This presentation is based on a project aimed at exploring the theme of food and austerity through the lens of one of the most high profile, yet under-evidenced, phenomena in the current era of austerity: the decision to ‘heat or eat’. There is increased policy discussion about households having to make stark choices between ‘heating and eating’ and the driver of this phenomena is perceived to be the relative flexibility of food and fuel costs compared to other household expenses. However, the evidence base that exists is largely made up of single household case studies and small scale surveys conducted by NGOs, and is rarely the central focus of the research in which it appears. Moreover, existing evidence pays little or no attention to spatial disparities within such debates, largely ignoring the very different, and often more challenging circumstances faced by the rural poor, including disparate and more stretched public services, a limited and energy inefficient housing stock, and restricted access to cheaper forms of fuel such as mains gas. With support from National Energy
Action and the Trussell Trust foodbank Network this project will scrutinise the ‘heat or eat’ dilemma in a rural context, investigating the legitimacy and complexity of such claims, and critically assessing existing and potential policy responses.
Gordon Walker - What energy uses matter? Fuel poverty beyond heatingHarriet Thomson
Fuel poverty policy seeks to make the use of energy affordable, particularly for those who are disadvantaged and vulnerable. But what uses of household energy should this policy be concerned with? In the UK energy for heating is readily seen as essential because of the need for people to keep warm and healthy in their homes. Fuel poverty policy does recognise the need for household expenditure on other forms of energy use – for lighting, cooking, water
heating and appliances - but the rationale for seeing these as necessities that should be affordable for all has rarely been articulated. In our work we have examined the grounds on which energy uses can be considered essential for enabling a minimally-decent quality of life, drawing on both theoretical ideas and empirical evidence. This research has implications for the scope of current fuel poverty policy, and its overriding concern with affordable warmth rather than with supporting other outcomes from the use of energy.
Jennni Cauvain Energy - vulnerability in multiple occupancy housing: a proble...Harriet Thomson
Housing in Multiple Occupancy (HMO) is an important shared housing solution for a diverse group of people in urban areas. HMOs are poorly understood by policies governing energy efficiency and fuel poverty, due to methodological problems of energy efficiency assessment, a deep-seated lack of representation and recognition of HMOs in general, and the societal marginalisation and stigmatisation of this type of housing. People in HMOs (e.g. new migrants, asylum seekers, students, young people) typically have reduced housing and welfare rights, whereas the buildings are extremely energy inefficient. Yet, HMOs have been substantially excluded from the UK government’s proposed minimum energy efficiency standard for the private rented sector. There is no definition of fuel poverty that applies if rent is inclusive of energy costs, the bills are shared, or where rental agreements are nonexistent or illegal; these are everyday occurrences in HMOs. There is a substantial coming together of socio-political and material issues giving rise to higher energy vulnerability in HMOs than in traditional single-family homes. This article focuses on the dynamic between UK policy mechanisms and regulations, and energy vulnerability in HMOs. An indicative typology of HMOs is proposed with the aim to provide a basis for the recognition and inclusion of HMOs in legal and policy frameworks.
Francois Bafoil and Rachel Guyet - Fuel poverty and governance in Europe: a c...Harriet Thomson
Based on a joint research Sciences Po / EDF R&D we compared different policies in Europe addressing fuel poverty from an institutionalist approach (Great Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Hungary). Because these policies are embedded in different types of governance
inherited from different institutional and historical dynamics, we intended to understand the extent to which these different legal architectures determine 1. the public policies 2. the local innovation dealing with energy poverty. We concluded that the Europeanization process is weak in the field of energy access and that the actions carried out by the public authorities are embedded in their path dependent governance.
If the liberalization process has affected all EU Member States, the policy towards vulnerable energy consumers still depends on the sovereign States. But in all Member States the liberalization process deepened the long lasting and structural phenomenon of energy poverty. This situation resulted in different approaches in terms of definition, targeting and policies. We concluded that because the fuel poor are hard to know and to identify a part of them is invisible to the public authorities and therefore the public policies missed their targets. As a consequence the number of fuel poor doesn’t really decrease – or only slightly – despite the funds, both public an private, invested in the fight against fuel poverty.
As a result the local level is the governance level where innovative initiatives take place in order to compensate for the state and market failures. They usually promote a global approach to the problem of energy access including preventive and curative measures based on public-private and NGO partnerships. If social innovations are carried out at this level in the western part of Europe, the lack of civil society in most of eastern European countries makes it harder for local social innovations to emerge. The local authorities still remains the last social net. The analysis of local innovations shows how path dependent trajectories
impacts the way central and local actors deal with the issue of fuel poverty.
