Fuel poverty action ‘doomed to fail’

A MUCH-hyped Government action plan to end the scandal of families too poor to heat their homes is doomed to failure, a damning report by MPs warns today.

The Great British Refurb‚ — to insulate every home by 2015 — is “unambitious” and lacks practical detail on how it will be achieved, the all-party environment committee warned.

Meanwhile, a key target to eradicate so-called fuel poverty‚ among vulnerable‚ households — those with children, elderly people or the long-term sick — by next year is certain to be missed, it said.

In fact, the overall number living in fuel poverty has reached 5.5m households, because of higher fuel prices and the recession — and has been rising since 2003.

In Oldham, on average one in six families struggle to pay their heating bills. In Oldham West and Royton there are 7,040 (18.6 per cent) of households in fuel poverty and a further 7,481 (17.8 per cent) in Oldham East and Saddleworth.

And, every winter across Britain, there are up to 40,000 more deaths‚ compared with the warmer summer months — a far worse record than other European countries.

The report demanded an urgent programme, before next winter, to begin transforming the energy efficiency of British homes and cut heating bills.

That programme should include taxing the annual £250 winter fuel payment for over-60s — and scrapping it for higher-rate taxpayers — to boost spending on the poorest homes.

Today’s report found that just 12 per cent of 2.9m people receiving winter fuel payments were classed as living in fuel poverty.

Committee chairman Michael Jack said: “The Government told us, earlier this year, it has plans for a ‘Great British Refurb’ to provide basic insulation in all UK homes by 2015.

“The ambitions of these plans do not go far enough and so far little has been done to deliver them.”