Scotland Manifesto: Calling for an end to fuel poverty in later life

In the next of our blogs exploring Independent Age’s manifesto calls ahead of the Scottish Parliament election, Scotland Senior Policy and Public Affairs Officer Malcolm Sayers discusses the impact of energy costs on older people on a low income.

In a compassionate and wealthy society, no one should have to live in fuel poverty. No one should have to pay out so much of their income on energy costs that what is left is not enough to maintain an acceptable standard of living.

As we approach the Holyrood elections in May, we should pause for a moment to consider a major milestone on fuel poverty that the next Parliament is legally obliged to meet. The Fuel Poverty (Scotland) Act 2019 requires that by 2030 there be no more than 15% of households in fuel poverty, and 5% or less in extreme fuel poverty.

But just four years out from when Scotland’s fuel poverty targets need to be met, there is still much to be done if Scotland is to meet these. Currently, 34% of all households (860,000) are in fuel poverty in Scotland — compared to the 2030 target of 15%. Among older households the situation is even worse; 37% (317,000) are in fuel poverty, and 25% are (215,000) in extreme fuel poverty.

All of these numbers are up considerably from 2019 when the Act was passed.

While one of the main levers to alleviate fuel poverty — fuel price — is outside the remit of the Scottish Parliament there is still much that can, and should be, done in Scotland. The energy performance of houses, people’s incomes, and how they use energy at home all play a part.

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At Independent Age we welcome the efforts of the Parliament across all these areas and note in particular, significant investments to improve house conditions. We also welcome regulations to require minimum energy efficiency standards in the Private Rented Sector, moves to maintain people’s disposable incomes through potentially capping private rents, and the annual uprating of winter heating social security support.

However, shockingly almost half of older people still live in homes with poor energy ratings meaning they are cold and expensive to heat; many are unaware of the energy efficiency support available to them; and significant proportions do not receive entitlements such as Council Tax Reduction, Housing Benefit and Pension Credit that could significantly increase their incomes and drive down the risk of fuel poverty.

“My biggest problem is heating. It’s just impossible to keep warm. No matter how much I spend, it never gets warm.” Anonymous

If we are to meet the legislative target for 2030, of reducing fuel poverty to 15% and extreme fuel poverty to 5%, it is clear we need much more to be delivered by the next Scottish Parliament. Making sure that the homes of older people — and people of all ages — are energy efficient and cost as little as possible to heat is vital to achieving this.

Independent Age calls for:

• The implementation of a warm homes programme for older people on a low income, providing targeted support and advice to pensioners by using existing data, including social security payment records.
• Increased awareness, uptake and adequacy of funding for energy-efficiency schemes to drive down fuel poverty rates among older households.

Independent Age calls upon all political parties to lay out what they intend to do to meet the legislative requirements and create a society where we can all live in a warm home irrespective of income.

Find more on our calls and research in Security not struggle: a manifesto to reduce pensioner poverty.

Help us push for improvements to later life and call on decision makers to take action ahead of the election in May by joining us as a campaigner.