Fuel poverty ‘will claim 2,700 victims this winter’
Published October 20, 2011
Almost 3,000 people in England and Wales will die this winter because they cannot afford to heat their homes, a report suggests – more than the number killed in traffic accidents each year.
Commissioned by the government, the Hills Fuel Poverty Review found that if just 10% of UK winter deaths are caused by fuel poverty – a conservative estimate it claims – 2,700 people will perish as a direct result of being fuel poor.
The report also found that between 2004 and 2009 the “fuel poverty gap” (the extra amount those with badly insulated homes and poor heating systems would need to spend to keep warm) increased by 50% to £1.1bn as a result of rising fuel prices.
By the end of 2011, 4.1 million households in England are expected to be in fuel poverty. Households are considered fuel poor if they need to spend more than 10% of their income on fuel use to heat a home to an adequate standard of warmth, generally defined as 21C in the living room and 18C in other occupied rooms.
In October 2010, the government announced it would commission an independent review of fuel poverty, investigating how to better define and measure it and tackle the underlying problems that lead to it.
The interim report from the review, written by John Hills, director of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics, leaves the government in no doubt as to the breadth and depth of the fuel poverty problem engulfing many of the UK’s most vulnerable households.
The report, which backed the current definition of fuel poverty, found that living in cold homes has a series of effects on illness and mental health, but the most serious is its contribution to Britain’s unusually high rates of “excess winter deaths”.
In the report, Hills writes: “There are many contributors to this problem, but even if only a 10th of them are due directly to fuel poverty, that means that 2,700 people in England and Wales are dying each year as a result – more than the number killed in traffic accidents.”
Hills also found that while it is essential that the energy efficiency of the UK’s housing stock is improved, those on low incomes in the worst housing cannot afford to pay for it and “need assistance from elsewhere”.
He said: “The evidence shows how serious the problem of fuel poverty is, increasing health risks and hardship for millions of people and hampering urgent action to reduce energy waste and carbon emissions.
“This review confirms that the way in which the problem is currently described in law is correct: people are affected by fuel poverty if they are ‘living on a lower income in a home which cannot be kept warm at reasonable cost’.”
The Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000 stated that fuel poverty should be eradicated “as far as reasonably practicable” by 2016, but while fuel poverty in England fell by four-fifths between 1996 and 2004 (from 5.1 million households to 1.2 million households) it has more than trebled since.
‘Urgent action must start today’
Derek Lickorish, chair of the government’s Fuel Poverty Advisory Group, welcomed the report, and said it should “set an alarm bell ringing very loudly for government, Ofgem, suppliers and society as a whole”.
“This disgrace is further compounded with the conclusion that households in or near the margins of poverty were faced with additional costs of some £1.1bn at 2009 price levels to keep warm compared to more affluent households. That figure will be even more after the recent round of energy price increases.
“Urgent action must start today to mitigate the impact of high energy bills, including reviewing the way in which costs are recovered through energy bills to decarbonise our energy.”
Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action, which stated in September 2011 that there had been a relentless increase in the scale of fuel poverty across the UK, said the report vindicated 30 years of building awareness and tackling the causes and symptoms of fuel poverty.
Chief executive Jenny Saunders said: “The report clearly indicates that however we define fuel poverty or formulate remedial policies, the scale of the problem is vast. We now need to rapidly adapt public policy to improve the health, financial security and wellbeing of fuel-poor households in order to do what is necessary to eradicate fuel poverty by the statutory target date of 2016.”
Michelle Mitchell, charity director at Age UK, added: “People are cutting back on heating or food to help make ends meet at a time of escalating fuel prices. This increases the risk of many older people becoming seriously ill. We need more immediate clarity and detail on what help will be available through the [government's proposed] Green Deal, particularly for people on low incomes, and a sensible long-term way of reducing energy.”
Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy said: “It is horrifying that so many people are dying each year because they can’t afford to heat their home. Hills is right to stick by the current definition of fuel poverty because it focuses attention on the right people. Today’s report is yet another reminder that fuel costs just have to come down.”
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A model for good social care management
Little did Lisa Willis know that overcoming her fear of flying would help her become a better manager. The positive behaviour techniques she learned at a management conference have not only helped to improve her performance in meetings, but enabled her to go on foreign trips without being overwhelmed by panic and anxiety attacks.
