Pensioners at risk of freezing to death this winter because rocketing fuel prices, warns Age UK

The Government warns that pensioners could freeze to death because of the rising fuel costs.

Ros Altmann, former Pensions Minister demanded urgent support for pensioners in need amid concerns that household costs could increase by more than doubling this year.

After the wholesale price of gasoline rose six times in the last year and hit a record-breaking high just before Christmas, prices have shot up.

Ros Altmann, a former pensions minister demanded the government take immediate action to assist hard-up seniors amid concerns that household expenses could increase by more than doubling this year

Baroness Altmann told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The problem for pensioners is that not being able to keep warm costs lives.

‘We’re not just talking about being a bit strapped for cash, we’re talking about health deterioration or death.’

Charity for the elderly, Age UK, branded the situation a ‘national emergency’. The charity’s research shows that every winter one old person dies every seven minutes from the cold in England and Wales.

Senior citizens should keep their bedrooms at 18C (64)F and the rest of their living spaces at 21C (71).

There is increasing concern about people turning off heating in order to reduce fuel costs.

Caroline Abrahams (charity director at Age UK) stated that she is writing this week to ministers in an urgent appeal for action.

‘I’ve not seen a threat like this to older people’s standards of living, this is unprecedented,’ she said.

Caroline Abrahams is the charity director for Age UK. She said that she would be writing Ministers this week in an urgent appeal to demand action.

‘I don’t think it’s happened very often in history that prices have gone as mad as this in such a short space of time. And on top of this, inflation is starting to bite into people’s pensions.’

She said that the Government must ‘make a significant intervention’ rather than ‘the odd tenner here and there’ so that older people have the confidence to turn their heating on now.

She added: ‘We already hear from older people that when their energy bill falls on their doormat, they sit and look at it for a week before they get the courage to open it.’

Ms Abrahams added: ‘We know older people are already worried about the cost of energy. They’ll immediately start rationing heating from now because they’re worried about the bills they’ll receive.

‘People who genuinely can’t afford it are potentially putting their health at risk by taking those sorts of actions and not staying adequately warm.’

Baroness Altmann stated that a million pensioners had been affected by extreme fuel poverty even before the pandemic.

She continued: ‘That means they already can’t afford their heating bills. I know of pensioners who have to sit in one room through the winter because they can’t afford to heat the rest of their home.’

Baroness Altmann said the Government needs to encourage more older people to use pension credits – which supplement poor retirees’ state pensions. She said: ‘Some 40 per cent of pensioners entitled to pension credit are not claiming it. This has held steady at 41% since 2010. That’s a disgrace.’