Researchers at the ECI are calling for urgent reform to the UK's Cold Weather Payment system after evidence showed it may be failing to protect vulnerable households from fuel poverty.
The payment, introduced in 1986, provides £25 to eligible benefit recipients when temperatures fall to 0°C or below for seven consecutive days. However, the researchers argue the system contains an ‘overlap penalty’—paying only once during back-to-back cold spells—leaving those in colder regions like northern England and Yorkshire particularly disadvantaged.
Writing in The Conversation, ECI's Dr Tina Fawcett, Associate Professor and Dr Brenda Boardman, Emeritus Research Fellow, along with Dr Thomas Longden a researcher at Western Sydney University, highlight findings from smart meter data showing 63% of Utilita Energy customers disconnected their energy supply at least once a year, often due to cost concerns. They found no evidence the current system reduces this risk.
The authors propose paying the benefit in advance, potentially through utility companies for smart meter users, and increasing the payment to £10 per day when minimum temperatures fall below −4°C. They also recommend using night-time lows to trigger payments, rather than delayed average temperature calculations.
The proposed changes aim to reduce self-disconnection and energy rationing during severe cold, improving support for low-income households across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Dr Boardman said:
The most important flaw in the current Cold Weather Payment scheme isn’t just the so-called ‘overlap penalty’—it’s the fact that no help is given until after seven consecutive days of sub-zero temperatures. That’s a really harsh standard, and it means people receive no support during those seven days when they most need it.
We are proposing a daily allowance, paid in advance of the cold weather—perhaps the night before—so people have the funds to put their heating on when it is actually needed. This could be linked directly to Met Office forecasts, which already predict temperatures, for example, ‘minus four degrees tomorrow.’
Read more in The Express.
Read their article in The Conversation: How the UK’s cold weather payments need to change to help prevent people freezing in winter.