Cold hard facts of winter deaths

"People shouldn't be living like that in this day and age."

Mrs Knight, deputy chief executive of Age UK in Shropshire, will next month join her colleagues for a candlelit vigil in the centre of Shrewsbury to raise awareness of the estimated 252 people in the county who will needlessly die this winter due to the cold weather.

Most people born before January 5, 1953 will receive a winter fuel payment from the Government of between £100 and £300 tax-free to help pay their heating bills. In addition, people in receipt of certain benefits will get a £25 Cold Weather Payment if the temperature stays below freezing for seven days or more.

That is little consolation for people of a certain age braving the cold at the shops in Wellington.

Doug Bould, 72, from Broseley, says it is very difficult for pensioners to meet their heating bills these days, a matter not helped by cuts to Government support.

"They went and took £25 off it, so that's a shortfall of £50 for us, £25 for me and £25 for the wife," he says.

"It shouldn't be going down, it should be going up. It's all right for those who are working, but for older people it is very difficult. Our heating comes on in the morning and then goes off at 8.30am. The Government doesn't do enough for the old folk. They keep saying the cost of heating will go down, but it doesn't, does it?"

Douglas Lewis, 68, from Trench, added: "We haven't had it that cold so far this year. About 18 months ago I had a new boiler, I got £400 for the old one from British Gas, and it is more efficient. We don't go on holidays. If you're careful you get just about enough to keep warm."

Barbara Terrington, 75, from Wellington's Brooklands Estate, says she has to think carefully before switching on her heating.

"I have it to come on in the morning for two hours, but I can't afford any more than that," she says.

Her friend Sheila Handley, 80, says: "I don't find it too bad with the help off the Government, although I get a bit more than Barbara because I'm a bit older."

But Elaine Williams, 76, who is out shopping with husband Joe, 86, thinks the support available from the Government is perfectly adequate if used properly.

"We have no problem at all, I think it is a lot cheaper now compared to when my daughter was growing up," says Mrs Williams, who lives in Randlay, Telford. "It might be a problem for people living in old houses, but we've only got a little bungalow. And some people spend it on their grandchildren for Christmas. I don't do that."

That figure is based on the average for the past 10 years, where there has been an average of 180 excess winter deaths per year in Shropshire, and 72 in Telford & Wrekin. Our county is now seeing a change in weather, with temperatures plummeting below zero following what had been one of the mildest winters on record.

It comes as a national survey reports that more than 60 per cent of people aged 65 and over will ration their heating this winter amid fears over high energy bills. The study, by Compare The Market, also found that more than two-in-five considered cutting back on food in order to meet the cost of heating their homes.

The survey of 2,000 people found that 54 per cent were worried their income would not cover the cost, and 22 per cent said they would have to dip into their savings or borrow money to get through the winter.

And while wholesale gas and electricity prices in the UK hit a five-year low at the end of 2015, there is concern that the energy providers are dragging their heels when it comes to passing on the savings.

Energy Secretary Amber Rudd last year wrote to the Big Six providers, questioning whether their prices reflected the wholesale market. But the energy firms say they are operating in a highly competitive environment. British Gas cut its gas prices by five per cent in August last year, but the other five did not follow suit.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd says: "Consumers will rightly ask why their bills haven't been cut dramatically when wholesale costs have dropped."

Mrs Knight says that as a rural area with an ageing population, Shropshire is affected worse than most in the winter. There are 98,117 people aged 65 in the county as a whole, accounting for 22.9 per cent of the population, compared to 17.6 per cent for England as a whole.

"In Telford there are more older people with existing health problems, which can lead to excess winter deaths," she says. "In the rest of Shropshire many people live in fuel poverty. There are a lot of older houses that are off the gas grid, so people have to use more expensive heating such as electricity or oil." Mrs Knight says that 13.2 per cent of Shropshire households are in fuel poverty, as defined by the Government, and that at least 5,300 properties in the county fail the national decent homes standard. More than 50,000 homes in Shropshire – 37 per cent – do not have access to mains gas, while 53,600 out of 136,000 homes in the district are of solid wall, rather than the more heat-efficient cavity wall construction.

"Many older people struggle to stay warm and this will have life and death consequences," says Mrs Knight.

She points out that the Government recently pulled funding for the controversial Green Deal scheme which provided homeowners with loans to pay for double-glazing, solid wall insulation and boiler upgrades, with a view to paying them off through projected savings.

"The uptake wasn't very good because many older people were put off as they had to take out loans," she says. "We'd like to see them come up with a replacement which is more accessible." She also called for reform of the Energy Company Obligation (Eco), where gas and electricity suppliers give cash payments to people on low incomes or living in older properties to help with their bills.

"We'd rather see it going towards making homes more energy efficient, which is better in the long term," says Mrs Knight. "The Government's flagship energy efficiency programmes have not gone nearly far enough to help older people in Shropshire keep warm in their homes."

She says it is essential older people maintain a room temperature of 70F (21C) in living rooms and 64.5F (18C) in bedrooms.