Blog

This week in our blog Helen Melone of Energy Action Scotland describes what it means to live in fuel poverty and highlights the work being done to help the estimated 600,000 people in Scotland who are trapped in fuel poverty.

When we talk about fuel poverty, what does it mean? When I am asked this by friends or people I meet, I usually say – you know, when people can’t afford to heat their homes. I usually get a nod of understanding and then a story of their problems with their energy supplier, energy debt they’ve got into, high bills, not being able to keep warm, problems with switching; everybody has their own story to tell.

But “fuel poverty” is a bigger and wider issue than being unable to afford your energy bills. It’s about the condition of the walls, roof and windows (the fabric) of your house or flat, it’s about high energy prices, it’s about how much money you have and it’s about how you use energy in your home.

There are official statistics for fuel poverty in Scotland. In 2016, 649,000 (or 26.5%) households were in fuel poverty, but the real figure could be much higher. At the moment, the definition for being in fuel poverty is spending more than 10% of your income on all household fuel use. This definition will soon be changing. In fact there will be a lot of changes this year to the fuel poverty landscape in Scotland, with a Warm Homes Bill, a fuel poverty strategy and routemaps being produced. But what does this mean for the person on the street? What do they do, how will they be helped?

That person, if they are lucky, may be helped through some of the Scottish Government’s fuel poverty schemes, which help to install energy efficiency measures, such as insulation or boilers in people’s homes. However that person can be helped only if they are eligible, such as being on certain benefits or living in a certain area. Some of the help available is through loans, and the person would have to pay them off afterwards, which could increase household debt and stress.
If that person isn’t lucky enough to qualify for one of the schemes, what can they do? Maybe their situation gets so bad, that their health gets affected negatively and they seek help by going to see their doctor. Again, they may be lucky and get a doctor who is able to spend more time with them and be able to identify what is wrong and signpost them onto an agency who can help, or perhaps the doctor is too busy and it gets missed. Perhaps this person decides they have to do something and goes to a citizens advice bureau or local advice agency and is then directed to sources of advice and support.

But what about those too ill, too sick, too weary, not knowing, not understanding of what is out there, and available to them?

Yes, that’s the problem! There are people in Scotland termed “hard to reach” – those who work in this field talk about finding and identifying the fuel poor. It is difficult and there are still people out there in the population, hiding under the radar. There is also the stigma and shame of being seen to be on benefits and this applies too to the fuel poverty schemes. We often hear that the help available is not for me it’s for poor people or there is a catch it can’t be free, you get nothing for nothing these days.

There are organisations willing and able to help. EAS is one of these. We can help by challenging Governments, highlighting how policies affect vulnerable people, influencing those policies and the folks who make the decisions about them our MSPs and MPs. We train front line workers in identifying signs of fuel poverty in those they work with, carry out research to identify the solutions and set up projects to help people.

An example of a recently completed project was the Aiming Beyond Cancer (ABC) project. We supported, via two member organisations, people who were having difficulty keeping warm at home at a price they could afford due to cancer. Often for those with cancer, energy bills can go up as patients remain at home during treatment and recovery (often meaning that their income levels fall too), as well as the physiological effects of cancer requiring that they stay warmer. ABC provided a practical means of ensuring that at a particularly stressful time, energy bills and keeping warm were one less thing for cancer patients and their families to worry about.

See our website for further information www.eas.org.uk

This week in our blog our European representative, Grace Buckley, writes about the growing problem of refugee camps and how some people are living in limbo, having to spend many years in refugee camps waiting to be resettled.

It was a tweet about the average period that refugees stay in refugee camps that made me think again about this thorny issue.  It gave the shocking figure of 17 years - one that is often quoted but just as often challenged. That average changes every year, depending on what is driving the flow of refugees that year– war, famine or some other catastrophe.  But the sad fact is that for many refugees, it is not an overstatement, and it highlights a flaw in our system of acting toward refugees.

Until fairly recently, like many people I suspect, I have thought of refugee camps as a temporary solution, caring for refugees until the next step could be identified.  A short course on Migration issues and several of the films in GRAMNet series in Glasgow, presented me with the unpalatable facts. 

Some refugee camps have been open for decades, and refugees have died in them, been born in them, lived most of their lives in them. For example, most Palestinian refugee camps have been open since 1948 and are now in their third or fourth generation of inhabitants. Dadaab camp in Kenya opened in 1992 and is home to around 250,000 people. in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, the Dzaleka camp has existed since 1994. 

The long-term solutions for refugees are meant to return people to their countries of origin when possible, resettle them in another country willing to accept them, or integrate them into the host country. There are, however, no time limits on the relevant international authorities for achieving these solutions.

For Palestinian refugees, the likelihood of return is bleak and has been a major sticking point in peace negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian representatives.  We have all seen the lack of enthusiasm on the part of Western countries to accept refugees for resettlement.   Integration would in many cases cause major problems for host nations who fear security or political problems or resource issues.  For instance, in Lebanon, one in four of the population is now a refugee, putting great pressures on the delicate political and religious balance of the country.  So the refugees are stuck or, to use the insider terminology, “warehoused” in the camps.  Problem solved!?

Then there is the reality of life in the refugee camps.  Many camps are in inhospitable arid border areas.  Many host countries do not permit the refugees to leave or work outside the camps.  So the refugees are trapped and dependent. Often the local population is hostile, fearing the refugees will take their jobs or use up services. 

Many camps have major security problems: different ethnic groups and religions in the same camp; no internal protection for inhabitants; some camps becoming recruiting grounds for terrorists and militias.  Children may not have access to education, resulting in a lost generation. 

At best, life for many refugees in the camps is on hold for an unforeseeable length of time.  At worst, they will see no future for themselves or their children. 

Unsurprisingly, one outcome is that many refugees avoid registering in the camps if possible.  There are currently 22 million refugees, and perhaps as many as half live in informal camps or rent rooms in towns until their cash runs out. 

Perhaps our politicians should look at these realities before criticising those refugees who have not waited in the camps for the possibility of selection for resettlement.  Perhaps they should also stop ignoring the causes of refugee flows and their part in them.

There is one sign of hope on the horizon.  In September 2016, the UN General Assembly adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants.  It intends that a Global Compact to be signed this year should address many of the issues. We must watch this development and keep pressure on our governments to ensure that refugees are treated with dignity and respect  - and not left to waste their lives in limbo.

Apostleship of the Sea -  a century on, but can we celebrate?
A reflection by Marian Pallister, Justice & Peace vice chair.