A quarter of households in Bristol will be paying a fifth of their budgets, after rents or mortgages, on energy bills next year.
A major public health response is being drawn up to protect Bristolians from skyrocketing food prices, energy bills and fuel costs. The response will build on the local experience of responding to the coronavirus pandemic, with many people’s health expected to suffer.
The parts of Bristol most at risk, according to new analysis, are: Avonmouth, Lawrence Weston, Hartcliffe, Withywood, Filwood, Knowle, Lockleaze, Ashley, Lawrence Hill, Easton and St George West. The analysis looked at factors like food and fuel poverty, and income.
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Consumer price inflation in the UK hit a 40-year record high of 9.1% in May, with retail price inflation even higher at 11.7%. As wages are not rising anywhere near a similar rate, that leaves most workers with a huge real-terms drop in their income. Local health bosses are now preparing to mitigate the fallout of people struggling to buy food or pay for heating bills.
On average annual heating bills rose by £693 last April, as the regulator Ofgem increased its price cap. Ofgem is expected to allow more huge price jumps in October, lifting its cap again. Health bosses and council chiefs met to discuss the city’s response to the cost of living crisis at a health and wellbeing board at Bristol City Council on Thursday, June 23.
Penny Germon, Bristol City Council officer, said: “We know the cost of living crisis will have far-reaching impacts. We know it’s causing real hardship, anxiety and stress. We’re in very difficult times and there are no easy answers. This has to be about us pulling together as a city, just as we did in response to Covid-19.
“As with Covid, the big energy is about citizen and neighbourly actions. Those WhatsApp groups are again proving useful now. [Action] needs to be sustained over a few years, and we will learn as we go. We’re clearly in very difficult times but we have the foundations and relationships in place. If anyone can do it, Bristol can.”
The council estimates that about 50,000 households in Bristol will spend a fifth of their budgets on energy bills, after housing costs like rent or mortgage payments. These households are home to nearly a third of all the children in Bristol. Those most at risk of inflation tend to be poorer people already struggling with money.
One action the council is taking is creating a map where the people most at risk live. The map looks at factors like low income, benefits claimed, fuel poverty, food poverty, and free school meals eligibility. Groups of people more at risk include black people, disabled people, single parents, renters, and people on prepayment energy meters.
Earlier in June Bristol’s mayor Marvin Rees revealed plans to set up about 10 communal warm places across the city, for people to gather this winter who can’t afford to pay their heating bills. He called for community organisations to come forward with spaces to be used as communal warm places.
