| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
Old and cold
— older people and policies failing to address fuel poverty | | Author(s) | Fay Wright |
| Journal title | Social Policy & Administration, vol 38, no 5, October 2004 |
| Pages | pp 488-503 |
| Source | http://www.blackwell-synergy.com |
| Keywords | Winter care ; Heating systems ; Fuel expenditure ; Social policy ; Social surveys. |
| Annotation | Research, funded by the British Gas Help the Aged Partnership and carried out by the Institute of Gerontology, King's College London (ACIOG), explored the multi-dimensional issues of fuel poverty. A sample of older homeowners and private renters living in England, Scotland and Wales were interviewed in Spring 2003, to explore their experiences of keeping their homes warm in the preceding winter. Almost half of the sample for whom full information was available was in fuel poverty. Government schemes failed to address some important issues: grants were only available to those with "passport benefits", excluding those who had minimal occupational pensions. Although most respondents had central heating, it was often old and ineffective, yet grants were not available to modernise them. Government schemes did not extend to paying for external and internal insulation for solid wall properties, yet many older people live in such property. Mains gas currently provides the cheapest fuel. However, many older people living in rural areas are not connected to mains gas, and they face the highest bills: government policies do not address the differential fuel costs in these areas. The culture of many older people in the study contributed to their living in cold homes. They lived frugally and usually turned heating off in daylight hours during winter. It was also a common practice to sleep in an unheated bedroom during winter, and to keep the window open at night. Such practices are acknowledged to be unhealthy. (KJ/RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-041026210 A |
| Classmark | IB: YF: J6: TM2: 3F |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|