Staff at a Merseyside food bank are having to rely on donations themselves as a local councillor predicts 'virtually everyone' in his local area will soon be in fuel poverty.
New figures, analysed by The Echo, suggest that nearly 24,000 more people in Wirral are in fuel poverty compared to 2020. Estimates suggest the total number is now more than 70,000 people in the borough. This is a number predicted to keep growing with energy prices due to soar again in October.
Justine Molyneux, the CEO of Involve Northwest charity which runs a foodbank in Wirral, told The Echo people are at just the beginning of a “horrific period.”
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She said: “I think it’s going to be very worrying. I do not know how some families are going to survive over the winter. It doesn’t just hit our clients, it also hurts us as well.”
Average fuel bills are expected to rise to £3528 in October with more rises expected in January 2023 to £4,266 and £4,427 in April. Energy companies told MPs that potentially up to 40% of the country are at risk of fuel poverty over the winter.
The common definition of fuel poverty is where a household spends more than 10% of its income on energy.
In Wirral, figures suggest one in five people are now in fuel poverty across the borough. It was previously one in seven according to the Wirral Intelligence Service. Bidston is estimated to be the highest with one in three.
11 areas are now estimated to have more than one in five people in fuel poverty compared to 2020 when it was four.
A Parliamentary report said price rises over the summer would lead to 50% increases of people in fuel poverty. It did not take into account further price rises in October and beyond.
Pat Cleary, a Birkenhead councillor and Greens leader, he believes everyone in his ward will be end up in fuel poverty over the winter.
He said: “Virtually everybody in my ward, the whole ward will be in fuel poverty. The number is going to rise and lots of people are working long hours for inadequate wages.”
Birkenhead is one of the most deprived areas in the Wirral with the lowest household income and highest child poverty.
Cllr Cleary believes Wirral Council needs to be doing more. When asked about Council leader Janette Williamson’s letter to the Chancellor, he believes she should also be lobbying the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority for more support and bring forward investments under the Regeneration Fund.
He thinks the council should be planning for the winter and supported the idea of using public buildings as “warm hubs”. He said: “We need to be thinking about how we keep people warm. We need warm and welcoming public areas such as libraries that people can use to keep warm.”
Cllr Williamson said in a letter to Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi that the council should receive £3.3 million to freeze a rise in council tax for all residents to help those struggling.
She said: “We need this funding to help our residents through this cost-of-living emergency. The current funding is only just scratching the surface. We need more, and we need it now.
“This week I have been speaking to families who cannot afford to put food on the table, workers who are already having to miss meals because their wages don’t last until pay day, and parents who are serving up cold meals because they are worried about putting the cooker on.
“That’s before we get to the older people who are terrified they won’t be able to keep the lights on this winter, let alone the heating.”
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