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    ‘Someone cares’: the secret volunteers filling in for the welfare state | Frances Ryan

    Jemima dreams of winning the EuroMillions so that the Biscuit Fund can help even more people next year
    by Frances Ryan Dec 13, 2018 4 minutes
    Many of the Biscuit Fund’s volunteers are ill or disabled – and like Jemima, they are all anonymous Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

    In bed in west Wales, with a laptop propped up on the sheets, Jemima is patching up Britain’s welfare state.

    The 39-year-old has never been elected or even been paid a wage – in fact, she’s more likely to give out her own money than receive it – but amid Brexit cabinet infighting, Jemima offers something few ministers can: she knows what it’s like to struggle to pay the bills.

    Jemima has and – a mix of extreme fatigue and daily pain – and is raising two children on her disability benefits. Heating is severely rationed. “I’m used to

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