Three in four pensioners are living in a cold home

nanna8

PoliticsNerd

Nanna8 the idea, that no one at anytime or for any reason should be cold, is ridiculous.

Nobody is sweeping anything under the carpet. Many try to give help where they can.

Your words. What I actually said was ‘ no one should be freezing cold because they can’t afford heating’ Please do not misquote.

I didn't misquote Nanna8. Most people would understand that "for any reason" would include their view that they couldn't afford heating. It is important that they get all the help they are entitled to that may free up monies presently earmarked for other necessities. This can then be used for fuel.

Have you managed to be cheerful, as I'm sure millions of struggling Australian homeowners are, with the 1% drop in interest rates? Also, I'm just finding out about a couple of novel (to me) ways of providing retirement flats/homes. I had to go out so didn't complete my "learning" but once I've caught up with my son and got more information I hope we can put it out for discussion.

Silverbrooks With due respect, as an ex Market Research Manager, you can get very accurate results from quite small sample sizes.

I do not want to blind people with mathematics, but this link explains how sampling and levels of confidence work and why a small sample can be relied on as representing a much larger group www.statista.com/statistics-glossary/definition/328/confidence_level/

Somewhere I have a little card wheel that calculates how big a sample size needs to be for a given population for the user to be confident that 95% of the time the result will represent the full population.

I’d be interested to know where they get that 3 out of 4 figure from. How many pensioners did they actually ask?

Interestingly there is little difference between the level of pensioner poverty in Australia and U.K.

Presumably few suffer from much cold in Australia for obvious reasons, so I assume that the Australian government does not have to fund pensioners for winter weather, although excessive heat and flooding must be an issue. Does the Australian government fund pensioners for A/C? As excessive heat is probably more of a killer than excessive cold.

Witzend

I’d be interested to know where they get that 3 out of 4 figure from. How many pensioners did they actually ask?

It is wrong! I would waste any more time on it.

M0nica

Silverbrooks With due respect, as an ex Market Research Manager, you can get very accurate results from quite small sample sizes.

I do not want to blind people with mathematics, but this link explains how sampling and levels of confidence work and why a small sample can be relied on as representing a much larger group www.statista.com/statistics-glossary/definition/328/confidence_level/

Somewhere I have a little card wheel that calculates how big a sample size needs to be for a given population for the user to be confident that 95% of the time the result will represent the full population.

Yep! I used that all the time in my work.

I am sitting in my 'study' preparing a Powerpoint for a u3a group and I am freezing as the heating is not on.
The gas fire is on downstairs for the benefit of my elderly cats, but if I appear they start yowling for food, which they then refuse to eat, and give me no peace.
I cannot blame the government for this, but I am careful with the heating and tend only to have it on first thing in the morning. I wear thermals under all my clothes and thick socks.

Whitewavemark2

So are most of GN members living in cold homes?

Do a straw poll of friends - how many do you know live in cold homes.

I know of no one.

I am one.

I am also living in a cold home. My thermostat is set to 16.5 degrees C. I am not in receipt of any benefits, am above the thresholds for pension credit etc, but food, energy costs, insurances etc are astronomical. I have a private pension as well as the state pension. It is not necessary to be destitute to miss the WFA. I go out every day and sit under blankets during the evenings.

I know of many others in a far worse situation than myself.

So am I

I agree that there are younger people and families living in cold homes but for practically 5 days of the week during the Winter months they are at work or at school where there is at least some warmth. A lot of pensioners (some that I know as just under the eligibility for PC) are at home all day in the cold homes. I am OK I have some money and I also get a small workplace pension. If they were to just use the HRMC and only give the Winter Fuel Allowance to those NOT paying any income tax it would solve a lot of the problems. It still wouldn't be completely fair but it would at least be better.

HMRC

We’re fortunate enough to be able to have our heating on as I suffer from several health conditions that are affected by the cold. Both my brothers are in the same situation as us. But I know of a few people who don’t put their heating on due to the costs. It’s currently 4 degrees so life must be miserable if you can’t afford heating. One lady we know goes to her bed at 6:30 pm, to avoid having to heat her living room, she takes a flask of tea with her.

Whitewavemark2

So are most of GN members living in cold homes?

Do a straw poll of friends - how many do you know live in cold homes.

I know of no one.

I honestly would prefer to receive Winter Fuel Allowance, but won’t freeze without it, and certainly don’t know of anyone who will. Obviously there will be people who will struggle to pay fuel bills, but I can’t buy into the media portrayal of all these old souls freezing to death.

