How to cut down when you can’t.

[Gilead]

So, gas and electric are crazy. I’m disabled. I need to shower every day, sometimes more than once a day. I have a stoma. It can leak. This means extra showers and a washload almost every other day. It also means having the heating on, at least first thing, so that I don’t get ill after the shower. I’m on benefits, this is going to be a roller coaster!

Being cold does make you ill if you are elderly or have some disabilities @ZeroCaffeine There are around 8,000 extra deaths for every one degree drop in average temperature in the UK.

www.ageuk.org.uk/latest-press/archive/cold-homes-costing-nhs-136-billion/

@ZeroCaffeine, being cold can make you I’ll if you are more or less immobile, the heating needs to be on in the morning so that I am able to shower and dress, otherwise I’m likely to end up with hypothermia. Bear in mind, none of this can be done quickly, even with caters helping it takes over an hour. L

Also anyone with any kind of chronic chest condition/ asthma/ copd will likely be significantly worse in a cold damp house where mould etc can grow.
My dh has severe asthma and we have the heating on a lot. He doesn't claim anything as he can work and earn a decent amount.
In my original post I wasn't specifically meaning I thought disabled benefits will go up, but I thin there will have to be more help for the disabled through energy companies. There are already a few schemes, I suspect maybe things like the warm home discount schemes will increase in amount and various other grants become available.

@Babyroobs

Also anyone with any kind of chronic chest condition/ asthma/ copd will likely be significantly worse in a cold damp house where mould etc can grow. My dh has severe asthma and we have the heating on a lot. He doesn't claim anything as he can work and earn a decent amount. In my original post I wasn't specifically meaning I thought disabled benefits will go up, but I thin there will have to be more help for the disabled through energy companies. There are already a few schemes, I suspect maybe things like the warm home discount schemes will increase in amount and various other grants become available.

Although of course the whd schemes are funded by the energy companies not the government.

Your water supplier should have something called water sure as you have medical needs for extra usage
It's very hard when you've got nothing else to cut down on
I'm disabled too, you have my sympathies

Thank you so much for all the really helpful suggestions, I shall research them and get back to you. Much appreciated. 💐

The triple lock has been suspended, pensioners won’t get bigger % increases than any other benefit recipient. Of course, anyone who is really interested in pensioner poverty might ask why the oldest pensioners get around £40 a week less than those who qualified for state pensions from 2016 onwards.

The triple lock has been suspended temporarily and replaced with a temporary double lock that offers more protection that those with disabilities have even during the suspension period.

I feel for the OP. DH needs to keep warm, and whilst we have both our pensions, its manageable. If I die, I don’t know how he’ll afford it. Single person households are often the most vulnerable.

That's a horrible situation to be in. Many disabled people also live in single adult households. Often also responsible for children on top. The point of my post was that all of the reasons the Government site for protecting pensioner incomes apply to disabled people also yet their incomes have not been uprated on the same basis as pensions over the last decade, leading to a huge cumulative lowering of disability payments proportionate to the change in pension payments over that period.

Why are you slagging off the fact that pensioners receive pensions they have paid all their lives for? It's a very vicious argument to say that this vulnerable group shouldn't get money because this other vulnerable group doesn't?

I said nothing of the kind. Were you trying to reply to someone else?

I retire in 11 weeks. I have worked for 50 fucking years, I have paid full contributions for all those years and I have damn well earned every penny I get as pension.

As will young people today who most likely will get nothing back at all. NI money is not invested for you into a pension fund. Most people even if they work all of their lives are paying in far less than they receive.

I am very sorry that the disabled (and I have a disabled DH) don't get triple lock rises but I don't see that stopping pension increases would miraculously mean that PIP goes up?

No, my point is that they should have been uprated in the same way because the same reasons to do so apply.

Or are you saying that if the disabled don't get an increase then pensionsers shouldn't either? That seems very, very small minded.

No, that is quite clearly not what I have said at all.

And as has been said above, the triple lock is suspended this year - is PIP or DLA going up as a result?

😆 No. You've misunderstood my post spectacularly.

@IamTheEvilPea

The triple lock has been suspended, pensioners won’t get bigger % increases than any other benefit recipient. Of course, anyone who is really interested in pensioner poverty might ask why the oldest pensioners get around £40 a week less than those who qualified for state pensions from 2016 onwards.

The triple lock has been suspended temporarily and replaced with a temporary double lock that offers more protection that those with disabilities have even during the suspension period.

I feel for the OP. DH needs to keep warm, and whilst we have both our pensions, its manageable. If I die, I don’t know how he’ll afford it. Single person households are often the most vulnerable.

That's a horrible situation to be in. Many disabled people also live in single adult households. Often also responsible for children on top. The point of my post was that all of the reasons the Government site for protecting pensioner incomes apply to disabled people also yet their incomes have not been uprated on the same basis as pensions over the last decade, leading to a huge cumulative lowering of disability payments proportionate to the change in pension payments over that period.

Cite, not site! Honestly. 🤣🤦🏻‍♀️

@ZeroCaffeine

Being cold doesn’t make you ill?

Being cold could be the thing that makes someone with a chronic lung condition, become very ill indeed.

OP, you must contact your water company, you will be able to cut your bill quite significantly. Also they give out free water saving items like the shower head already mentioned. There is also a a vulnerable user register for all utilities. Get on it asap.