With Labour’s first budget in 14 years just one day away, the government is being urged to adopt a new Cold Weather Payment model suggested by researchers from the Environmental Change Institute.
Last year researchers at the ECI recommended a payment of £6.50 per day should be made in advance of forecast cold weather, on a daily basis. It should be available to all vulnerable households to offset the extra cold and existing fuel poverty.
The researchers examined the current Cold Weather Payments system, which pays out £25 to eligible households after there has been a week of below freezing weather. Academics calculate that this is only half the extra cost of keeping warm during a cold snap.
The current scheme condemned by a House of Commons Energy Committee report as “an outdated, old-fashioned scheme." Now the ECI advice is being brought to the attention of the Labour party.
Dr Tina Fawcett, Acting Energy Programme Lead and Associate Professor at the Environmental Change Institute, at the University of Oxford, said: “This simple change, which will not be expensive, will help households stay warm when it really matters. It will ensure the Government can deliver the right support at the right time.”
Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, added: “Exposure to critically low levels of energy use in fuel poor households means that they are not heating their homes to an adequate level - leaving them to live in cold, damp conditions.
“While energy saving through better insulation and ventilation of properties is part of the long term solution to people living in cold damp homes, we need emergency support for households for foreseeable winters.
“For a Chancellor suffering from the political fallout from the Winter Fuel Payment cuts, a modern, updated, compassionate level of support during cold weather should be an obvious step to take.”
Dr Fawcett and co-authors, Dr Brenda Boardman, Emeritus Research Fellow at the ECI and former ECI Researcher Uttara Narayan contributed to the paper: Using smart energy meter data to design better policy: Prepayment meter customers, fuel poverty and policy targeting in Great Britain which recommends the advance daily payment.
Writing in the journal, The Conversation, Dr Boardman suggested increasing the payment to £10. She said: “The £10 is necessary to offset the extra cold, provide a little relief from fuel poverty and to compensate for the loss of the Winter Fuel Allowance, on that day. She also added that she believes the government isn’t aware of who actually is in fuel poverty: “There is no clear set of characteristics or data to identify the fuel poor. To find the 50% of pensioner households most vulnerable to the cold is a difficult task, especially if it is to be done quickly, by the end of the October budget.”