“It’s amazing,” she says. “Whenever I am feeling stressed, all I have to do is touch a spot above my right knee and take a deep breath. I immediately feel relaxed and in control of the situation.”
Willis, a workforce development leader in Hampshire, is one of 44 managers and aspiring leaders drawn from across the county’s children’s services department who have benefited from the four-day specialist training programme. With its concentration on personal development and communication skills, frontline managers and team leaders in Hampshire say the programme has strengthened their leadership skills at a time when social work management nationally is under huge pressure.
Details of the scheme are contained in a new report that outlines a strategy of guiding principles on leadership development and a proposed “pathway of leadership progression”. Aimed at giving managers the confidence to lead through change and hold staff to account, it is being seen as a model for other local authorities.
The report, by Bournemouth University and Learn to Care, the professional association representing heads of social care education and workforce development in England, has been published in response to a new government requirement that frontline and aspiring managers should receive dedicated training and support as part of a root-and-branch reform of social work.
The Social Work Reform Board has been tasked with overseeing the change programme, ordered in the wake of the Baby Peter scandal in Haringey, north London, in response to the recommendations of a government-appointed taskforce. One of the taskforce’s central conclusions was that measures were needed to strengthen frontline managers through greatly improved training arrangements.
Professor Keith Brown, co-author of the new report, says while a plethora of courses and management programmes exist, few are aimed at the specific needs of social work managers. Until now, many team leaders or aspiring managers have relied on corporate training programmes or generalised business courses such as MBAs or diplomas in management studies. However, these often do not take into account the unique nature of the profession.
“Effective leadership is the fundamental bedrock of the profession. Arguably, getting supervision right is a specialist professional remit rather than a generalist one,” says Brown, director of Bournemouth University’s centre for post-qualifying social work. “It is vital to have leadership development for managers, who need to be able to challenge decisions and have a professional responsibility to individuals and communities as well as to their employers. Currently, there is a lot of training out there but it is not assessed – and does not make a difference to frontline practice.”
For Willis, a former youth worker who has climbed the management ranks and has a master’s degree in education, the Hampshire course has led to an improvement in working relationships. “The whole course centred on self-awareness and self-development,” she says. “We had to look at our behaviour and reflect on what we would do differently in two assessments totalling 7,000 words. I happened to mention my fear of flying, and my tutor spent some time focusing on that. I was taught to relax and picture myself on a beach when I started to panic about flying. The result? I am more considered in everything I do and manage conflict situations better. I am also much happier flying.”
Steph How, a children’s social work team manager based in Basingstoke, also went on the course. She describes the insight it has given her as “invaluable”. “I was taught how to turn negative things around and feel positive,” she says. “I think my whole team have benefited. At one time we were four social workers down, but we managed to maintain our level of performance. We have also had two outstanding Ofsted inspections.”
Local flexibility
The Hampshire pilot may soon be replicated – or adapted – by other local authorities. Copies of the report, Leadership and Management Development for Social Work and Social Care, are being sent to workforce developers across England over the next month. Among its key learning points is an emphasis on local flexibility.
Research for the report was carried out in collaboration with the National Skills Academy for Social Care, the employer-led organisation dedicated to raising standards in social care, and Skills for Care, the sector skills council, which has published a separate national framework aimed at supporting the learning of frontline social work managers in adult care.
Based on examples of good practice at 11 sites, the framework aims to provide the tools needed by commissioners, training providers and senior managers to develop support for managers working in adult social services.
Maria Lagos, head of policy for Skills for Care, describes the model as a “live product”. It could, she says, even be adapted for use for managers working in children’s services. “It is very important to note that it is not prescriptive,” she says. ” It gives commissioners an idea of the sort of aspects they need to think about.”
Safeguarding good practice
A project aimed at improving managers’ knowledge of safeguarding and risk is highlighted in the new framework as one example of good national practice. Staff at Nottingham Trent University developed the course after being approached by five local authorities.
Jo Ward, lecturer in social work, says: “They felt there was a gap in knowledge, so we developed a course aimed at increasing skills. It involves group work, role play, and we get people to video themselves in a supervisory role. They then work with a critical friend and reflect on it.”
Nineteen managers working across adult and children’s services have already completed the course, which runs over five weeks and involves completing a 5,000-word assignment. A further 21 have signed up in a second cohort. Ward says the managers attending come from a wide range of backgrounds, with some outside social work. They include an occupational health therapist, a mental health nurse and a former police officer.
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