My elderly friend told me she keeps her heating at 12 and if it’s cold turns it up to 14 because she is frightened of her bills , I hsve bought her an electric comforter . She is not entitled to pension credit because she saved but her state pension is small so she is careful , terrible state of affairs

Sorry don’t agree I know of a large number of people who are struggling

Just experimenting with one radiator in hall, dress like yeti and use heated throws. Disabled after blood cancer now 67. ‘Managed to get PC through volunteer attached to GP surgery. Get so cold and can’t get warm again even with 2 pairs socks and tights! Do sometimes use fan heater for short periods.

Also, like Cateq, I have heard a few people saying they don’t use heating because of the cost, but mostly it’s fear of what it might cost because of what they hear in the media, even though they could probably afford a bigger bill, without having to choose between ‘heating and eating’.

Whitewavemark2

Witzend

I’d be interested to know where they get that 3 out of 4 figure from. How many pensioners did they actually ask?

It is wrong! I would waste any more time on it.

Admittedly I probably move largely in somewhat more comfortable circles, but I don’t know anyone among family or friends who’d fall onto the ‘cold through poverty’ bracket.

However I’ve known older people in the past who were too mean to have the heating on, or to have it on high enough, even though they could perfectly well afford it.

The Scrooge factor - I dare there’s still some of it about.

ruthiek

My elderly friend told me she keeps her heating at 12 and if it’s cold turns it up to 14 because she is frightened of her bills , I hsve bought her an electric comforter . She is not entitled to pension credit because she saved but her state pension is small so she is careful , terrible state of affairs

For Pension Credit the first £10,000 is ignored, then the amount is reduced for anything over £10,000, but still, she would be eligible for the PC, and thus for the Fuel Allowance.
I’m sure there are many elderly people who would struggle rather than use savings which could keep them warm.

Well our homes cold, we put the heating on at 5pm for three hours, we didn’t get the winter fuel allowance as we are slightly over the limit for pensioners credit.

Witzend

Whitewavemark2

Witzend

I’d be interested to know where they get that 3 out of 4 figure from. How many pensioners did they actually ask?

It is wrong! I would waste any more time on it.

Admittedly I probably move largely in somewhat more comfortable circles, but I don’t know anyone among family or friends who’d fall onto the ‘cold through poverty’ bracket.

However I’ve known older people in the past who were too mean to have the heating on, or to have it on high enough, even though they could perfectly well afford it.

The Scrooge factor - I dare there’s still some of it about.

Crossed posts, Witzend, and I agree.
My brother was an audiologist, and said he often did home visits to cold, sparse homes where the person wanted to buy a hearing aid. He said he would explain about costs and finance available, then the old person ( usually a man!) would go into another room and return with the cash, many hundreds of pounds.

Whitewavemark2

Interestingly there is little difference between the level of pensioner poverty in Australia and U.K.

Presumably few suffer from much cold in Australia for obvious reasons, so I assume that the Australian government does not have to fund pensioners for winter weather, although excessive heat and flooding must be an issue. Does the Australian government fund pensioners for A/C? As excessive heat is probably more of a killer than excessive cold.

Most Australian people of pension age do not get a State-funded pension. It is means-tested.

The Age Pension was always very generous in comparison to ours but income and assets are taken into account.

Witzend It is the fear of getting into debt when it is actually highly unlikely that is the problem. I used to do home visiting for an charity for the old and time and again I would visit people like some of those above who turn the heating off because they are frightened of high energy bills, not that they are receiving them. The other problem is people who have rainy day funds that put them above Pension Credit level. and are living on tiny incomes.

There is a simple solution to that, reduce your savings, spend them on something to make your life more comfortable, insulation, double glazing, draft excluding until your savings fall below the pension credit level and then get some and benefit from all the bells and whistles that go with it. But people won't.

I used to get so frustrated sitting in freezing houses, with gale force winds blowing through and the single glazed windows rattling, to be told by some one eking out their life on a minute sum of money when they could increase their income by occasionally as much as £100 a week, plus bells and whistles if they qualified for means tested benefits. They wouldn't use their savings to supplement their income nor improve their house, because the money was being saved for a 'rainy day'. They were dead before the rainy day appeared.

But happens if you do that and you're not dead when that rainy day does come?

Witzend

I’d be interested to know where they get that 3 out of 4 figure from. How many pensioners did they actually ask?

"Age UK commissioned polling from respondents aged 66 and over. The research was conducted via an online omnibus survey with some computer assisted telephone interviews by Opinium for Age UK.

A sample of 2,573 UK adults aged 66+ were interviewed 6th–16th January 2025.

The data are nationally representative on age, gender and region. Figures are scaled up to the UK age 66+ population using Office for National Statistics mid-year population estimates for 2023 to give estimates of the number of pensioners affected nationally."