The Energy Secretary has announced a plan to ensure warm homes for all renters – in both private and social rented housing – in his speech to Labour’s annual conference.
What ministers claim is the “biggest boost to home energy standards in history” follows the Deputy Prime Minister’s confirmation of a raft of measures to ensure good quality homes for all.
Under the plans, landlords will be banned from renting out properties that don’t meet stricter energy efficiency standards.
Caroline Simpson, Warm This Winter campaign spokesperson, said:
“This is very welcome news. UK properties are some of the worst insulated in Europe, with millions of Brits currently condemned to living in cold, damp, mouldy homes they can’t afford to heat. With energy bills still 65% more than they were at the start of the energy crisis, home insulation is the quickest way to bring down bills, but is seldom prioritised by landlords.
“The government must now ensure the private rented sector meets its obligations to tenants, as well as ring fencing funding for local authorities to make these promised energy efficiency upgrades a reality for those living in social housing.”
A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition commented:
“People in rented accommodation are almost twice as likely to live in cold damp homes compared with people who own their own properties. [1]
“The Energy Secretary is to be congratulated for recognising the importance of the need for better energy efficiency standards in rented homes, but the Government shouldn’t drag their heels with more consultations.
“This issue has been consulted on widely in the past and Ministers must move to take action. There is no time to waste as improvements will take months or years to be felt by tenants and the longer it takes, the more support households will need to stay warm in the winter.
“That’s why right now we also need to see the Government revoke cuts to the winter fuel payment for this year and commit to more support for vulnerable households so that everybody can stay warm this winter and next.”
However, in her speech, Rachel Reeves refused to back down on plans to cut Winter Fuel Payments from 1.2m pensioners in absolute poverty and for 1.6m older people with disabilities.
An End Fuel Poverty Coalition spokesperson added:
“The Chancellor doubled down on her gamble with older people’s lives to fill a budgetary black hole, which according to reports is £10bn less than was initially claimed. And that’s before the Government takes receipt of the £3bn which it is recovering from the collapse of one of the energy firms.
“While Rachael Reeves tries to claim that the triple lock on pensions is enough to replace Winter Fuel Payments, personal finance experts point out that the rise starts next April, when pensioners face an energy bills crisis now. Equally, there are up to 800,000 of the poorest pensioners who get less than the full state pension and don’t even get Pension Credit.
“And of course, the full rise only applies to the one in four pensioners who get the ‘new’ state pension.”