'Island living can be difficult'

Anne Thomson, 41, lives with her partner and children on South Uist and works as a money adviser.

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I live on the isle of South Uist with my partner Pete, two young children and the family dog.

Pete and I both work part-time. He is a self-employed hairdresser and I work as a money adviser in the voluntary sector.

'Everyone is affected by rises' 'Money is really tight right now'

When you live on an island you expect that to a certain extent costs are going to be higher than the mainland.

We are lucky to live in a fairly large township with a small supermarket, a well-stocked local shop and a crofters store within a 10 mile round-trip.

We tend to do a big shop at the weekend and get odds and ends through the week.

Our main heating is from a coal-fired stove - it also heats the water and we cook on it most days.

Our electricity use is about normal for a family of four, but with prices creeping up, technically we're in fuel poverty - which is a sobering thought - spending on average more than 10% of our income on household fuel and electricity.

We have a good local bus which we use, but life in a 'remote' area like this can be exceedingly difficult and very limiting without your own transport, so another essential expense for us is our car.

There is growing anxiety in the islands about fuel prices, with diesel up to £1.46 a litre.

Elderly people in the community can be vulnerable. Many have oil-heating installed but don't turn it up because of the huge cost of having the tank re-filled.

Spiralling fuel prices impact on everything that has to be shipped here so everyone is affected by increasing costs, including the fishermen, crofters, small businesses and construction firms.

It doesn't bode well for the social and economic future of the islands if this trend continues.

We will outline the panel's findings and thoughts on their weekly living costs on the BBC Scotland news website next week.