Every day, Care & Repair see older people in Wales living in unfit and unsafe housing, with few opportunities for redress or to improve their situation.
Until April 2023, Care & Repair had a specialist fuel poverty and energy advice service. Almost all clients who interacted with this service were living in fuel poverty. Using an anonymized sample of our clients, we have calculated the average spending on energy over a three-year period for Care & Repair clients who used this service and received government support.
Key Findings
- Even with government support packages and a fall in the energy price cap, the average Care & Repair client will spend 19% of their income on utilities this coming winter 2023-24, with 15% of their income being spent on gas and electric alone. This puts our average client in fuel poverty, struggling to heat their homes to a satisfactory level.
- In our sample of Care & Repair households that accessed 70+ Cymru, our energy advice service, 96% of households were living in fuel poverty. Care & Repair’s clients are particularly at risk of the health implications of cold homes; 75% of excess winter deaths are people aged 75 and above.
- Even with an increase in state pension in line with inflation, our estimation shows that older people are still spending a higher proportion of their income on their utility bills compared to 2021/2022 levels. Meanwhile, our clients are grappling with increases of other costs, such as an average weekly food shop which has risen by 28% from 2021.
Government support packages are not a permanent solution to helping people stay out of fuel poverty; long-term solutions are needed to keep older people warm in their homes, preventing cold-related illnesses and further hospital admissions.
