End Fuel Poverty Coalition
- National Pensioners Convention
- Nov 6, 2022
- 4 min read
The overwhelming majority of the population believe the Government should do more to help people through the energy crisis, according to new polling by Omnisis on behalf of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition.
Over 60 charities and organisations, co-ordinated by the Warm This Winter campaign, including the National Pensioners Convention, have joined forces to write to the new Prime Minister [see below] demanding more financial and non-financial support for the 7m UK households currently in fuel poverty.
The letter goes on to call for the upweighting of benefits and urgent clarification of energy bills support available from April 2023, a massive programme of energy efficiency measures and the speeding up of moves to cheaper renewable energy.
The campaigners are supported by the new research which shows 76% of the population think the Government is not doing enough to support vulnerable households this winter.
Even taking into account the Energy Price Guarantee and the Energy Bills Support Scheme pledged by the Government, 58% of the population believe they will struggle to pay their bills this winter.
The research shows that people in the South West (68%), Wales (64%), the East Midlands and the North East (both 63%) are the areas where the most people are fighting to make ends meet.
And the situation will get worse. Over 8 in 10 (83%) are very or quite worried about the prospect of bills going up further in April 2023 when the current Government support programmes run out.
Find out more
Download the letter
Dear Prime Minister,
Firstly, congratulations on yourappointment. We are writing from a coalition of the UK’s leading charities to ask you, in your new role,to act now on the energy and poverty crisis.
Without immediate action from yourgovernment, it is estimated that aroundsevenmillion households 1 will face an impossible winter, being forced to make unimaginably difficult choices between heating their homes and putting food on the table. In many cases it will be even worse than this as those with preexistinghealth conditionsand disabilities are forced to face the severe health consequences of living in a cold damp home 2.
Aswe aresure you are aware, this will be felt particularly strongly in your constituency, with 26% of households, above the national average, already living in fuel poverty. By April, with the removal of the Energy Price Guarantee, 39% of households in your constituency could be forced to make decisions between basic lifelines 3. But there is a way through: we believe there are two urgent priorities, which we would hope to see as a central part of your agenda, including in your Autumn Statement.
First,we urge you toexpand the support available to people this winter. The support offered so far, such as the Energy Price Guarantee has been welcome. However, so much more is needed, especially for those hardest hit by this crisis, to stave off the worst impacts 4. Alongside this, we need urgent clarity on the future of financial support from April of next year. The average bill is expected to be over £4000 5, almost four times more than it was before the gas price crisis. As a first step, the decision to uprate benefits in line with inflation,ashas been conventional,shouldbe confirmed and implemented as soon as possible.
Second, the quickest, cheapest and simplest way to bring down bills in the medium-term is to embark rapidly on a massive national programme of insulating our homes, schools, hospitals and workplaces. The existing government schemes do not meet the scale of the crisis. We estimate that a proper insulation scheme could save households,on average,around £500 6 on their bills each year, and sucha programmewould soon pay for itself 7.
Alongside these immediatemeasures, we urge you to instruct your new Business Secretary to implement a plan for a rapid roll-out, in harmony with nature, of clean, renewable energy, moving the UK beyond expensive, volatile fossil fuels and enhancing UK energy security as soon as possible. Onshore and offshore wind and solar energy are many times cheaper than gas. Now is the time for our islands, with their huge renewable energy resources, to show the world how to tackle the cost of living and climate crises at the same time. We must not look to the industries of the past at this moment of crisis: they are a distraction.
By building out this vision, we can end this crisis and reinvigorate the economy. Clear policy signals and targeted public investment can unlock huge sums of privatecapital, driving a cost-effective transition that benefits homeowners, builds a stronger economy and protects the planet.
We wish you all the best in your role-and given the urgency of this crisis, we would appreciate a response to this letter as soonas possible, and would value an opportunity to discuss these issues in-person with you within your first month in office.
