To wonder how people will financially survive?

[Cupcakeicecream]

To think that many people are struggling already. Food price rises, gas and electric costs. The general cost of living due to inflation from either brexit since the pandemic and Ukraine war. But come on some people were struggling before any of those factors. Financially people will be pushed to breaking christmas will be off the cards general life will stagnate no meals out leisure activities cinema socialising new clothes treat foods. The threat of blackouts and wondering how we will pay bills to keep warm or keep a house running. Never mind buying food the price of it plus the large gaps on shelves. Winter will be miserable. It's becoming impossible to live in this country.

How will schools afford their heating bill when their Covid risk assessment is for maximum ventilation and to open all the windows ?

Ask your DM and parents in law whether they still don’t need it come April, when the price cap exceeds £5500. Now is not the time to be advocating for a race to the bottom in the form of means testing - it’s expensive to administer and inevitably leaves people genuinely struggling without support because they are a few pence over the threshold.

@Loachworks I’m so sorry that you are feeling this way. Maybe contact the Citizen’s Advice Bureau to check what additional help might be out there before using your modest savings. DH and I have been saying for some time that it’s especially appalling for disabled people having to face these bills. You need to keep warm to manage your pain and of course many disabled people have essential electrical equipment in order to live their lives.

Anyway, please contact a relevant disabled charity and/or CAB for help 💐

We didn't think of it as suffering. We just thought of it as winter. It was cold and life was difficult but we got through.

Well said. I don't live in the UK and it is winter here. We had a frost last night. I have the heat pump on in the living room, but the rest of my flat, including the kitchen where I am at the moment, is cold. I have a wall heater in the bathroom which I will turn on when I have a shower, but none of the other rooms are heated. This is how many of us live in winter, and as you said, we just think of it as winter and we get through it.

Having said that, I do have sympathy for the huge price increases you are having in the UK. We have many of the same issues here, but nothing like the increased electricity charges you seem to be facing.

I agree and I also believe this could be this government's "poll tax" moment.
I predict a riot, maybe several, if something serious isn't done quickly sort out energy costs .

I think more vulnerable citizens will die in the UK this winter than citizens will die in Ukraine from the war. We already had a situation of reliance on foodbanks increasing every winter.

I think government will not care, because they will be elderly, disabled, homeless, or poor. 'Let the bodies pile high' class of people.
I think our current leaders have no more morals than Putin.

Yes. The price of logs has increased locally by 45%.I stocked up early summer but it won’t last all winter and I’ll still need supplementary central heating. Everything to do with heating/ energy has gone up in price. There’s no escaping it.
it’s going to be a long hard winter for so many. Let’s hope we have a mild benign winter.
I've never experienced such anxious fearful times. And I’m one of the more fortunate ones.

Does anyone know of a website that lists general usages.so plug use for phone charger,using the oven for an hour,to for an hour,tap,dishwasher etc
people have mentioned kWh and things but I. Finding it a real struggle and need it(if possible) much more simplified.especially so I can sit down and actively show the house what cutting or using less could actually do,how 5 minutes less in the shower or not using a full sink to wash a plate!
one kettle boil.

Our welfare system is what makes the UK a low wage economy

No it isn't. What makes us a low wage economy is that we don't invest in productive capital, we don’t invest in education and we don’t invest in training.

So we have low productivity and low wages.

Countries that invest in skills have both higher wages and more generous benefits.

There’s 8 of us in my mums house and fortunately she owns it, we are just paying bills but we’ve noticed the difference already. We were looking to move out, that’s off the cards now. We can live without heating, we barely used it anyway but I hate to think how some people will manage. I know people who were on the edge of poverty as it’s was and this will just push them over. It’s going to have a knock on effect for businesses, more people losing their jobs and will struggle even more to provide for thier families. They’ve got to do something.

He then gave them another £54 million.

There are 27.8 million households in uk - he could have sorted the fuel poverty crisis

Oh totally off topic but this got me right in the gut remembering my gran!her house had a heater in the bathroom up on the wall.one of those that when your turned it on and the prongs got hotter and turned amber!it did make that room very 🥵

But in Britain no heating will cause damp which used to be incredibly common

Yes it was high up with a pull cord with tapered ends

I've just installed one and I'm so glad I did. The choice was rip out the old v ugly one & brick up/plaster. Put in a salvaged cast-iron beauty and I'm so happy that I did

Also those charities,mental health hubs,overnight cafes or homeless shelters won’t be able to stay open either.they don’t exist on much as it is.they don’t have room for 80% increase and will shut down.taking the little help people had with them.

I might not have put it so colourfully, but you’re spot on!

Have you children who you could move in with, perhaps sleeping on a sofa or an air-bed?

Do you own anything that you could sell, or a friend who you could move in with and share bills?

Also, you don’t need to heat your house, you need to heat yourself, could you buy a heated gilet or blanket if you really don’t have any family or friends?

Russia are burning £10m of surplus gas a day as they aren’t pumping it to Europe.

We should strike a deal with Russia.

the health impact of poorly heated, probably damp, homes is horrendous and will add to the issues of the nhs.

the thought we should tolerate cold housing is absolutely as nonsense as it is for sustainability reasons to twat about in shorts inside in January because your house is 24 degrees.

No. We should not be supplying the money to murder children and rape women in Ukraine just to make our winter more comfortable. That would be shameful.

We should be exploiting our own North Sea gas while introducing nuclear and green energy asap so we never depend on global energy again tbh.

Because they had something to gain from it - think Covid supply contracts given to pub landlords !! It seems that Tory ideology is ever present. Do whatever it takes to support businesses through a pandemic but hang the poor and the vulnerable out to dry if they can’t afford their energy bills - after all, poverty is the fault of the poor !! The Tories would have you believe that the vulnerable are all being targeted for support with energy bills through the benefit system. In truth only those who are on means tested benefits will receive any meaningful extra support, and means testing cuts off support for those who are only slightly above the threshold, but still struggling. Disabled people who are on PIP or DLA and pensioners on Attendance Allowance will receive £150 in addition to the £400 universal support. With bills set to rise to over £5000 in January, there will be a lot of disabled people who can’t afford to recharge electric wheelchairs or other essential equipment, so £150 won’t be much use.

There’ll be a lot more pensioners riding the buses this winter methinks.

It’s taxpayer money so if it hadn’t been such a huge cost last time there’d be more to throw around this time