Gloria’s husband has lost his job as a kitchen porter due to lockdown and this meant they had to end their broadband contract because their income dropped. The family has high data demands because her husband is looking for a job and four of the children are homeschooling. School has given them a 4G MiFi and two iPads from school which have helped, but they are still struggling with accessing education and job searching.

"When my husband was working, we had a contract for broadband with Talk Talk - this was around £40 a month. I would prefer to stay with Talk Talk - we have been with them for a long time, but we had no choice; we cannot afford it. If we have broadband, there is no limit, we can do anything, we can connect with our phones too and use Whatsapp.

When we were cut off, our neighbour let us share their Wi-Fi and data for the children to be able to do their schooling. But our neighbour is a family of six and we are seven and it was too heavy for the internet - too many devices and people sharing; it was not a good connection. My husband could not search for jobs on this connection. He had to wait till the children stopped using their devices and then he could try and search for jobs using his phone.

It is scary to sign this, scary to use something that’s not yours. It makes me stressed; I am scared the children will drop it and the iPad is too expensive. I have to be there all day [and when] they finish their work, I hide it.

My youngest child likes to watch TV, to watch Peppa Pig. I can’t put it on in the mornings as it uses too much connection and then it is not strong enough for the older children to study. The children have to study first and then TV later as the box cannot handle too much.

The most difficult part was when I could not go online when Talk Talk was cut off, now I feel a little more relaxed as the school has now given us a 4G mobile Wi-Fi box to use for a year. I worry about my two eldest girls; they stay up very late finishing their work and sending it to the school as they have to wait for the two younger children to finish their school work first as we only have two devices. The school does everything online, the expectation is that everything is done online."