Cold, damp homes caused an estimated 4,950 excess winter deaths in 2022-23, according to the End Fuel Poverty Coalition.
The coalition, which includes campaigners, charities, local authorities and trade unions, warned that as temperatures drop, conditions in these homes go from being ‘uncomfortable to downright dangerous’.
According to the Warm This Winter campaign, 8.3 million adults are living in cold, damp homes.
Greenpeace UK climate campaigner Georgia Whitaker said: ‘This is a national scandal. The UK has the least insulated homes in Western Europe. We’ve known this for years.
‘Yet every year thousands of people are dying as a result. And our Government is doing practically nothing to fix the problem.’
The coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, Simon Francis, said: ‘While households struggle, ministers are sitting on their hands and leaving matters of life and death to chance.
‘They would rather play politics with a ridiculous Oil and Gas Licensing Bill that will do nothing to improve energy security or lower bills than take meaningful action to help households struggling right now.’
The group also criticised the Government’s refusal to implement an emergency energy tariff or a help to repay scheme for those in energy debt this winter, and its decision to allow energy firms to restart using the courts to get households onto prepayment meters.
