Fuel poverty hits millions of children

The report, Behind Cold Doors, estimates that 3.6 million children thought their home was too cold over the winter, with around 1.3 million living in damp or mouldy buildings.

It says that living in cold homes can increase the chances of children developing respiratory problems, while mortality rates among children are eight per cent higher in the winter.

Two thirds of families with children – around five million households – are likely to turn down their heating because of the cost, with more than half of them concerned that by doing so they are jeopardising their child’s health.

The study, which draws on analysis of data, a survey of 2,000 children and young people, and a poll of adults, also found that millions of parents are being forced to take drastic measures to pay for heating their homes: with three million having to cut back on food spending and 500,000 taking out loans to make ends meet.  

The Children’s Society say part of the problem is that 1.9 million families with children living in cold homes are not receiving the Warm Home Discount, an annual £135 government rebate on fuel bills available to low-income families, because they are in work. They are missing out because their energy provider does not apply the Warm Home Discount to working families living in poverty, or that they are unaware they qualify for the rebate.

The government’s new child poverty strategy, published last week, extends the Warm Home Discount to 2015/16.

But the society is calling for the family of every child living in poverty to receive the rebate on their energy bill, and says the government could achieve this by requiring all energy suppliers to apply the same criteria for assessing eligibility for the Warm Home Discount.  

The Children’s Society’s chief executive Matthew Reed said: “The scale of the problem, as these figures show, is truly appalling. The government must take decisive action now to move children in from the cold and help stop their parents from having to make this terrible choice between heating and eating.
 
“By making the Warm Home Discount automatically available to all children living in poverty, the government can give these families a lifeline to help them out of poverty, and they should do it now.”

The average annual energy bill for a two-child family is £1,400, which makes up more than 10 per cent of an out-of-work family’s annual income.