Anna Dixon speaks in debate on fuel poverty

Anna Dixon MP for Shipley, has today raised the impact of poor-quality housing on fuel poverty in a Westminster Hall debate.

The West Yorkshire MP, who was elected to parliament in July and has spoken about issues relating to pensioner and fuel poverty numerous times, also explicitly mentioned how this affects her constituents in Shipley.

Anna Dixon said: “It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) on securing this important debate on fuel poverty.

“I would like to highlight the impact of poor-quality housing on fuel poverty. I am acutely aware of that in my constituency of Shipley. We have some really poor-quality housing. As is typical for a northern town or city, we have a higher proportion of homes that are non-decent, which means that they do not meet the standards for a warm and dry home. That has knock-on effects for people’s health and wellbeing. As I know from my work, older people are more likely to live in those non-decent homes, which can have significant impacts.

“Data from Friends of the Earth, shared with me, shows that in Shipley alone there are 17 energy crisis hotspots. Those are neighbourhoods that have below-average household income but above-average energy bills. We need to use those sorts of data to focus our efforts to tackle fuel poverty, and the excellent work that the Government are doing to invest in home insulation, on those energy hotspots. I am very proud that the Government are looking to invest in new homes, but it is critical that those homes are warm and energy-efficient so that we can reduce the incidence of fuel poverty in future with new social housing. I was pleased to see that the Liverpool city region is working with Octopus Energy and with home manufacturers to create homes that will be guaranteed zero bills for at least 10 years. They could do that at scale because of the new methods of manufacturing. In addition to home insulation, there are some huge opportunities to address fuel poverty as the Government embark on the housing programme.

“There are clear links between fuel poverty and pensioner poverty: the two go hand in hand. It is a scandal that between 2010 and 2024, under the watch of the past Conservative Government, the number of pension credit claimants halved from 2.6 million to just 1.35 million. Sadly, over the same period, pensioner poverty rose from 12%, or 1.2 million people, to 16%, which is 2.1 million people. That is a real scandal.

“I agree that we should be targeting winter fuel support to the poorest pensioners, but we must also do all we can to ensure that those who are eligible for pension credit, and thereby for a winter fuel payment, are brought on to pension credit. The Department for Work and Pensions estimated that almost 900,000 eligible households were not claiming that benefit. It is fantastic that colleagues in government are working to raise awareness of pension credit among our poorest pensioners and to ensure that support is available.

“I pay particular tribute to local organisations in my constituency, such as Age UK Bradford and Citizens Advice Bradford, that support pensioners who experience fuel poverty. I also thank housing associations and Bradford council, which provide both advice and direct support to tackle fuel poverty and to ensure that people have the right advice and benefits. I hope that the Government will continue to make efforts to ensure that the poorest pensioners receive the support available to them.

“Obviously not everyone in fuel poverty is a pensioner and not every pensioner is in fuel poverty, so I am glad that the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland is holding this broader debate on the subject. We must recognise that fuel poverty affects not just older people, but families of all ages.

“A lot has been done through the Budget to raise people out of poverty by increasing the national living wage, but we must also target bills. Families who care for someone with a disability or a chronic condition can use much more energy, and therefore have much higher energy bills. For those families, it is really important that, through GB Energy, we invest in clean energy to get bills down.”