Three in four pensioners are living in a cold home

Yes Oreo I thought you could. Mum was not impoverished but she got help with loft insulation and her tank being lagged. I feel certain Age Concern could point the way.

Thanks Oreo

Woodenspoon Our council in Somerset run open days (in local church halls etc) where you can get information and advice about making your home warmer, grants etc. I found it advertised in the local council newspaper thingy they put through front doors so maybe there's something like it available throughout the country.

freeinsulationgrant.co.uk. They still do this.

Age UK has now uploaded the report on which this newpaper piece is based - as Allira has already linked to, Again:

www.ageuk.org.uk/latest-press/articles/three-in-four-pensioners-admitted-they-were-cold-in-their-own-homes-in-january/

Met Office records show that January 2025 was slightly cooler than average. Some extracts:

www.metoffice.gov.uk/blog/2025/sunny-and-cool-january-kicks-off-the-new-year

Thanks largely to an early month cold period, the UK’s January average mean temperature was 3°C, which is 0.9°C lower than the current long-term average.

January 2025 was the fifth sunniest on record for the UK, though temperatures were subdued compared to average, according to provisional Met Office statistics.

The month had a typical mix of UK winter weather conditions, with rain, snow and a named storm, but also some clear, crisp winter sunshine, especially for those in the north.

We chiefly saw this as a result of frequent high pressure over the UK, bringing clear skies for many but also below average temperatures with little cloud to trap any warmth near the surface.

So less than 1 degree colder than average.

But … the energy price cap in January 2024 was £1,928, April 2024 £1,690, July 2024 £1,568, October 2024 £1,717 and January 2025 1,738. In other words, the cost of energy for an average 2-3 person household has come down by £190 per year since January 2024.

Since last summer, Martin Lewis has been shouting from the rooftops, urging people to fix their energy prices. Anybody who took his advice will have been protected from the rises in October 2024 and January 2025 so paying at a rate of £360 per year less than January 2024 prices.

Surely that’s enough to compensate for a slighly colder January?

However, I know plenty of people who refuse to do this, refuse to fix and refuse to switch suppliers to get a better deal.

I’ve offered my Octopus “refer a friend” discount to people who I think might need a bit of help, even offering them my half of the shared £100 - so they would get better unit prices plus a £100 bonus but they doggedly stick with the same supplier they have had since 1975 knowing that they are paying more than they need to.

(I understand that not everyone is on grid and pay for fuel in this way.)

The thing that I really take isue with in the Age UK report is this:

Doing nothing would however be completely unacceptable in the face of the evidence we are presenting today. Government spokespeople continue to assert that poor pensioners are being protected but that is simply not credible when there are still 700,000 pensioner households who are eligible for Pension Credit but not receiving it …

They won’t receive it unless they claim it! I don’t know what else can be done to persuade them to do so.

I suspect that 700,000 is exaggerated, extrapolated from a survey of 25,000 households fewer than 8,000 of whom were pensioners.

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-ending-2023/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-ending-2023

many younger people live in cold homes too, because they just can't afford to heat house much due to all bills rising.

Wearing clever layers, using blankets and hot water bottles or grain microwavable pouches, etc, can help hugely.

Thats the relevant report at last, Allira.

Problem is definite the definition of "colder than you would like them to be" in terms of identifying being at risk and lack of information on how much of the house you are heating and all the other factors.

If asked the question "are you colder than you would like to be at home" my answer would be "yes", but I'm not "at risk".
(I keep my heating on at 18 in the day and 19 in the evening and pile on the HWB and fleeces)

.

I’ve carried hot water bottles around with me every winter for years. Currently dog sitting at my daughters with my hottie. I always find my son and daughters homes cold when I sit for them. I don’t feel hard done by in some way because I use hot water bottles. My next door neighbour is very thin and frail and she has some sort of heated throw on her sofa. I did offer her some of my fleeces as I have far too many, as she only seems to wear thin cardigans but she didn’t want one. I’ve never got over the fact that people no longer wear vests.

Problem with the D Express report is that all "9 million" people who say they feel cold at home are presented as

"Desperate pensioners say they are being
forced to stay in bed to keep warm or choose between heating and using the oven.*"

I still wear thermal vests MayBee. M&S do sell loads in the winter. They have to restock I was told.

woodenspoon

I still wear thermal vests MayBee. M&S do sell loads in the winter. They have to restock I was told.

I bought several thermal items of clothing a few years ago but couldn’t wear them as they make me itch so I wear cotton layers.

The quotes from the report don’t tell us enough and are picked deliberately to be emotive but push credibility:

e.g. Amanda, 69, commented: “It'll be a case of sitting in my dressing gown with my duvet over me. My monthly gas payment covers my gas cooker, I can't afford to run my cooker and my heating.”

69 isn’t that old in terms of being of a pensioner. I am also 69. I cook with electricity which is more expensive than gas. Three meals a day usually. My electricity bill for 6 January to 5 February was £42. Obviously this includes all other electrical appliances: TV, washing machine, tumble dryer, fridge, freezer etc. If I said even half was for cooking, it’s only £5 a week.

As of July 2023, prepayment charges were brought into line with direct debit costs so that isn’t an explanation for Amanda’s costs.

As. no single pensioner should have an income of less than £218.15 pw, frankly, it’s hard to believe what I am reading in this report.

woodenspoon

I still wear thermal vests MayBee. M&S do sell loads in the winter. They have to restock I was told.

Vests are worn in this house too. The M&S ones are lovely and fine, I don't feel all overdressed and bundled up.

