destitution

Energy giants reap £420bn profits as beleaguered customers faced further price hikes

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/energy-giants-reap-ps420bn-profits-beleaguered-customers-faced-further-price-hikes

An online energy bill, February 3, 2022

AS BELEAGUERED customers faced further price hikes today, the scale of Britain’s energy rip-off was revealed.

The energy firms have collectively reaped profits of £420 billion since 2020, according to research by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition.

For comparison, the annual budget of the Department of Health & Social Care, which includes the NHS, was £181.7bn in 2022-3.

Though the Ofgem-imposed price cap, limiting what customers pay for each unit of gas and electricity that we use, fell today to £1,690 a year for a typical household, the average standing charge rose from £303 a year to £334.

These charges, which have to be paid even if no gas or electricity is used, have risen by 147 per cent since the 2022 outbreak of war in Ukraine.

Those cashing in on the profits dividend include not only the energy providers but also the firms that own the wires and pipes through which electricity and gas supplies travel, all publicly owned prior to privatisation in 1990.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/energy-giants-reap-ps420bn-profits-beleaguered-customers-faced-further-price-hikes

Continue ReadingEnergy giants reap £420bn profits as beleaguered customers faced further price hikes

Children ‘forgotten’ as figures show record poverty with top earners only ones better off

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/children-forgotten-figures-show-record-poverty-top-earners-only-ones

A preschool age child playing with plastic building blocks, January 24, 2016

CHILD poverty hit a record high as only the top earners were better off last year, official figures revealed today.

Campaigners said youngsters were being forgotten as the statistics showed food insecurity soared by 53 per cent, 100,000 more working households fell below the poverty line and more pensioners were unable to afford basic goods such as food and heating.

The Department for Work and Pensions estimated 4.33 million children in households in relative low income – below 60 per cent of median income after housing costs — in the year to March 2023.

This is up from 4.22 million the previous year and the highest since comparable records for Britain began in 2002/03.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/children-forgotten-figures-show-record-poverty-top-earners-only-ones

Continue ReadingChildren ‘forgotten’ as figures show record poverty with top earners only ones better off

Green groups create mock cemetery to highlight thousands of cold-related deaths

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/green-groups-create-mock-cemetery-highlight-thousands-cold-related-deaths

Gravestones in Victoria Tower Gardens, London, during a Greenpeace demonstration, March 13, 2024

FUEL poverty campaigners created a mock cemetery outside Parliament today to mark the deaths of tens of thousands of people who have died from cold-related illnesses since the government cut grants to help insulate homes.

Hundreds of headstones, made with insulation panels used to help people keep their homes warm, were erected in a royal park by Greenpeace and the Fuel Poverty Action campaign.

Greenpeace said that 70,000 people — on average 58 a day — have died from cold-related illnesses since the government slashed subsidies for loft and wall insulation in 2013.

Greenpeace UK fuel poverty campaigner Paul Morozzo said: “Thousands of people are literally freezing to death in their own homes during winter.

“And not only have successive governments failed to prevent this needless and shocking loss of life but they have fuelled this silent public health crisis by slashing insulation funding and failing to deliver a proper scheme to upgrade our cold, damp, draughty homes.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/green-groups-create-mock-cemetery-highlight-thousands-cold-related-deaths

Continue ReadingGreen groups create mock cemetery to highlight thousands of cold-related deaths

Fuel poverty protestors gather in Manchester to shine light on thousands of lives cut short this winter due to uninhabitable homes

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Image of cash and pre-payment meter key
Image of cash and pre-payment meter key

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/fuel-poverty-protestors-gather-in-manchester-to-shine-light-on-thousands-of-lives-cut-short-this-winter-due-to-uninhabitable-homes/

“The next government’s energy policy should aim at ending fuel poverty, not managing it, and the money to do it is right there in energy company profits.”

In Manchester, there was an angry response to what the End Fuel Poverty Coalition described as a ‘another feeble budget.’

“The Chancellor failed to close the 91 percent loophole in windfall taxes, and failed to invest in the green jobs that would deliver cheaper home-grown energy for us all, and healthier homes,” said a spokesperson for the Coalition.   

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Stu Bretherton, Energy For All Campaign Coordinator at Fuel Poverty Action said he hopes Wednesday’s Statement will be the last Budget of a government that has “driven mass poverty, broken public services, illness and death.”

But Bretherton warned that none of the parties are “offering the bold changes that we desperately need so today we’re seeing trade unions, pensioners, climate activists and health workers Unite for Energy For All.”

“The next government’s energy policy should aim at ending fuel poverty, not managing it, and the money to do it is right there in energy company profits,” he said.

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/fuel-poverty-protestors-gather-in-manchester-to-shine-light-on-thousands-of-lives-cut-short-this-winter-due-to-uninhabitable-homes/

Continue ReadingFuel poverty protestors gather in Manchester to shine light on thousands of lives cut short this winter due to uninhabitable homes

Over half of Universal Credit recipients do not have enough money for food, research finds

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/over-half-of-universal-credit-recipients-do-not-have-enough-money-for-food-research-finds/

A petition calling on the government to take urgent action to support the introduction of an Essentials Guarantee was presented to political parties in Westminster this week.

Research commissioned by the Trussell Trust has found more than half of recipients of Universal Credit do not have enough money for food.

The study was carried out by YouGov on behalf of the Trussell Trust. It found that 2.4 million claimants (37 percent) had fallen into debt because they could not keep up with essential bills. Two in five (42 percent) reported being behind on one or more household bill.

The research suggested that 780,000 claimants of Universal Credit had been driven to use a foodbank during the month December 2023 to January 2024. More than half of the recipients who were surveyed said they had run out of food. In the previous 12 months, 22 percent of Universal Credit claimants reported being unable to cook hot food as they could not afford to use their own or other utilities. 52 percent said they were behind on their bills and credit commitments or were finding keeping up with them a constant struggle.

From April, the £90 weekly Universal Credit standard allowance is £30 less than the weekly cost of essential items for a singly person, says the charity. It is calling on the Chancellor to provide greater support for people on the lowest incomes in next week’s Spring Budget, including an extension to the Household Support Fund. 

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/over-half-of-universal-credit-recipients-do-not-have-enough-money-for-food-research-finds/

Continue ReadingOver half of Universal Credit recipients do not have enough money for food, research finds