hartlepool in the north—east of england has been one of the hardest hit.lost out on £53 million over a decade since 2010. that's the equivalent of £920 being taken every year out of the pockets of each working age adult in hartlepool between 2010 and 2020. that's much higher than the average loss across britain, which is £650 per person a year. in the second of our series looking at how public sector cuts have impacted hartlepool, our social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports on the unintended consequences of welfare reform. welfare reform was not meant to make a poor town poorer. i don't live day—to—day. i live hour to hour.l drive to get everybody into work should not be causing evictions.- the moment i'd rather keep the house empty and pay council tax than push somebody in who won't pay the rent. a system that is here to help should not appear heartless.” a system that is here to help should not appear heartless. i didn't stop working because i'm lazy. ijust need help now. in hartlepool, people once queued for work. today, they queue forfood

in hartlepool, people once queued for work. today, they queue for food.dn't have food for three days. many have suffered and of its actions or delays. what started last year as a meal for 15 is now feeding more than 100. in the first 32 minutes, 120 people came through the door, so we ran out of bags. in 2010, there were no soup kitchens of food banks in hartlepool. today, there are nine. how much money do you have right now? nothing. i haven't got any family or friends i am here on my own with one friend who doesn't have any nothing. she and rob live in this flat. two care leavers, friends since childhood, they are struggling to live without universal credit. if you could call it a kitchen. that is the whole food cupboard. kelly was sanctioned for missing an appointment while visiting her family in tyneside. nothing. what did you have in here? white goods. cooker, microwave, bed, washer. i've got loads of toiletries but i couldn't use them because i had no hot water. but how will you get food for the next few weeks? 0ne one thing about me and him. we are

ministry ofjustice figures show the areas are doncaster, dorset, hartlepool, portsmouth, the isle ofwer legal aid claims are being filled a year since 2012. now we can speak to ian howgate, who successfully fought two court cases alone after failing to find a legal aid solicitor. he says his family was living below the breadline, and he considered killing himself while fighting against a decision to stop his housing benefit. and suejames, a housing lawyer at hammersmith and fulham law centre. ian, your housing benefit was wrongly stopped and you found yourself £1000 per month out of pocket. why did you have to fight your own case? we try to find someone to fight it for us but we did not have the money to pay our rent and therefore we did not have money to pay for a solicitor ourselves and legal aid was not available for that particular type of case. as a result, it became a process of trying to argue with the council ourselves and eventually arguing through a tribunal at court. a really gruelling process that went on for 13 months, in which the other side‘s primary objective seemed t