Mounting heating bills to force poorest families into debt

Charity group Save the Children on Monday warned that the cold snap could have an adverse affect to the UK’s poorest families and push them farther into debt as they are forced to borrow money to pay for mounting heating bills.

Fergus Drake, the charity’s UK director said, “We’re really concerned about how the poorest families are coping with this cold snap. Heating and winter clothes are expensive and, for families on a tight budget, they simply cannot afford to keep warm. …Many families are choosing between sitting in a freezing cold house or getting into debt to keep warm, pushing them further into poverty.”

Drake issued the warning after a joint survey made by YouGov and Save the Children found that more than 27 percent of the UK’s poorest families admitted that they would borrow money, or be forced into a debt management program, to pay for their gas and electricity bills which are expected to rise because of the cold snap.

At least 60 percent of those polled said they would cut down on their heating, or limit its use to a few hours per day to survive this winter. Some 22 percent said they would borrow money to buy winter clothes, such as winter jumpers, coats and shoes to get by the extremely cold weather.

Poor families are defined as those with an income below £12,000 a year, the group said.

The charity group is asking the government to provide more subsidies to the UK’s poor families and protect them from the harsh effects of the winter.

Drake said that the group is proposing a £200 per annum fuel payment to all low income families living with disabled children or children under five to protect the most vulnerable families the cold and from fuel poverty and the consequences of debt.

The government currently provides a £25 per week ‘Cold Winter Payment’ to families on low incomes with children under five or disabled children on condition that the temperature falls below zero degrees seven days in a row.