430,000 of the poorest children in England and Wales live in cold homes

New analysis by fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) suggests that over 430,000 of the poorest children in the UK are living in rented properties that are impossible to keep warm. Meanwhile, current government plans to address the issue in England and Wales risk being watered down by lobbying from the Private Landlord lobby, adds NEA.

Seven years after Parliament voted to address this sector, NEA says private landlords are still failing to act and are resisting measures to improve conditions in the worst cases. NEA also warns the upcoming regulations – which come into force this month – will offer no protections for the most vulnerable children living in ‘houses of multiple occupation’.

NEA welcomed government proposals to force landlords to improve the energy efficiency of their properties in time for new minimum standards due to come into force. However, Ministers appear to have followed the recommendations of the Residential Landlords Association, says NEA, and reduced the cap on landlord spending from £5,000 down to £2,500. The lower cap means only 139,000 households in England and Wales will benefit from better insulation by April 2020. NEA also estimates over 50,000 children living in the deepest fuel poverty won’t be helped by 2020.

Adam Scorer, Chief Executive of NEA comments: ‘Government and landlords need to get their priorities right. It’s pretty obvious that the worst landlords will act only if they are required to. Government has the chance to take many thousands of children out of the worst impacts of fuel poverty. If it does not, then it will be most vulnerable children in our communities who will continue to pay the price.

NEA is calling for the cap on landlord spending to be set at £5,000 as recommended by the government’s own Committee on Fuel Poverty.

Meanwhile, almost one million vulnerable households on poor value deals will make savings on their energy bills after Ofgem extended the ‘prepayment safeguard tariff’ in February. These customers will make annualised savings of around £66 on average, says the regulator, because suppliers have to cut their prices to below the level of the safeguard tariff cap. The safeguard tariff stops suppliers from charging customers too much and ensures any price increase is justified by rises in underlying costs.

In April last year, Ofgem introduced the safeguard tariff for over four million prepayment customers, who also find it difficult to get a better deal and are more likely to be vulnerable. After Ofgem extended the tariff to almost one million vulnerable customers in February, over five million households are now protected.