Email the Prime Minister about the cost of living crisis

Write to the UK Prime Minister now to ask for more support for those in crisis due to the rising cost of living.

The Government has announced an energy price guarantee which will subsidise the typical energy bill by £1,049 per year. This is a welcome step for those struggling with rising bills and the cost of living. It was desperately needed. The energy price guarantee acknowledges the scale of the crisis we are facing. The guarantee will be in place from October for two years.

However, bills from October will still be almost double what they were a year ago! We need more action from the government to help those who are already experiencing financial crisis. Rent, fuel and food prices have risen to unaffordable levels that are simply unsustainable to households on low incomes. The reality for many is a winter of spiralling debt and wondering how they can keep fed and warm.

Write to our Prime Minister and ask her to provide much needed extra support to low income households throughout the cost of living crisis:

Provide targeted support for low income households.
Increase in Local Housing Allowance and other benefits.
A ban on energy companies forcibly switching customers to prepayment meters over winter.

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Dear Prime Minister,  
Thank you for acting with urgency in the first days of your premiership to put in place the energy price guarantee. I welcome the action you have taken so far to help households at risk of poverty this winter because of fuel bills. 
However, households still face a further rise of £529 on their annual bills from October, and even at £2,500 for the typical household, energy bills are double what they were last winter. 
Many households will need to pay far higher bills to stay safe and warm this winter due to family size and health needs.  Energy bills are just one part of the pressure felt - with rent, fuel and food prices all still contributing to high inflation rates.
It’s vital that low incomes households are supported through the full extent of the cost of living crisis. Already 7 million families are going without the essentials we all need to eat, stay warm and dry and keep clean. 
As one client from Christians Against Poverty (CAP) has said:
“I’m really frightened about the gas bill coming now. When winter comes everything is going up – that will be the end of us. I think a lot of people will be freezing to death because you’re choosing between food and heating.”
Families are being driven to borrow more just to pay for the things they need to survive, with 4.6 million families now in arrears with bill payments at current levels. Rates of indebtedness are growing. CAP witnessed a rise of over 40% in calls to their UK helpline in the first five months of 2022, compared to last year. Severity of debt is deepening, with average rates of priority debt amongst CAP having risen to £6,000.
Alongside the energy price guarantee, I appeal to you to provide a further targeted package of support that will focus on those households on the lowest incomes who are already in crisis and problem debt due to months of rising costs. I ask that you will act to put in place:
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Further targeted financial support for low income households which takes into account actual energy bills due to family size and need, including for those not in receipt of means-tested benefits.  </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Increase Local Housing Allowance to cover and uprate benefits ahead Winter 2023 to reflect the inflation rate faced by low income households across all the essentials they need.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A winter ban on energy companies forcibly switching customers to prepayment meters, including smart prepay, and a moratorium on court action to collect energy debts.</li>
</ol>
These measures would help to support low income households with the true costs of rising bills and to meet their essential needs both over the winter and beyond, as well as paving the way for longer-term reforms to social security in this year’s Autumn budget.
I’m grateful for your attention on this important matter,

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Email the Prime Minister about the cost of living crisis

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