Elderly unable to pay for heating: report

By Rich Bowden, M&C Staff Writer Nov 13, 2007, 10:54 GMT

A report has revealed twenty percent of people over sixty inhabit only one room of their house to save on heating bills. EPA/ALEJANDRO ERNESTO

(M&C) - A report has revealed twenty percent of people over sixty inhabit only one room of their house to save on heating bills.

The survey, commissioned by the British Gas Help The Aged partnership, also found that many old aged pensioners are being forced to cut back on food to pay for their heating bill.

Government initiatives to end fuel poverty have failed said the report, in part because people have found the application system difficult to understand.

"Each year over 25,000 older people lose their lives to a preventable cold-related illness," said Anna Pearson, spokeswoman for the British Gas Help the Aged Partnership. "The Government is literally gambling with people's lives by not doing nearly enough to end fuel poverty.

"The Government has a potential jackpot of £4.5 billion waiting for older people, but it dangles this vital cash behind a complex maze of means-tested benefits and as a result, money continually fails to reach those who need it to survive," she said.

The partnership is calling on the government to introduce automatic payments for the elderly and to make available face-to-face advice on the subject of heating subsidies.