Is the idea to find out how much cold poorer people can take?

Got a bunch of pretty desperate whatsapp messages last night from N, the disabled single mother of 2 little kids whose housing problems I’ve been writing about for about a year. Happy anniversary to that, etc.

Last week, her council finally moved N and her kids from the cramped emergency homelessness hostel she’d been stuck in for 3 years into temporary accommodation. That sounded like good news at the time – except that now we find there’s no heating or hot water in the temporary place. The oven doesn’t work either, so not much chance of warming up a bit by gathering around that – probably not something to encourage a toddler and crawling baby to do anyway. The little ones may not be in the mood, of course, given that they are both now sick.

In recent days, there’s been plenty of snow and ice outside to make sure that the temperature is as perilously low as it can be. Innovation is key at these points – I’ve just been thinking that you could work up a bit of warmth by cuddling your phone close and reading about the middle classes tobogganing in Greenwich park.

N had hopes for this temporary accommodation, chief among which was having a place for a friend to stay next week to look after the kids while N has surgery on the arm that her abusive ex twisted in a rage. Blokes, eh. What can you do.

N says 2 appointments were made for someone to come and fix the heating, but nobody turned up for either. Maybe third time lucky? Or maybe not. I thinking that I won’t put money on it.

Update: An engineer has turned up and said there’s no electricity and/or the boiler isn’t connected to it. N says she is now back on the phone to the council, listening to hold music. So… that’s third time, but not 100% lucky?

And another update: A blog and an activist email to the council later, and the hot water and heating now work. All N needs to do now is find ways to pay for it..? One thing at a time.

30 thoughts on “Is the idea to find out how much cold poorer people can take?

  1. There are many council estates with no heating & no hot water at the moment. the council can’t afford to fix them because of Tory cuts. Some of these council flats have been bought for £500,000 by home owners, now with mould, no heating & no hot water.

    Tenants feel the cold after a month without heat on iconic film set estate
    Same housing heating problem in South Hampstead and Gospel Oak
    https://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/tenants-feel-the-cold-after-a-month-without-heat-on-iconic-film-set-estate

    Estates unite on heat rations
    ‘Hot water is a human right’ say shivering residents on estates with communal heating
    https://www.islingtontribune.co.uk/article/estates-unite-on-heat-rations

  2. To be fair not all blokes are given to violence or prone to rage. My nephew was assaulted by his ex-missus, her indoors was a bit handy when vexed. As for cold I sympathise, really I do, it’s no joke for anyone kids or elderly.

    • True re: blokes. Some are all right. I even have one at home 🙂 I was feeling a bit pissy when I wrote that.

      The cold is a killer.

      • As a bloke myself I can be a bit emotionally challenged but not the violent type, and I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder which explains a lot. I’ve just been on the verge of throwing a wobbly in the Jobcentre. Was told to attend a Jobs Fair, adviser booked me in, walked all the way there (a mile ish) and guy on door says my name’s not on the list, but then he objected to me attempting to about face and leave. I got hurried in and shown each desk by some organiser chap, first there was one for Security jobs, then driving jobs, then the Police, then a Beauty college, and finally alocal electrical engineers wanting to recruit temporary workers. Nothing suitable for me. I was back out the door in 5 minutes and had to walk all the way back home again thinking what a bloody waste of time that was.

        • Have you got any auditing jobs? Like auditing job centres !! Well that seems to be the job I’m doing going to the job centre making sure they have their names & numbers on show on their badges that need to be shown at all times. The security need to tell you they are recording with their cameras otherwise they are breaking their own rules. Getting the job centre working, because they get paid doing nothing.

  3. Well so far I’ve got nowhere with my quest to get help with my electricity costs, just passed from pillar to post by every agency and advisor I’ve spoken to or contacted, round in a circle from the foodbank to the CAB and Local Welfare Provision to Fusion Housing advice to Kirklees Council and my MP. No one has the answer or are able to provide help because there literally is no answer and no provision to help people in my situation. The Government, on its official Energy Discount Web page (“Getting the Energy Bills Support Scheme Discount”) from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, goes on to list every type of energy payment method you can think of EXCEPT payment via a coin meter to your landlord. That’s the one thing they’ve overlooked, omitted, forgotten about, or didn’t even have the faintest clue that such a thing existed. So there you have it, I and everyone else in my position are fucked. Up shit creek without even mention of a paddle.

    • Aha! At last this may provide the solution to my missing energy discount problem, further help is to be made available for those who don’t have a direct relationship with an energy provider as of February 2023….
      You have to read through it and scroll right down to find the bit that (hopefully) relates to people like me:

      “social and private tenants who pay for energy through a landlord on a commercial supply”

      https://www.gov.uk/government/news/vital-help-with-energy-bills-on-the-way-for-millions-more-homes-across-great-britain-and-northern-ireland

      • I’ll be glad when this scheme is up and running and the money made available without further delay, having just received the monthly electricity bill for December from my landlady, a whopping £225, that’s £56 per week out of an income of £77 per week. Needless to say I am utterly dependent on the foodbank at the moment.

        • I’ve just re-read it, it says the Gov Web page for energy discount applications will be up and running in January not February as I first thought. So any day now then perhaps?

