Residents facing fuel or food dilemma this Christmas

Foodbank volunteer Sveta at Tesco on Morning Lane

Hackney is one of the hardest hit of England’s “blackspot” boroughs where many lower income families face a wrenching choice this Christmas, between paying their bills and eating, figures from the charity Shelter show.

Some households locally are bracing themselves for a monthly shortfall as high as £780 in the next few years, which in practice means choosing between buying groceries and heating their homes at a time of falling temperatures.

“Tears come to my eyes when I think about the days, weeks and months to come,” one resident who relies on the Stoke Newington foodbank so he has money for his gas meter told the Hackney Citizen.

Another who is also living on the breadline said: “This time of year, this  is when it starts to get really tough.”

Neither wanted to give their full names but both rely on the foodbank, which is overseen by the Trussell Trust, whose goal is to help people through short-term “crisis” periods.

Just under half of the foodbank’s clients in the last year were referred after delays or changes to their benefits. Short-term debts also accounted for many cases, but almost one in five involve merely low income.

According to foodbank manager Liza Cucco, problems were exacerbated by cold snaps during which individuals and families had to make difficult decisions with limited resources.

“December is our busiest month,” she said.

Shelter’s chief executive, Campbell Robb, said he feared the coming freeze could “push many working families in London to the brink”.

And Labour councillor Jonathan McShane, Hackney’s cabinet member for health, social care and culture, blamed the climate of austerity.

He said: “Residents shouldn’t have to make the choice between eating or heating, but we know that central government policies are increasingly making it harder for many families to make ends meet.”

In a bid to mitigate the effects, the council is promoting a “warm homes discount” and encouraging residents to contact their utility company to ensure they are registered to receive it.

“It’s really important that residents get all the support that they are entitled to and we continue to support the many excellent organisations in the borough who can help,” Cllr McShane said.

Despite the Chancellor’s recent U-turn over tax credits, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found that over two and a half million working families still stand to lose out in the government’s latest spending review.

The phenomenon of “heat or eat” was confirmed in a 2011 report by the IFS.

The situation looks set to get worse in the coming years. Impending government plans to freeze housing support until 2020 threaten to leave some families in the borough substantially worse off each month if rents continue to rise at a similar rate.

In attempt to spare some families the “heat or eat” dilemma, the Trussell Trust has paired with energy supplier Npower to pilot a “fuelbank” scheme, offering fuel vouchers at foodbanks.

A spokesperson for the charity said: “for many UK families living on the breadline, the choice between heating and eating is a
stark reality”.

Npower made £38m in the UK in the first half of this year and the fuel bank scheme has been criticised as something of a “band aid” measure. Fuel Poverty Action spokesman Laura Hill called the move “small respite to a small number of people”.

There is a worry that fuel poverty will put Hackney residents’ lives at risk this winter. Excessive winter deaths from illness like flu and breathing problems that would not have happened in the summer hit a 15 year high last year, despite the mild winter. The majority of those who died were over 75.