Gordon Brown warns 3.5m households face fuel poverty this winter

With energy prices rising and the withdrawal of £20 Universal Credit top-up in the pipe-line from this month, there is a real concern about how these changes would impact on poverty in the UK.

Research conducted by Professor Jonathan Bradshaw and Dr Antonia Keung have modelled the impact using data from the Living Costs and Food Survey. Their first set of results focus on fuel poverty which were cited by the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown who has called for the government to re-think about withdrawing the top-up at this critical time.

The research shows that with the increasing energy cost alone, based on an estimate of a cumulative 15% increase in energy bills over the next year, it would mean as many as 3.5m households in the UK could be facing fuel poverty.