It won't be a happy Christmas for thousands of Greater Mancunians this year.

The city is firmly in the midst of its third winter of the cost-of-living crisis, a crisis which has deepened to such an extent that Mancunian charity Resolve Poverty means people no longer have the choice of heating or eating — it's neither.

"I think the biggest change from sort of three, four years ago is where people might have talked about having a choice between heating and eating… people haven't really got any kind of choice anymore," Graham Whitham, the charity's CEO, explained.

"I think for people on the lowest incomes, the situation continues to deteriorate and that's the big concern. There's lots more people experiencing what we call destitution — the sharp end, [where they are] not able to afford the basics."

Across Greater Manchester, the effects of rising energy bills, rents, and food prices appear to have driven more into destitution. Agnes Lock in Brinnington, Stockport, said the 'pantry' she uses to get a full shop for £4.50 is a 'lifeline' when 'things are getting worse'.

(Image - Jack Lee / Unsplash)

Carmel in Miles Platting called a similar Social Supermarket scheme 'amazing'. And Julie in Salford gets a free hot meal from FoodCycle every week which helps her 'survive' but she 'doesn't know how long for' because the crisis 'is getting worse'.

Resolve is calling for the two-child benefit cap to be lifted as an immediate measure the government could take to alleviate the crisis. After Labour came into power in July, Keir Starmer chose not to lift the limit which was imposed by the Conservatives in 2017.

Closer to home, Resolve wants 'Andy Burnham to embrace an anti-poverty agenda and make it a priority' by establishing a cross-Greater Manchester anti-poverty strategy, Graham added.

"We haven't seen a Greater Manchester city-region level to focus on poverty. That said, the individual boroughs have been really good on it — eight out of ten councils in Greater Manchester have anti-poverty strategies, which is a really good important first step in terms of saying 'tackling poverty is a priority for us, we care about this issue, we're going to think about how we use our resources to tackle it'.

"But at a Greater Manchester city-region level, we haven't necessarily seen that equivalent commitment."

A spokesperson for the GMCA said while it does not have a specific anti-poverty strategy, it does work to reducing poverty across the region through initiatives, such as Live Well centres.

The LDRS has spoken to some of the people living below the poverty line across Greater Manchester.

The Stockport suburb where the 'price of eating is ridiculous'

A similar scheme to the Social Supermarket, Stockport Homes' 'pantry' in Brinnington allows users to pay £4.50 a week for 10 items of food. They can grab meat, fish, tinned items, frozen food, and fresh fruit and veg — which organisers say is worth about £20.

Agnes Lock has been using the 'lifeline' for eight years. To her, it helps her avoid a foodbank, but her outlook is grim. She said: "We're all struggling with the cost of living and things are getting worse. But the food here is very nice."

A more recent arrival is April Sutton, using it for three months. She can't work for health reasons, and is in debt. To her, 'this really helps' because she is 'spending £4.50 a week on food' when 'the price [of eating] is just getting ridiculous'.

A happier 2025?

While the picture is bleak across Greater Manchester, there are pockets of hope. Resolve reaches out to families on the breadline to educate them on the range of support available to the.

"We've supported 193 families so far to make £400,000 pounds worth of gains," Graham Whitham explained. "Most of the gains are unclaimed benefits… a lot of families who could be receiving disability benefits aren't getting, [it] might be that [they] could get support with their council tax with the local council."

The average gain for every family is £2,000 in a year, Graham added, which can make a big difference in the shopping budget. But while there are signs of encouragement, it's clear some Mancs need a lot more help very, very quickly.

The GMCA was approached for comment.