IF you are looking at your household budget and trying to work out your finances for the next year you might find you need a degree in economics.

What’s going up and by how much, what measures the government are putting in place to try to give some people some relief is not the easiest to keep up with.

What is clear to us is that the sums do not add up.

It is certain that bills are going up and for many people the government measures are not enough to mitigate that.

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Everything that we don’t have a choice on is going to cost more, food, gas, electric, travel clothing is only going in one direction.

And for the vast majority of people in Glasgow, income through wages, pensions or benefits is not going to keep pace with the rising bills that are heading our way.

Energy bills are going up by an average of 54% from April.

If you pay on average £80 a month that is going to go up to around £120 a month.

Council tax is expected to increase by inflation which just now is 5.4% but the Bank of England predicts it will peak at above 7% by April.

A rise in inflation also means food, transport and pretty much everything we spend on, will noticeably go up.

Now, as we all know when prices go up when inflation rises, they don’t necessarily drop when inflation falls.

Price hikes have the uncanny ability to defy the laws of gravity, what goes up doesn’t always come down.

The governments appear to be powerless in this.

They can’t stop the energy price rise and the measures to compensate are inadequate.

Rishi Sunak’s £200 discount off your bill in October is a wheeze.

He is gambling that the energy market will stabilize and the cost to suppliers will come down so the cap can be adjusted and bills will lower.

Except no-one else seems to think that’s the case. Global uncertainties mean prices could stay high and it is expected Ofgem will raise the cap even higher in October, so bills could go up again.

The £200 won’t make much of a difference then, instead it will be a burden because when it is paid back you have a double whammy.

Then there is the £150 council tax discount for A to D homes.

That’s £15 off your monthly instalment.

Gas and leccy up £40, council tax down £15 equals £25 out of pocket.

But your council tax is expected to go up in line with inflation so up to half of that could be wiped out by an increase.

National Insurance is going up by 1.5% in April, so if you’re working you can expect to see your bottom line, take home pay reduce.

If you get a pay rise you might end up standing still.

The measures announced by the Chancellor earlier this month and mirrored by the Scottish Finance Secretary, Kate Forbes this week have been criticised by those working at the sharp end with people in poverty.

READ MORE: Kate Forbes' budget energy bill plan called a ‘missed opportunity’

Poverty Alliance said the “measures fail to properly target support at people on the lowest incomes.”

Child Poverty Action Group said “those hardest hit by rising costs won’t benefit”

They are right.

While the energy bills rise will hit everyone and the cost of living rise will hit everyone. It will not hit everyone equally.

The mitigation measures are not targeted at those who need it most.

Right now, I and many others are lucky to be in the position where I do not need the £150 off the council tax bill.

I can probably do without Rishi Sunak’s enforced loan as well.

It will not be pleasant; it will be noticed and will mean cutting back on some things but there are many people who can absorb some of the increase for a period though ‘tightening your belt’ or cutting your cloth’ or whatever cliché you fancy.

There are others, too many others, who are already in the depths of financial misery who have no slack whatsoever. No wriggle room in their budget.

In an earlier part of my own life, before I had the privilege of reporting and writing for the Glasgow Times I, like so many people, have been in that situation.

I can still recall the feelings of despair, the desperation, the sense of hopelessness of not seeing a way to financial security, that people are feeling now.

The dread of the next electric bill coming in where they tell you they underestimated your usage, again, and you now owe even more than you thought.

The compounded misery of being told you are even further in rent arrears because of a delay in housing benefit getting from the social security to the housing association via the council.

How can you be in more arrears when you get housing benefit?

The feeling of inadequacy when you see others managing just fine thank you very much.

Like many others, I do not get the sense that Rishi Sunak, or Kate Forbes for that matter, fully appreciates the pain and misery that hundreds of thousands of people are feeling right now.

The only conclusion that can possibly be reached is that despite all the warm words about understanding how difficult is for people, is that they just do not understand.They do not get it.