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SMOKES ON YOU
I blow £700 of my benefits on fags but don’t judge me – I cost less than single mums
Erica says her habit has helped contribute £125,000 in tax
WITH the cost of living higher than ever before, millions of people in the UK rely on benefits to pay for everyday essentials.
But Erica Cartier, who gets a £911 payday from the government each month, has revealed most of hers are spent on cigarettes.
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Here she explains to Fabulous why she shouldn't be judged...
My first thoughts on waking are: “Cigarettes. Lighter. Smoke” and that’s not limited to daylight hours, writes Erica.
I’m so hooked I’ll often wake in the middle of the night for a quick chuff at 2am, 3am and again at 4am.
Cigarettes, along with my cats, can keep me company when insomnia so often strikes.
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But with the cheapest pack of fags selling for £11.50 in the UK, it isn’t a cheap habit and some months can see me spending a whopping £713 on cigarettes alone.
Of course everyone has the right to spend their money on what they want and it wouldn't be a problem should I have a well paid job, or a wealthy beau.
But Universal Credit is my main source of income as a carer for my disabled boyfriend and the fact I am unable to work full time due to my psychosis.
I receive £911 a month for rent, bills, food and everything else, and my cigarette fund eats up most of that.
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I am able to work a few hours a week to boost my budget which varies in payment from month to month but if I earn over £455 my Universal Credit is slightly reduced.
But it makes me laugh when trolls say they pay taxes to the Government to fund my benefits – most of my benefits go straight back to the trough.
What happens to your body when you stop smoking
This month I was in Prague and was able to buy my Lambert for the equivalent of £3.50 a pack and stock-up on Duty Free fags. But I couldn't help but wonder just how much tax I pay on my UK cigarettes?
In the UK the tax on cigarettes is 16.5% of the retail price plus £6.69 on a packet of 20, meaning I am paying around £8.59 of tax per pack and as I get through two packs a day that comes in at £120.26 a week or £6,253.52 a year.
Over a decade could be in excess of £62K, even without considering the consistent tax hikes the Government put on ciggies these days.
I understand this tax pays towards NHS costs for if my smoking makes me seriously ill.
But smoking two packs of £11.50 fags a day over two decades means I have paid over approximately £125k in taxes.
I could have built a whole hospital with the benefits that I've put towards my incessant smoking addiction.
If I get a little income from self-employment one month, it all goes in cigarettes.
If I don't work I make myself DIY roll-ups at a fraction of the cost and sometimes I ask friends and family to buy me duty-free ciggies while they’re away.
I’m sure everyone is wondering why I don’t just quit.
I've tried and failed several times over the years and today, at 44 years old, I've simply lost the will and I'm far from alone..
Recent stats say smokers are less likely to quit today than they were in pre-lockdown.
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According to research by experts at Yocan Vaporizer, online searches for ‘How to quit smoking’ in the UK have reached their lowest point in five years.
The research examined data from Google Trends to determine the online search volume of ‘How to quit smoking’ in January 2025 compared to the past five years.
Despite January being the most popular time of the year for smokers to kick old habits, this research indicates a noticeable decline in people looking to give up smoking in 2025.
In comparison to January 2021, searches for ‘How to quit smoking’ have declined by 33%. When compared to this time last year, searches for this specific term have decreased by almost 31%.
There's a real stigma not just to claiming benefits, with ex-boyfriends calling me a loser and friends disowning me, but also to smoking.
When on dating apps, before I met my partner, smoking was always the main reason men refused to meet me, they said: “Bet kissing you is like kissing an ashtray.” And: “You must reek of fags.”
How does smoking increase your risk of lung cancer?
SMOKING cigarettes is the single biggest risk factor for lung cancer.
It's responsible for more than seven out of 10 cases, according to the NHS.
Tobacco smoke contains more than 60 different toxic substances, which are known to be carcinogenic.
If you smoke more than 25 cigarettes a day, you are 25 times more likely to get lung cancer than someone who does not smoke.
Frequent exposure to other people’s tobacco smoke - known as passive or secondhand smoking - can also increase your risk of developing lung cancer.
Aside from cigarettes, the following products can also put you at risk of the disease:
- Cigars
- Pipe tobacco
- Snuff (a powdered form of tobacco)
- Chewing tobacco
- Cannabis (especially when mixed with tobacco)
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Whoever said kindness was dead, was dead right.
I lost one boyfriend who said: “I'm not looking after you when you get cancer.”
And former colleagues when I worked and got colds would pipe-up: “I've no sympathy for sick smokers – they bring everything on themselves.”
What the naysayers don't realise is that it's very common for people like me, with schizophrenia, to smoke – more frequently and for longer than those without a severe mental illness according to mental health charity ASH.
Science is yet to determine why and find a fix (other than nicotine) for people like me.
I say to you today – let me decide what I do with my benefits
Erica Cartier
I tend to think cigarettes calm me down when my anxiety rides high and settle me before bed.
But I say to you today – let me decide what I do with my benefits.
Of course, there's a dark shadow all smokers have, that one day they'll get cancer or a disability because of their habit. It concerns me, but not enough yet to shock me into quitting.
I know it makes my asthma worse, but it's under control for now.
Besides, I had two grandparents who smoked and both lived past 75 years of age. The damage at 44 is likely already done.
So for now, I'll continue to smoke.
Yet I won't have children to pay for in the future and care full-time for my partner in his wheelchair which saves tax payers a lot in social care taxes.
While I believe I'm costing taxpayers less than single mums, I don't begrudge my fellow parental claimants - their children will likely have to look after me in old age. My cats certainly won't.
I prefer to hear about single mums getting £2.5K on Universal Credit for their broods than careerists who might not see their children as much - it's important to spend time, and not necessarily just hard-earned cash, with children and off-spring.
My best friend is a single mum on UC and unlike my single working-mum friends, she's more time to do stuff like meeting up or catching up on the phone.
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I also pay extortionate VAT taxes on my cigarettes and work part-time with the hours my doctors and psychiatrist recommend.
I’m costing the taxpayer far less than you think.
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