Feeling the Freeze

The UK has one of the highest levels of excess winter deaths. Roughly twice as many people, per capita, die here than in Scandinavia. Even Siberia has lower levels than we do. Between 25,000 and 30,000 people a year are hastened to the grave by the cold here – this winter it could be much worse. Writes George Monbiot

Michelle Mitchell, Charity Director of Age UK, which launched its 'Spread the Warmth' campaign this winter: "Every winter, millions of older people struggle to survive on a low, fixed income, living in fear of their energy bills and risking their health by cutting back on their heating to keep costs down."

In a recent survey, conducted for Age UK, nearly a third of over 60s were likely to resort to extreme measures to keep warm, including wearing a coat and scarf inside. Fourteen percent lived in one room. With nearly 14 million over-60s in the UK, that is around 1.5m choosing to live in one room to contain heat. Four percent said they would stay in bed all day to try to keep warm, while 9% percent said they could not get warm at home last winter. Age UK is concerned that many more older people are stuck in fuel poverty - well over three million of them spending more than a tenth of their income on their energy bills.

But government estimates indicate that up to 1.7m pensioners do not claim Pension Credit despite being entitled to it. These people could also be missing out on cold weather payments of £25 a week when it is particularly cold. In parts of the UK like Scotland, where CWPs are likely to be triggered three or four times a year, some pensioners could be missing out on up to £100 worth of payments over the winter.

The misconception that fuel poverty only affects the elderly is a prevalent one, but government statistics reveal a wide range of groups in society that could be affected by the pressure of managing high energy prices. Although the Warm Home Discount focuses mainly on making sufficient provisions for pensioners, it's not just the elderly that are adversely affected by fuel poverty. Children are also at risk of serious health problems if left in a poorly heated home - the potential for breathing problems twice as likely in homes without affordable heating - whilst infants in homes in need of but not receiving subsidised heating were 29% more likely to be underweight due to using more energy to keep warm. Those who are disabled or ill on a long-term basis are also vulnerable; because they are likely to spend more time indoors, they may require increased levels of heating, and will be more susceptible to the lack thereof.

It is the lowest income families that make up a significant proportion of fuel poverty - 60% of households with an annual salary less than £12,000 are fuel poor, and 77% of the lowest income sectors in the country were fuel poor at the last count. You are also more likely to be fuel poor if you live in a rural area compared to an urban area. 25% of rural households were fuel poor, according to government findings, compared to just 15% of their urban equivalents.

Currently, a household is defined as living in fuel poverty if it spends more than 10% of its income on energy bills. The government has agreed a statutory aim of eradicating fuel poverty in the UK, Northern Ireland and Scotland by 2016, and Wales by 2018, leaving little over 9 years for the targets to be met. The number of households that are classified as fuel poor has increased year on year since 2003 and looks set to continue to rise to over 4 million UK homes by 2011.

National Energy Action (NEA), has been campaigning against the current classifications. "The definition of fuel poverty used by government for target-setting already serves to underestimate the number of fuel-poor households."
Currently, the fuel poverty numbers relate to 10% of a household's total income, including benefits, which can grossly inflate the actual income the household will actually see. For instance, if a household receives housing benefits, this will be included in their total income, and the higher the rent, the higher the benefits, the larger the income analysed. However, this may have little to no relevance to the actual wealth of the couple, or how much they can afford to spend on their heating. Many organisations, such as the NEA, say this definition isn't sufficient and is leaving out thousands of susceptible households. Fuel poverty should be calculated on the disposable income a household earns, it argues, which gives a fairer and more accurate figure of relative wealth and poverty: "...'Full income' classes housing subsidies (Housing Benefit and Income Support for Mortgage Interest) as part of the family resources whilst 'Basic income' excludes any such subsidy.Clearly the use of 'Full income' in assessing fuel poverty minimises the scale of the problem since it artificially inflates financial resources but adds nothing to disposable income," said the NEA.