A new (August 2022) report by experts at the UCL Institute of Health Equity says that the inability of 55% of the UK population to properly heat their homes during the cost of living crisis will have a deep and lasting impact on health outcomes across the country - especially for children and the elderly.

The Forward to the report (Fuel Poverty, Cold Homes and Health Inequality in the UK) is written, jointly, by Sir Michael Marmot who was Chair of the mammoth 2010 Marmot review into national health inequalities.

Perhaps the the most striking thing about the new report is that, if things haven't changed that much since 2010 (given the time elapsed) then things are about to get significantly worse over the coming winter and throughout 2023.

The report points out that fuel poverty currently being experienced in UK households due to a concertina of factors (that everyone is aware of from their daily news feeds) is "insupportable" in a country as wealthy as the UK but a big chunk of the problem is down to the poor energy efficiency of homes in the country. As far as the private rented sector is concerned the report authors say that private sector landlords lack the incentive to improve energy efficiency in rented homes because they are not directly affected by the fuel poverty and poor health outcomes it leads to.

The report does say though that interventions must include "housing stakeholders" (which surely must include private rented providers) and that local authorities are key to dealing with the issue and can pull stakeholders together to work in partnership on an area basis. The report goes some way to answer questions raised by some as to why Haringey council (for example) decided to make energy efficiency a "specific focus" of its new selective licence scheme. The question remains though - what will support for private landlords subject to selective licensing look like in terms of installing efficiency measures?