Poorly insulated homes costing lives

A NEW analysis of official data, published by Greenpeace UK, reveals that five people have died every single day in the East Midlands during winter due to cold homes, since the Conservative government cut support for home insulation measures in 2013.

The research estimates that, in the East Midlands, more than 5,500 excess winter deaths were caused by living in cold, damp housing conditions over the last 10 years.

This decision, which slashed subsidies for loft and wall insulation, resulted in a cliff edge for government-funded energy efficiency installations, which fell – in just one year – by almost 90 per cent.

Thousands of people are freezing to death in their own homes during winter. And not only have successive governments failed to prevent this needless and shocking loss of life, they have fuelled this silent public health crisis by slashing insulation funding and failing to deliver a proper scheme to upgrade our cold, damp, draughty homes.

This persistent failure to protect lives in one of the easiest ways possible is also driving the rise in fuel poverty, the cost of living and climate crises – since well-insulated homes cost less to heat and cut carbon emissions.

Cold homes cost lives and we urgently need a government willing to invest at least £6 billion every year to end this national scandal once and for all.

The UK has the least energy-efficient housing in Western Europe, which, as well as contributing to thousands of deaths every year, means high energy bills for lowincome households.

Poorly insulated homes are estimated to cost the NHS more than £850 million a year in England.

Greenpeace is calling on the government to invest at least £6 billion annually over 10 years to deliver a national home retrofit programme and introduce regulations to significantly improve the energy efficiency of private rentedsector and social housing.

Paul Morozzo,