.

Like, David Cameron is supposedly

supposed to be stopping housing benefit for people...under 25,

which I don't think's fair because...like...

..I don't know, like,

I'm getting housing benefit but I'm still working.

So, like, if he done that right now

then I wouldnae know what to do, like...

..there'd be nae way I could stay in this hoose.

They'd probably be like...I don't know...

Everybody's got problems, obviously...

Like people with money, they still have problems,

just no' money problems.

It's ready. I like that.

I have just made my first pot of soup!

For Shelby, Amber and Bridie, the summer is drawing to a close.

Still unable to pay her rent arrears,

Bridie has been staying away from home.

Instead she's been living with Tina.

Tonight her mate Rachel is having a house party across the road.

Beers, drugs, it's all you need.

I've gone in Donna's cupboard,

there were a glass of vodka and coke, weren't there?

Bridie is now thinking she may move in with Rachel.

Well, I don't know if it'll be a good home but, basically,

like, cos I don't like being on me own and she's on her own,

she's got a two bedroomed house and I said to her,

"I've got all front decorations and stuff like that,

"so might as well give it a go."

This will be my room.

I've even got a little wardrobe like me other house.

I think that's Rachel's family.

I'm going to decorate but I don't know what colour yet.

I'm hoping, like, a pinky purple or...

A pinky purple and a black, or a blue and a black, really.

If they offer you painkillers, just have them,

don't be too brave, kid, yeah?

Go in through these doors.

-You need to let them know.

-Good timing!

Thank you.

-I'll show you into the room and then I'll admit you, all right?

-Yeah.

You're doing fantastic, you are.

Oh, my God.

I got you.

I think when I was, like, a wee, wee girl...

like, kind of, like seven, eight...when everything was so easy.

Like...I don't know, everything just happens the way it happens, like...

you're only, like, a child for so long and then...

like it's up to you.

You make what you want to make of your life, really.

BABY CRYING

How perfect is he? He's gorgeous, isn't he?

I can't believe I'm a mum. Doesn't seem real at all.

(Let's have a look at him.)

I'm so happy.

I don't feel, like, bad about where my life is.

It's no' ideal but I'm still only 17,

I've got a lot of time to...

..make what I want to make of my life so...

Dunno it's just, like, a kind of temporary position - hopefully!

Well, it's not been easy and I kinda want him to know that as well

because, obviously, a lot of children copy their mums and dads.

He'll make it up to me sometime, for putting me through all this pain.

You weren't born on this earth to have an easy life...

but I'm only 17...

..I've not seen life yet.

I've got all them years ahead of me.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd