A new report released today warns of significant hardship for fuel poor households in the coming winter, as a potent combination of higher energy use resulting from staying at home for longer is mixed with reductions in income.

This year’s UK Fuel Poverty Monitor (UKFPM) reviews the events that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they have impacted vulnerable energy consumers and the organisations that look to support them, cataloguing the response to this challenge from these organisations. It concludes with an investigation of the policies, strategies and other key actions that are urgently needed to address the impact of the pandemic this winter and beyond.

This year, the focus of the Monitor is on progress in delivering existing fuel poverty strategies in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Health and Innovation Programme was a £26.2 million programme to bring affordable warmth to fuel poor and vulnerable households in England, Scotland and Wales. The programme launched in April 2015 and has delivered energy efficiency advice and measures to over 9000 households.