Over 6.3 million homes to be in fuel poverty from 1 April 2022

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition published a league table of parliamentary constituencies by fuel poverty on 31 March 2022, the day before the energy price cap rise took effect. The Coalition estimates that over 6.3 million homes will be in fuel poverty from 1 April 2022, following the Chancellor's Spring Statement¹. Separately, Coalition calculations reported in the i Paper put 2.2 million households with dependent children in fuel poverty from the same date, a 74 per cent increase since 2019².

The constituency table compares official BEIS figures for 2019 with Coalition estimates for 1 April 2022. Birmingham Hodge Hill has the highest estimated proportion, rising from 27.4 per cent (11,575 households) in 2019 to 54.5 per cent (23,041 households). Barking is estimated at 47.7 per cent (23,051 households), up from 24.0 per cent, and Stoke-on-Trent Central at 47.3 per cent (18,463 households), up from 23.7 per cent¹.

The Coalition says the 10 per cent of constituencies most affected are mainly urban areas represented by Labour MPs, but that Conservative MPs represent over 178,000 households in fuel poverty across Stoke-on-Trent Central, Wolverhampton North East, Walsall North, Stoke-on-Trent North, West Bromwich East, West Bromwich West, Stoke-on-Trent South, Birmingham Northfield, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Dudley North and Great Grimsby¹. On households with children, it says there are 6.6 million such households in England, so about a third face fuel poverty, against roughly a quarter of all households in previous calculations².

"Over 6.3m homes will be in fuel poverty from tomorrow morning (1 April 2022), following the Chancellor's Spring Statement"

The Coalition has launched a campaign to help people in fuel poverty contact their MP on Twitter, and notes a petition by National Energy Action¹. Its members have called for urgent help for households now, combined with a long-term plan to improve home energy efficiency and investment in a renewable-led energy mix, none of which it says the Spring Statement delivered¹. The Energy Saving Trust has separately suggested that small changes, such as turning devices off standby and reducing daily water use, could offset around a third of the cost increase; it cites professional draught-proofing and insulation saving £405 a year for a semi-detached home and solar panels around £450 a year more¹.

Why it matters for households

Fuel poverty is measured on income after housing costs against required energy spending, so a price cap rise moves households across the threshold without any change in their circumstances. The estimates here are the Coalition's own, not official statistics; the 2019 column is the last official BEIS constituency data¹. For a household, the practical meaning is the share of income that heating, hot water and cooking take, and how far that share can be cut by the fabric of the home. Fuel poverty in the UK is concentrated in older, less efficient housing, and the measures cited above, draught-proofing, insulation and solar, act on the building rather than the tariff. Households with children are estimated to be more exposed than the national average².

What happens next

The Coalition has called on MPs to demand the Chancellor return to Parliament at the earliest opportunity to set out how the Government will help those affected¹. No date for such a statement is given in the sources.

Sources2 cited

1. Constituencies with highest levels of fuel poverty revealed - End Fuel Poverty Coalition, endfuelpoverty.org.uk
2. Massive increase in children experiencing fuel poverty revealed - End Fuel Poverty Coalition, endfuelpoverty.org.uk