Saska Petrova - Energy poverty and alternative economies in Northern GreeceHarriet Thomson
Greece has the highest poverty risk rate in Europe, with approximately one quarter of the total population falling under this category (ELSTAT 2013). One of the lesser-publicised dimensions of the recent crisis in this country has been the rapid expansion of energy poverty, which is commonly seen as the inability of a household to secure a lack of socially and materially-necessitated level of energy services in the home. This paper explores the manner in which experiences of energy poverty in Greece are underpinned by the social and spatial infrastructures of everyday life. More specifically, it investigates the seasonal and diurnal features of energy poverty in urban and peri-urban areas. Empirical evidence was gathered with the aid of ethnographic research in the Thessaloniki area, Northern Greece. In total 25 households were included in the study. Preliminary results from the 2013 summer cooling season and the 2014 winter heating season are presented.
The results of the study point to the varying experiences of energy vulnerability among households living in different parts of the city and its surroundings, despite the widespread presence of energy vulnerability. Patterns of domestic energy deprivation are more conspicuous in peri-urban areas, in both social and infrastructural terms: due to the close proximity of social ties in the case of former, and the physical visibility of newly-installed wood-burning chimneys and the storage of fuelwood outside people’s homes in the case of the latter. This often creates anxieties surrounding the possibility of stigmatization and
exclusion. Members of urban households find themselves pushed into a lack of adequate domestic energy services due to the inclusion of various new taxes in the electricity bill, the inefficient built fabric, non-flexible heating systems and high petroleum prices.
Stefan Bouzarovski - Services and vulnerability: approaching domestic energy ...Harriet Thomson
This paper charts the emergent body of new frameworks for the research and amelioration of energy deprivation in the home. It starts from the premise that all forms of energy and fuel poverty - in developed and developing countries alike - are underpinned by a common condition: the inability to attain a socially- and materially-necessitated level of domestic energy services. The functions provided by energy demand in the residential domain are considered in order to advance two claims: First, that domestic energy deprivation in its different guises and forms is fundamentally tied to the ineffective operation of the sociotechnical pathways that allow for the fulfilment of household energy needs, and as such is best understood by unpacking the constitution of different energy services (heating, lighting, etc.) in the home. Second, the paper emphasizes the ability of vulnerability thinking to encapsulate the driving forces of domestic energy deprivation via a comprehensive analytical framework. This leads to an identification of the main components and implications of energy service and vulnerability approaches as they relate to domestic energy deprivation across the world.
Sergio Tirado Herrero - Spaces and politics of energy vulnerability in HungaryHarriet Thomson
This paper explores the embeddedness of energy poverty – understood as the inability to secure a socially- and materially-necessitated level of energy services in the home – in the socio-technical legacies inherited from past development trajectories, as well as broader economic and institutional landscapes. Using Hungary as an example, the paper investigates the recent expansion of energy poverty across different demographic and income groups.
While much of the mainstream literature focuses on cases where energy poverty affects distinct social groups and issues, the focus of this paper the systemic implications of a form of deprivation that is affecting a much wider range of social and spatial strata. It scrutinizes the different ways in which inadequate access to energy services has resulted in the emergence of new political reconfigurations among a variety of actors, while prompting the articulation of household strategies with far-reaching structural consequences.
Phillipa Watson “Getting Bill-Smart: Outcomes of an energy efficiency project for low income householders in Tasmania.” Energy Cultures Conference 2016
Kajsa Ellegard Energy Cultures Conference 2016 Keynote “On the success of energy conservation in the household sector– a matter of daily activities at individual, household and aggregate levels“
Gordon Walker - What energy uses matter? Fuel poverty beyond heatingHarriet Thomson
Fuel poverty policy seeks to make the use of energy affordable, particularly for those who are disadvantaged and vulnerable. But what uses of household energy should this policy be concerned with? In the UK energy for heating is readily seen as essential because of the need for people to keep warm and healthy in their homes. Fuel poverty policy does recognise the need for household expenditure on other forms of energy use – for lighting, cooking, water
heating and appliances - but the rationale for seeing these as necessities that should be affordable for all has rarely been articulated. In our work we have examined the grounds on which energy uses can be considered essential for enabling a minimally-decent quality of life, drawing on both theoretical ideas and empirical evidence. This research has implications for the scope of current fuel poverty policy, and its overriding concern with affordable warmth rather than with supporting other outcomes from the use of energy.
