Elderly person dies every SEVEN minutes due to fuel poverty 'scandal'

MILLIONS of pensioners are worried they will not be able to stay warm this winter as latest figures show an elderly person dies every seven minutes from the effects of cold.

A third of elderly people are worried about how they will heat their homes this winter GETTY

A third of elderly people are worried about how they will heat their homes this winter

Every winter, 25,000 older people in England and Wales do not survive the bitter weather - 206 deaths a day.

Those living in the coldest homes figure most in the excess winter death rates and illness statistics, according to Age UK.

Yet 3.5 million fear they will not be able to afford their heating bill.

Soaring energy bills is one of the main concerns over the winter months for around five million over-65s, found the report out today.

A third are worried about how they will pay to heat their homes while 70 per cent have fears over the high cost of energy.

Dr William Brehaut, 76, lives in a 200-year-old property near Peterborough.

Last winter he could not afford adequate heating on his basic pension and Pension Credit and would be left without heat for days.

He said: “My thermometer card showed that my living room was only six degrees.

"I had to wear a coat indoors on the worst days.”

Countries which have much colder temperatures, such as Finland, Germany and France, have significantly lower winter death rates because the UK has the oldest houses in the EU.

But many of the deaths could be prevented if homes were better insulated.

William Evans, 82, an ex-Navy sailor, also lives in Cambridgeshire.

Any penny you’ve got has to go into your basic living

William Evans

He led the British Legion’s service on Remembrance Sunday by St Nicholas Church, Manea, Cambridgeshire.

He said: “It’s creating hardship but I just about scrape through. I don’t smoke or drink or do anything like that.

“I haven’t been to the cinema for 50 years, I haven’t had a holiday in 20 years, which is tragic after a busy life.

“Any penny you’ve got has to go into your basic living.

"I do feel a bit sad, that I don’t have the wherewithal to do more, having been in the services you don’t become rich.”

Just under one million older people live in fuel poverty and many cannot afford to heat their homes to a sufficient temperature to keep warm.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “Fuel poverty is a national scandal which has claimed the lives of too many people - both old and young - for far too long and left many more suffering from preventable illness.”

The research suggests that 41 per cent of this older generation believe the Government should do more to ensure UK homes are made more energy efficient and 36 per cent say energy companies should do so.

Lynne Brennand, 63, of Cumbria, has a weekly income of under £100 and is “dreading” this winter because of the price of utilities.

A quarter of her income goes on heating bills during the frosty months, leaving insufficient money for food.

She said: “I have to limit running the central heating. I have very little left for food. We don’t have luxuries in this house.

"My priority is to try to keep warm.”

There is also a massive financial cost to the NHS as it copes with additional winter deaths and illness which Age UK has calculated at £1.36 billion per year in England alone.

The report marks the launch of Age UK's Campaign for Warm Homes this winter.

  • Age UK will be providing vulnerable older people with winter warmth kits, hot food, heat-saving home improvements and advice on staying warm. To donate, visit www.spreadthewarmth.org.uk or call 0800 169 87 87.
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