Huge demand in city for fuel poverty help - charity

The Beat the Cold Service said it had helped people get hold of more than £500,000 in financial aid

More than 3,000 households in Stoke-on-Trent who were in fuel poverty have been given aid by an advice service in the past six months.

Charity Beat the Cold said it had helped them access £541,475 in support in that time.

The target for the service was to help 3,000 people annually and Fiona Miller, the project's development and partnership manager, said demand had been "very, very high".

She said they had met that target within six months, helping 3,136 families and individuals with issues including cutting fuel costs and showing them where to get financial help.

Ms Miller also said while the energy advice service was one way of tackling fuel poverty, defined as low income households where energy efficiency was poor, there were wider underlying factors in Stoke-on-Trent that need to be addressed.

She told a city council health and wellbeing board: “I believe that the route out of the fuel poverty that we experience at the moment is to work on that wider piece, including skills, education and labour market opportunities, as well as driving up energy performance certificate ratings.”

Their advice service, jointly funded with £100,000 from the city council, the government and the NHS, is due to run for two years.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.