        • That’s an incredible amount to have to pay out of your JSA. That’s just December alone? We’re getting the rebate but might compare that with ours over a similar time. People who claim benefits are getting thumped

          • Yep that’s just the December bill. I don’t have any Gas as that was disconnected a few years ago due to a leak that was never fixed. At the time they removed my gas fire and left me without any heating for most of the winter, then finally brought me a electric convector that is shite and expensive. No other heating in the entire flat. I still have other bills to pay though, such as Water and phone. Haven’t had to pay any Council Tax for last couple of years, not sure yet about this year, could be a bill on its way in February.

    • Nice job and a nice environment Trev! And the pay’s not bad either; you’d certainly be able to pay for some heating! And being a council job, it’ll have something of a pension too.

      I hope everyone has as lovely a time as they can over the forthcoming “festivities”. Let’s hope the incoming year will be much better than the previous few. Nadolig Llawen!

  4. Regarding “N’s” ability to pay for heating/hot water etc. I’m in same boat but local foodbank have just put in an application on my behalf to local Council for a Discretionary Housing Fund payment/Grant. Might be something worth pursuing.

    • Well it’s been a week since I applied to LWP for a Discretionary Payment, heard nothing, could have starved or frozen to death for all they know ffs. I’ve got just enough money to pay my phone on 16th but don’t get JSA til 20th and will need most/all of that for January’s electric bill.

      • Just got January’s electric bill off the landlady yesterday, £315, for a single person in a one bedroom flat with no central heating. That’s £7 more than my entire monthly income. The Government website for those who don’t have an energy account in their name (or who pay by an alternative means/method) to claim the Energy discount is still nowhere to be seen, my MP is writing to Grant Schnapps to ask why the delay and when will it be available. In the meantime I and many others are well and truly screwed.

        • Is it possible to ask the landlady for a copy of the meter readings and/or bills? That seems incredibly high. We’re not paying that even before discounts and there’s 2 of us. Not saying our bill hasn’t gone up because it has but we’re not paying £300 a month or didn’t on our last one at least. Seems very unfair

          • She photographs the meter and texts it to me at beginning and end of month, and then she multiplies the kwh used by 34p which is the current rate with the government limit in place (so far as I know), then adds 5% VAT. She says she has let me off with the standing rate as a concession.

            Here is what she txtd me (with accompanying photo of meter) :

            “Hi your previous reading on 4th January was 69591 and your current reading is 70472 which is 881 units used. Which is £314.89. Your usage is up this month but would expect that for winter months”

            You’re right it is a lot but I think it must be correct, and my flat is all electric so no Gas bill. The energy prices are insane. We were better off than this in the 60s when I was a kid, when everyone had coal/coke fires and the power companies were Nationalized.

        • My MP’s constituency office has informed me that according to the government the website (for people to claim the energy discount if they pay be alternative means) has been delayed and rather than it going live in January they are now hoping it will be available by the end of February. Oh, and they’re referring to it as a “portal” (not to another Dimension, one hopes).
          Meanwhile, I have received notification from the LWP (after some phone calls from my MP’s office) that my application for a Discretionary Hardship grant has been successful and the money will take 7 days to go into my account (so by the end of this week).

          • Thank god you got some money from the fund. Genuinely pleased to hear that.

            Brilliant stuff from gov with the portal. Probably putting it back a few months to knock off a few more sick and disabled people.

          • Thanks. Yes, I’ll get it by Friday if not (possibly) tomorrow, and I’m blown away by the amount; £450, way more than my expectations, thought if anything I might have got 200 quid if I was lucky, so don’t know how much of that is down to MP’s team intervention or what? Mind you my January electric bill is £315 and no sooner I’ve paid that than February’s will be due so although the Grant looks pretty good on the face of it it’s still just a stopgap in real terms. If we can all survive the remains of this Winter into Spring we will be OK, bills will be smaller til next Autumn /Winter and it will all start over again unless someone in a position of power actually does something, or Putin dies or Christ returns, or the Government introduces Unconditional Basic Income, and re-Nationalize the power companies, none of which seem very likely.

  5. Latest news on the online government ‘portal’ for those who pay for their energy via alternative means to be able to apply for the £400 discount, and get it paid directly into their own bank account, is allegedly going to be available from 27th February.

    https://www.gov.uk/apply-energy-bill-support-if-not-automatic

    But, although it says this:

    “Most households get a £400 discount on their energy bills automatically. In some cases, you do not get the discount automatically, for example if you:
    pay for energy through a landlord, housing manager or site owner
    live in a park home, houseboat or off the electricity grid
    Use this service to apply for the discount if you do not get it automatically. You can only make one application per household.”

    It also says:

    ” Who cannot apply
    Most households get the £400 support automatically. You do not need to apply if you or your landlord has a domestic energy meter”

    From this it seems that I and the other tenants in this house still won’t be able to apply as we are not eligible, because there is a domestic supply meter in the house that is in the landlord’s name. Technically speaking, however, there is a difference between my household (i.e. the flat I live in) and the house that contains the flats. Each flat is a seperate ‘Household’ with its own Council Tax Bill, and the domestic supply meter is for the entire house not just my flat. I’ll have to wait and see if I can apply but judging by all this info it doesn’t seem clear cut.
    At the moment, you can only apply if your local council is:

    Chichester District Council
    Glasgow City Council
    West Suffolk Council
    Wrexham County Borough Council

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