Elderly people's lives in danger without winter fuel payment, Labour warned: 'This is a mistake'

Jonathan Bean’s elderly uncle Nigel was hospitalised with hypothermia because he did not put on his heating in the depths of winter. He was afraid of his energy bills.

“If his neighbour hadn’t popped in, he wouldn’t be alive now,” Bean, now the policy lead for campaign group Fuel Poverty Action, says. “He was in a terrible state. People don’t realise how dangerous this is. It’s on another level of criticality.”

There are fears many more elderly people will put their lives in danger this winter, as energy bills are set to rise again and the winter fuel payment has been slashed for millions of pensioners.

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Recent research from Citizens Advice found that one in four people could be forced to turn off their heating and hot water this winter. That is the equivalent of 16.5 million people who could be risking their health in a cold home.

The charity is still helping record numbers of people with energy debt. Nearly five million people across the UK live in households in debt to their energy supplier.

Clare Moriarty, chief executive of Citizens Advice, says: “Energy prices might be down from the peak of the crisis, but with many already in the red and the removal of previous support packages, there’s still no light at the end of the tunnel for those in desperate need. 

“The government has inherited a huge challenge, so there must be no delay in their action.”

Nearly 5,000 excess deaths were caused by cold and damp homes in winter of 2022/2023, research from the End Fuel Poverty Coalition found. 

During this winter, Nigel was hospitalised for a month. The 76-year-old had noticed red alerts on his smart meter, warning him that bills were soaring, so turned off his heating and hot water. He did not wash himself.

Nigel worked for many years on a low-income as a bookseller, so he had only managed to build up a small pension and was “very stressed” about his energy bills.

“It made me realise the huge human impact of energy prices,” Bean says. “There are lots of issues in the energy market, but the crunch is essentially that there are a large number of people who are elderly and potentially at risk of ending up in hospital or dying every winter.”

Ofgem’s recent energy price cap announcement means that typical annual household energy bills will rise to £1,717 from October, an increase of around £150. Although much lower than at the height of the cost of living crisis, energy bills remain expensive and will hit the poorest and most vulnerable the hardest.

The government has stripped back support over the course of the cost of living crisis. The energy rebate and cost of living payment schemes have come to an end, and the new Labour government has axed universal winter fuel payments.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed in July that the payment of up to £300 will only be offered to pensioners in receipt of pension credit and other means-tested benefits, saying it was the “responsible thing to do to fix the foundations of our economy”. The plan will save the government around £1.5bn.

“Rachel Reeves went ahead and took away this universal benefit on the basis that there are a lot of well off pensioners out there, but it puts potentially millions of pensioners at risk of serious impacts. And that’s also going to have a big impact on the NHS. It’s complete madness,” Bean says.

There are 880,000 people who are eligible for pension credit but are not claiming it, and Age UK estimates that an additional million people are just above the poverty threshold but are not eligible for support. The government has pledged to raise awareness to ensure people get the support they need, but Bean believes this does not go far enough.

“There’s so many problems with the benefit system,” he says. “A lot of people don’t understand how to navigate pension credit. It’s a ridiculously long form to fill in. People really struggle with it, particularly people who are old and maybe have some mental decline.

“There’s also an element of pride. Some people feel like they shouldn’t need benefits, and that they can survive the winter by wrapping up warm and hiding under an electric blanket and turning off the heating. Even if they do survive it without ending up in hospital, that’s a horrendous existence, to stay in your bed for months under an electric blanket. That is not living.”

Bean admits there are no simple solutions as winter is fast approaching. A short-term option, he suggests, could be taxing the winter fuel payment, so that the wealthiest pensioners pay money back while the poorest get the full support.

In the long-term, Fuel Poverty Action is calling for ‘energy for all’ which would provide universal protection to help people afford their energy bills. A report published in August from the committee on fuel poverty also recommended that the government guarantee affordable energy for all.

Labour has promised to make the UK a “clean energy superpower”, with its publicly-owned energy company Great British Energy which will develop cheaper renewable energy.

It has also announced a Warm Homes Plan – investing an extra £6.6bn over the next parliament to upgrade five million homes to cut bills for families. Although these plans have been welcomed, they will take time to be implemented and winter is growing closer.

“We’re going to be very blunt with them,” Bean says. “A lot of people don’t want to upset the Labour government. We’re very happy to upset them. A lot of groups think: ‘It’s better than the Tories. Let’s give them time. There’s no pressure.’ That’s not how we operate. We want to tell the truth, regardless of what colour is in power. And Labour has clearly made a mistake.”

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