Do men wear vests these days, though?

I think they do. I’ve seen them. My DH wears a short sleeve t shirt instead.

My fuel bills during 2023 were £200 a month and were just about right overall. During 2024 the direct debit rose to £295 and the latest bill was £380 for the month and I was £350 "in arrears" for the previous 6 months. The new payment is £425 a month.

We paid out £12k in November for a new roof, complete with 3 times the previous level of insulation. Sadly we had to change the gas fire a few months ago in our breakfast room (where we live during the day) to an electric one which eats tenners. New regs on gas fires mean we couldn't replace it with another.

Fortunately we are not destitute but it looks like this year's gas and electric will total over £4,000. I am sitting right now in my winter puffa coat.

This morning I went to our local u3a speaker meeting and talked with several others who said they had only gone to get warm cos they couldn't afford to heat their homes. They were all sitting with their coats on.

Silverbrook my new payment of £425 a month is almost exactly 50/50 gas and electric. The only gas we have is for central heating but despite being a 4-bed house has the radiators turned very low in 4 rooms and all have thermostatic controls.

On top of that I am still suffering from cold following my radiotherapy treatment last year and DH has just been diagnosed with a broken vertebrae. Even with all that cost I am not as warm as I would like to be.

madmeg How big is your house? We live in a large 4 bedroomed Listed house built in 1468, total area over 2,600 square feet. Our fuel bills are only £250 a month.

We have 2 central heating boilers and rely on those alone for our heating. Our house is always warm and comfortable.

Wyllow3

I hate this kind of dishonesty in MSM.

All the Express had to say was, "based on a survey of pensioners with an income of under £20.000, 3 out of 4 report that....etc.

Just caught up with this.

Now that I can believe.

But entirely dishonest to suggest 3out of 4 pensioners are cold. You only have to think about it for a second or two to realise that the headline can’t possibly be correct.

MayBee70

I’ve carried hot water bottles around with me every winter for years. Currently dog sitting at my daughters with my hottie. I always find my son and daughters homes cold when I sit for them. I don’t feel hard done by in some way because I use hot water bottles. My next door neighbour is very thin and frail and she has some sort of heated throw on her sofa. I did offer her some of my fleeces as I have far too many, as she only seems to wear thin cardigans but she didn’t want one. I’ve never got over the fact that people no longer wear vests.

I’ve never got over the fact that people no longer wear vests

I bought some thermal vests this winter. Nice and cosy, they do make a difference.

Posters saying they don't know any people who are cold in their homes are perhaps thinking that everyone is as fit as they are (and are possibly younger than some other Gransnetters). Often older people are not as mobile either and can't move as quickly as they did.

I have Daily Express headlines pop up on my Facebook page most days. I know straight away that it’s the express because they’re always click bait stories about Labour.

The numbers don’t matter, no one should be freezing cold because they can’t afford heating. If it was the Conservatives in charge I can just imagine the furore. I thought the Labour Party was supposed to help people. One of the reasons we left the UK in that dreadful Ted Heath’s regime was that we couldn’t afford to heat, eat or anything else. Nothing’s changed.

Allira

MayBee70

I’ve carried hot water bottles around with me every winter for years. Currently dog sitting at my daughters with my hottie. I always find my son and daughters homes cold when I sit for them. I don’t feel hard done by in some way because I use hot water bottles. My next door neighbour is very thin and frail and she has some sort of heated throw on her sofa. I did offer her some of my fleeces as I have far too many, as she only seems to wear thin cardigans but she didn’t want one. I’ve never got over the fact that people no longer wear vests.

I’ve never got over the fact that people no longer wear vests

I bought some thermal vests this winter. Nice and cosy, they do make a difference.

Posters saying they don't know any people who are cold in their homes are perhaps thinking that everyone is as fit as they are (and are possibly younger than some other Gransnetters). Often older people are not as mobile either and can't move as quickly as they did.

I’m 79 and most of my retired friends are of a similar age, with the odd exception.

Not a single one has a cold home.

Who on GN is suffering from a cold home?

I reckon - although I don’t really know, that an artist neighbour in his late 40s may be a bit short of cash and feeling the pinch, but he isn’t retired.

I of course recognise that there will be retired folk on a very low income who must struggle, but as monica has indicated, there is a lot of help out there. I do however wish help was more easily accessible to these people.

We wear vests in this household😊😊

Every household is different and, of course, those with health condtions may need more warmth, but I simply don't believe that nine million pensioners need to be cold.

As I explained upthread, some 2.7 million pensioners either already pay higher rate tax or are on the cusp of having to pay higher rate tax due to fiscal drag That's a quarter of pensioner households with incomes of close to or over £50,270 a year.

On that basis, the other three quarters will have incomes between the minimum of single Pension Credit (in which case they will have at least £350 help with their winter energy bills) up to somewhere below the limit where they have a good income but won’t trip into the 40% bracket any time soon.

Age UK report that three quarters of pensioners say that their homes were colder than they would like them to be either some, most of or all of the time. That must mean that some people who could afford to heat their homes adequately are chosing not to.

I help out at a local lunch club that doubles as an informal advice session. I have heard over and over again people saying they can’t afford to heat their homes but when you dig a bit deeper to see if they might be entited to some help you find they have a comfortable income and thousands in the bank. It’s almost like some kind of mob martyrdom is going on ever since universal WFP was withdrawn.

Whitewavemark2

We wear vests in this household😊😊

After a lot of nagging encouragement, DH is wearing the vests which I bought him about three years ago.

mob martyrdom love it. Must remember that 😊