Multi-billion investment fails to prevent rise of fuel poverty

A new report suggests that millions of people in the UK are still forced to keep the heating turned off because they cannot afford to pay their bills - despite over £25 billion having been spent since 2000 on various programmes and benefits designed to alleviate fuel poverty.

Government is set to miss its own targets aimed at putting an end to fuel poverty for vulnerable households by 2010, and eradicating it completely by 2016. This is according to a report recently released by the Energy and Climate Change Committee, which defines fuel poverty as households where more than 10% of income is spent on fuel for heating.

Three key programmes were created with the goal of lifting millions out of fuel poverty. These include the Warm Front Scheme, which provides energy efficiency measures to vulnerable households; the Decent Homes programme, designed to ensure that social landlords tackle the worst housing conditions; and Winter Fuel Payments, which are made to all households with people over 60 years of age.

Despite these measures to increase energy efficiency and incomes, hefty rises in fuel prices have had the effect of thwarting their progress, resulting in the large increases in the numbers of households in fuel poverty.

A group of charities and other organisations are calling for a 'road map' for fuel poverty, with clear objectives and accountability for the achievement of key tasks. It should be developed through to 2020, they say, and include the additional implications of climate change and carbon reduction targets.

Acting Chairman of the Committee, Paddy Tipping, says: "One of the reasons tackling fuel poverty is so difficult is that the Government does not have a clear idea about who the fuel poor are." Currently, this group is identified based on criteria such as age and reciept of benefits as proxies for fuel poverty. The latest estimates indicate that in 2007 (the last year that statistics are available), there were approximately 4 million households in fuel poverty in the UK. Around 3.25 million of these were vulnerable households.

Campaigners from the group Consumer Focus have recommended that the scope of the mandate be widened to include low income families and the disabled. Macmillan Cancer support has made the case for support to be extended to people with cancer in particular need: those who are terminally ill, have had treatment in the last year, and those who are one a low income and in receipt of housing or council tax benefit.

committee members have recommended that resources be moved from the Warm Front Scheme towards a street-by-street approach that seeks out fuel poverty in communities so households do not have to proactively come forward. They also advise that the Warm Front Scheme move towards providing an emergency service for the most vulnerable people in fuel poverty with urgent heating needs. The Government has been advised to start considering the longer term cost benefits of such a transition.

 

Source - PHAM News

 

Posted Date: 20th Apr 2010