Copy article

ONS report on winter and the cold

ended 15. December 2022

This morning, the Office for National Statistics published a harrowing report (the first of its kind) showing the true impact of the cost of living crisis. Key points below. If you're experiencing this, or have views on it, please share your thoughts with us.

  • Around a quarter of adults (23%) were occasionally, hardly ever, or never able to keep comfortably warm in their living room in the past two weeks.
  • Over 6 in 10 (63%) adults reported using less gas and electricity because of increases in the cost of living, with more than 9 in 10 (96%) of these adults using the heating less.
  • Around 1 in 3 (34%) of all adults reported that cutting back on heating their home has negatively affected their health or well-being.
  • Around 1 in 6 (16%) adults were somewhat, or very, worried their food would run out before they had money to buy more, and 6% said their household had run out of food and could not afford to buy more.
  • Around 1 in 5 (19%) adults reported eating smaller portions because of the rising cost of living, while 17% said they were eating food past its use by date.

4 responses from the Newspage community

Copy all

Copy

Editor
Samuel Mather-Holgate
Independent Financial Adviser at Mather and Murray Financial
The government will wear these figures as a badge of shame. They have failed to support the most vulnerable by spreading support for energy bills thin and wide, rather than targeting those most in need. The fact that, in one of the richest countries in the world, a quarter of people were uncomfortably cold in their own homes proves that there is a real problem with severe inequality entrenched in UK society. 1 in 6 people going hungry, unable to afford food, shouldn't be a stat from the UK but a developing far away state. Hunt needs to act now, in full sight of these stats, as we cannot wait for a general election for those most in need to get the urgent aid they desperately require.
Copy

Premium
Carol Vickers
Owner at Created by Carol
As ever, disabled people are more severely affected by this financial crisis. According to Scope, it already costs a disabled person almost £600 per month MORE just to exist in the UK. Now, as with Covid when disabled lives were considered expendable and unauthorised DNRs were handed out to allow beds for abled patients, disabled people are put at serious risk and treated as a second class citizens. The rising price of energy has desperate consequences for those reliant on electrical medical equipment to stay alive. Many long term illnesses, such as breathing / circulatory diseases, are exacerbated by cold and turning the heating down isn't a safe option. This month is Disability History Month and the energy crisis reminds us why it has never been more important to raise awareness of the lack of progress around disability equality.
Copy

Heather Moore
Artist/Business Owner at The Peacock & The Printmaker
Winter is always a time when illness rates rise but, generally speaking, I don't get ill. This year, however, I have been working from home and sitting in a cold house for much of the afternoon. While I can pile on the layers (and I do), my hand freeze up and this is beginning to cause discomfort. I have also noticed that I am getting headaches most afternoons, which hasn't been the case earlier in the year.
Being in the early stages of running my business full-time, I am doing everything I can to keep the costs down. I never thought I'd be sitting freezing in my own home as I tried to work.
Star Quote
Copy

Legend
Sara Hall
Founder at Lilibet & Phil Publishing House
When I was a child, I was afraid of the dark. Ironically, at nearly 50 I've become terrified of the light. With the smart meter in the corner spinning out of control, I find it hard to believe that in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, full-time workers are having to buy electric blankets, fluffy bunny slippers and even worse, onesies, in a desperate attempt to stay warm this winter. Smaller portions, watching endless re-runs of "Eat well for less" and changing the way we shop have done little to help the situation, with the price of everything we buy rising, sometimes by 30% overnight. I want to be optimistic about 2023, but I won't be celebrating the New Year until I see some terms and conditions.