In recent years addressing Fuel Poverty (FP) – a measure of a household’s ability to pay for energy – is a priority in many countries. Cold housing conditions are seen as a social determinant of poorer physical and mental health and health inequalities. However, there is scarce evidence on the relationship between FP and the unequal development of long-term care needs. This paper explored i) whether FP is associated with an earlier age of onset of care needs, an increase in care needs and decline in mental health among people aged 65 and older; and ii) whether there are any inequalities in the role played by FP across potentially more vulnerable groups. The study explores this in the English context. We used four waves (2012 to 2020) of a large representative longitudinal sample of people aged 50+ (to enable us to look at age of onset), and information on building energy performance. Structural Equation Modelling was performed to provide a latent definition of FP. We found that individuals living in FP had greater care needs and worse mental health. We also found that FP is multidimensional and as such influences the development of care needs from many fronts. Our research provides evidence on the importance of addressing FP as a potential mechanism to prevent higher, or earlier development of, care needs, and is particularly relevant in the current energy and cost-of-living crisis context, as well as in the likelihood of having more extreme weather in the future due to climate change.

Authors:
Javiera Cartagena-Farias, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom
Nicola Brimblecombe, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom
Bo Hu, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom
Sam Rickman, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom
Madeleine Stevens, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom
Jayeeta Rajagopalan, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Javiera Cartagena-Farias is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in United Kingdom

See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule

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