Cold, damp homes ...pensioners' winter hell as bills set to rise £150

PENSIONERS face a winter health emergency as Labour slashes state support while energy bills are set to rise by almost £150 from October.

- Harvey Jones and Christian Calgie

Fuel poverty campaigners say older people will be forced to live in cold, damp homes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves's shock move to axe the winter fuel payment for around 10 million of them.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence says cold homes contribute to excess winter deaths. The strongest link is between respiratory deaths and the cold.

Nice wrote in a report: "Housing conditions are a very important factor.

"The death rate rises about 2.8% for every degree celsius drop in the external temperature for those in the coldest 10% of homes."

The household support fund, started by the Conservative Party in 2021 to help vulnerable households pay food and energy bills, ends in September and Labour has refused to say whether it will extend it.

Gas and electricity bills are set to rise from October 1 with forecaster Cornwall Insight predicting that regulator Ofgem will increase the price cap to £1,714.