Hopes of eradicating fuel poverty in the UK have ‘never been such a distant prospect’, according to campaigners.

There are now estimated to be 4.5million households in the UK living in fuel poverty and national targets to reduce the figure will be missed unless there is ‘urgent, coordinated action’.

The UK Fuel Poverty Monitor said lack of any coordinated approach to tackling the issue was illustrated recently by UK Government’s decision to cut back on its Energy Company Obligation (ECO) energy efficiency programme.

The move made a bad situation even worse, according to the report, which is backed by charities National Energy Action (NEA), Energy Action Scotland and Consumer Futures.

‘It has jeopardised the attempts of the Scottish and Welsh governments and many local authorities to integrate public funds with ECO resources,’ said the report.

It added: ‘Low income households in England are now almost wholly reliant on ECO as the only programme to offer discounted insulation and heating measures, although some local authorities continue to make heroic efforts to plug gaps.’

Norman Kerr, director of Energy Action Scotland, said the lack of a joined up approach to tackling fuel poverty across the nations was undermining efforts.

‘We need greater and more transparent coordination across the Westminster and devolved governments on all consumer energy issues, and are calling for a formal working group to be established to drive up energy efficiency standards across the UK and report on their actions,’ he said.

Chief Executive of NEA, Jenny Saunders, said: ‘The only sustainable way to tackle this problem is to invest in our old and cold housing stock. In England only £3.52 government funding is available per domestic electricity consumer to improve domestic energy efficiency, compared to an average spend of £31.78 in the other nations. Additional resources must be made available to improve the heating and insulation of our poorest households.’