The cost of living crisis is endangering older people’s lives leading to a humanitarian emergency across the UK this winter like nothing we’ve seen in our lifetimes, the boss of a charity last night warned.

On the day energy bills will rise for households across the UK – even with the government’s price cap – Age UK is warning millions of the poorest pensioners will still be plunged further into poverty and frightened as they try to survive the cold months.

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A typical annual bill will go up from £1,971 to £2,500, but prices will still be twice as high as last winter, and charities say that will leave many still struggling.

Age UK’s Darlington and North Yorkshire centre has already seen calls to their helpline double in the last month, even before the worst of the winter weather has arrived, and extra staff have already been taken on to deal with what is expected to be a huge surge in demand.

Helen Hunter, chief executive of Age UK Darlington and North Yorkshire, fears the true impact of the price rises won’t be fully known until bills start landing on doorsteps at the end of the month, warning there will be a “real shock” for many older people.

She said: “The team is always busy at this time of year with older people looking for advice on benefits and income and ways to keep warm, so it will be more of the same but it’s going to get a lot more intense.

“It’s going to have a real impact on older people’s mental health as well as their anxiety, which is already affected at this time of year anyway with worrying about staying warm and paying the bills."

Ms Hunter, who praised the support she had received from Darlington Borough Council, is also concerned about the charity’s Darlington headquarters at Bradbury House with the rise in energy bills.

“We’ve had to put the heating on for the first time this week. We have to stay open – we provide a safe warm place for people to have cups of tea, affordable food, watch TV, play games.

“It’s a big old building, it’s not the most efficient. We’ve just come out of the pandemic crisis where we lost income and we lost staff. You shouldn’t use the word crisis lightly, but that’s what it is. It’s going to really hit us."

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Analysis from Age UK found that from this month, around three in ten older households in England will be living in fuel poverty. Even after the Government’s decision to freeze the energy price, an additional 1.8m older households will be in fuel poverty compared to one year earlier.

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK: “Our new analysis shows that the Government’s relief package will not do enough to prevent approaching two million more pensioners from being plunged into fuel poverty. Most worrying of all, in excess of half a million of them are already living on lower incomes, so they will be in an impossible position financially, unless the Government does more to help.

“However hard they try their income is not going to stretch far enough to cover the essentials any more. Can you imagine how terrifying this prospect is if you are an older person on a low fixed income who has just about managed so far? Once they realise what a deep financial hole they are about to be in our biggest concern is that some will cut their spending to such a degree that it puts them at risk.

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“In total, we know that there will be 1.3 million older people on low incomes from October who will also be in fuel poverty, and the thought that this massive number of pensioners will be struggling and in many cases failing to make ends meet through the cold months is totally beyond the pale. Our analysis leaves no doubt that the Government must do more to help the poorest, or we will face a humanitarian emergency across the UK this winter like nothing we’ve seen in our lifetimes.

“The Chancellor announced a wide raft of measures, but there was nothing in his statement to help pensioners on low incomes, deeply anxious about how they will get through the winter. The Government could have acted to avert an impending national health emergency by directing more support to those on means-tested benefits but chose not to, and we are extremely worried about the consequences once the weather chills."

“Millions would be frightened too, because they are already struggling to pay their inflated bills, to the extent that at Age UK we worry how some will get through the winter."

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