More than 700,000 people in England and Wales lack central heating in their homes this winter, new figures show.
This adds up to 367,000 households that are not using gas or electric to warm their homes, data collated by the Office of National Statistics revealed.
Each year there are about 10,000 excess deaths on average from cold and damp homes and charities have warned that it is often elderly people who have to live in these inadequate properties.
It comes afterThe Independent reported that an increasing number of people are turning to online crowdfunding to keep themselves warm.
Figures from the online platform GoFundMe show that there has been a 680 per cent increase year-on-year in people mentioning “energy bill” or “energy bills” in their fundraisers – rising from tens to hundreds of campaigns.
36 per cent of households with children are struggling to afford their energy bills, according to a survey of over 200 adults by Comparethemarket.
More to follow…
