Left in the cold

PENSIONERS and the sick are missing out on badly-needed help to cut their fuel bills as a government scheme is quietly wound down, campaigners have warned.

Only 210 households in Oldham have received Warm Front grants so far in this financial year — an 85 per cent fall on the 1,417 helped last year. A similar plunge has taken place across England as a whole — from 127,930 grants last year, down to 24,379.

Campaign group Consumer Focus has accused ministers of failing to publicise the help because they feared the scheme would be over-subscribed.

Meanwhile the number of people living in fuel poverty — spending more than 10 per cent of their income on energy bills — has soared to seven million households.

The Warm Front scheme pays out up to £3,500 for work on better insulation and central heating, or up to £6,000 for oil heating, to low income families, the elderly, or people with disabilities.

Funding was cut dramatically this year, from £366 million to £143 million, ahead of the scheme being scrapped in 2013.

The eligibility rules have been tightened to exclude disabled people receiving Disability Living Allowance and families with older children.