Yours sincerely,
Shaun Spiers, Green Alliance,Executive Director
Caroline Abrahams, AgeUK, Charity Director
Gwen Hines,Save the Children UK,CEO
Polly Neate, Shelter, CEO
Dr Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, Oxfam GB, CEO
Melissa Green, National Federation of Women’s Institutes (WI), General Secretary
Joe Cole,Advice for Renters,Chief Executive
Jane Collins,Foster Support,Chief Executive
Joan Edwards OBE,The Wildlife Trusts,Director of Policy and Public Affairs
Simon Francis,End Fuel Poverty Coalition,Co-ordinator
Katy Styles, We Care Campaign, Founder
Ellen Lebethe,Lambeth Pensioners Action Group,Chair
Sue RiddlestoneOBE,Bioregional,Chief Executive
Jan Shortt,National Pensioners Convention,General Secretary
Max Wakefield,Possible,Co-Director
Janine Michael,Centre for Sustainable Energy,Deputy Chief Executive
Nick Owen MBE,The Mighty Creatives,CEO
GavinSmart,Chartered Institute of Housing,CEO
Liz Emerson,Intergenerational Foundation,CEO
Andrew Pendleton,Global Action Plan,CEO (Acting)
Frazer Scott,Energy Action Scotland,Chief Executive
Ross Matthewman,Chartered Institute of Environmental Health,Head of Policy and Campaigns
Ruth London,Fuel Poverty Action
Rev Dr Simon Woodman and Rev Vanessa Conant,Citizens UK,Co-chairs-Just Transition Campaign
Will Snell,Fairness Foundation,Chief Executive
Patrick Marples,South West London LawCentres,Chief Executive
Sarah Woolnough,Asthma + Lung UK,CEO
Miriam Turner & Hugh Knowles,Friends of the Earth,Co-Executive Director
Martin O’Brien,Association of Local Energy Officers
Kamran Mallick,Disability Rights UK,CEO
Harriet Lamb,Ashden,CEO
Richard Quallington,Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE),Executive Director
Alan Markey,National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers,Chair
Mark Knox,Aspire NI,CEO
Sam Ward,Climate Cymru,Manager
Rowan Ryrie,Parents forFuture UK,Founder
Seamus McGibbon,Creators’ Rights Alliance.Public Relations and Campaigns
Deborah Tomkins,Green Christian,Co-chair
Dr Laura Santamaria,Fair Energy Campaign,Campaign Chair
Robert Taylor,Camden Federation of Private Tenants (CFPT),Organiser
Sabine Goodwin,Independent Food Aid Network,Coordinator
Svetlana Kotova,Inclusion London,Director of Campaigns and Justice
J Todd,Climate Action Network West Midlands,Treasurer
Alicia Kennedy,Generation Rent,Director
John McGowan,SocialWorkers Union,General Secretary
Joseph Howes,End Child Poverty Coalition,Chair
Tessa Khan,Uplift,Executive Director
Chris Meregini,Southwark Group of Tenants Organisations,Chair
David Hillman,Stamp Out Poverty,Director
Garry Campbell,GroundworkUK,Communications Manager
Katie-Jo Luxton,RSPB,Executive Director
Andy Atkins,A Rocha UK,CEO
Mark Hodgkinson,Scope,Chief Executive
Roz Davies,The Green Estate CIC,CEO
David Cowdrey,MCS Foundation,Director of External Affairs
Angela Francis,WWF,Director of Policy Solutions
Tufail Hussain,Islamic Relief,UK Director
Sarah Greenfield Clark,Climate 2025,Director
Anna Henry,The Movements Trust,Director
Pamela Healy OBE,British Liver Trust,Chief Executive
Revd Dr Darrell Hannah,Operation Noah,Chair
Julie Harrington,Guts UK Charity,CEO
Rachel Kirby-Rider,Young Lives vs Cancer,Chief Executive
Marshall,National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi),Chief Executive
Alice Harrison,Global Witness,Strategy Lead, Fossil Fuels Newsroom
Carys Roberts,Institute for Public Policy Research(IPPR),Executive Director
Adam Scorer,NEA (National Energy Action),CE
3 https://www.endfuelpoverty.org.uk/fuel-poverty-levels-in-sunak-mordaunt-johnson-hunt-seats-revealed/
5 Based on latest Cornwall Insight predictions