Jennni Cauvain Energy - vulnerability in multiple occupancy housing: a proble...Harriet Thomson
Housing in Multiple Occupancy (HMO) is an important shared housing solution for a diverse group of people in urban areas. HMOs are poorly understood by policies governing energy efficiency and fuel poverty, due to methodological problems of energy efficiency assessment, a deep-seated lack of representation and recognition of HMOs in general, and the societal marginalisation and stigmatisation of this type of housing. People in HMOs (e.g. new migrants, asylum seekers, students, young people) typically have reduced housing and welfare rights, whereas the buildings are extremely energy inefficient. Yet, HMOs have been substantially excluded from the UK government’s proposed minimum energy efficiency standard for the private rented sector. There is no definition of fuel poverty that applies if rent is inclusive of energy costs, the bills are shared, or where rental agreements are nonexistent or illegal; these are everyday occurrences in HMOs. There is a substantial coming together of socio-political and material issues giving rise to higher energy vulnerability in HMOs than in traditional single-family homes. This article focuses on the dynamic between UK policy mechanisms and regulations, and energy vulnerability in HMOs. An indicative typology of HMOs is proposed with the aim to provide a basis for the recognition and inclusion of HMOs in legal and policy frameworks.
Francois Bafoil and Rachel Guyet - Fuel poverty and governance in Europe: a c...Harriet Thomson
Based on a joint research Sciences Po / EDF R&D we compared different policies in Europe addressing fuel poverty from an institutionalist approach (Great Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Hungary). Because these policies are embedded in different types of governance
inherited from different institutional and historical dynamics, we intended to understand the extent to which these different legal architectures determine 1. the public policies 2. the local innovation dealing with energy poverty. We concluded that the Europeanization process is weak in the field of energy access and that the actions carried out by the public authorities are embedded in their path dependent governance.
If the liberalization process has affected all EU Member States, the policy towards vulnerable energy consumers still depends on the sovereign States. But in all Member States the liberalization process deepened the long lasting and structural phenomenon of energy poverty. This situation resulted in different approaches in terms of definition, targeting and policies. We concluded that because the fuel poor are hard to know and to identify a part of them is invisible to the public authorities and therefore the public policies missed their targets. As a consequence the number of fuel poor doesn’t really decrease – or only slightly – despite the funds, both public an private, invested in the fight against fuel poverty.
As a result the local level is the governance level where innovative initiatives take place in order to compensate for the state and market failures. They usually promote a global approach to the problem of energy access including preventive and curative measures based on public-private and NGO partnerships. If social innovations are carried out at this level in the western part of Europe, the lack of civil society in most of eastern European countries makes it harder for local social innovations to emerge. The local authorities still remains the last social net. The analysis of local innovations shows how path dependent trajectories
impacts the way central and local actors deal with the issue of fuel poverty.
Saska Petrova - Energy poverty and alternative economies in Northern GreeceHarriet Thomson
Greece has the highest poverty risk rate in Europe, with approximately one quarter of the total population falling under this category (ELSTAT 2013). One of the lesser-publicised dimensions of the recent crisis in this country has been the rapid expansion of energy poverty, which is commonly seen as the inability of a household to secure a lack of socially and materially-necessitated level of energy services in the home. This paper explores the manner in which experiences of energy poverty in Greece are underpinned by the social and spatial infrastructures of everyday life. More specifically, it investigates the seasonal and diurnal features of energy poverty in urban and peri-urban areas. Empirical evidence was gathered with the aid of ethnographic research in the Thessaloniki area, Northern Greece. In total 25 households were included in the study. Preliminary results from the 2013 summer cooling season and the 2014 winter heating season are presented.
The results of the study point to the varying experiences of energy vulnerability among households living in different parts of the city and its surroundings, despite the widespread presence of energy vulnerability. Patterns of domestic energy deprivation are more conspicuous in peri-urban areas, in both social and infrastructural terms: due to the close proximity of social ties in the case of former, and the physical visibility of newly-installed wood-burning chimneys and the storage of fuelwood outside people’s homes in the case of the latter. This often creates anxieties surrounding the possibility of stigmatization and
exclusion. Members of urban households find themselves pushed into a lack of adequate domestic energy services due to the inclusion of various new taxes in the electricity bill, the inefficient built fabric, non-flexible heating systems and high petroleum prices.
Stefan Bouzarovski - Services and vulnerability: approaching domestic energy ...Harriet Thomson
This paper charts the emergent body of new frameworks for the research and amelioration of energy deprivation in the home. It starts from the premise that all forms of energy and fuel poverty - in developed and developing countries alike - are underpinned by a common condition: the inability to attain a socially- and materially-necessitated level of domestic energy services. The functions provided by energy demand in the residential domain are considered in order to advance two claims: First, that domestic energy deprivation in its different guises and forms is fundamentally tied to the ineffective operation of the sociotechnical pathways that allow for the fulfilment of household energy needs, and as such is best understood by unpacking the constitution of different energy services (heating, lighting, etc.) in the home. Second, the paper emphasizes the ability of vulnerability thinking to encapsulate the driving forces of domestic energy deprivation via a comprehensive analytical framework. This leads to an identification of the main components and implications of energy service and vulnerability approaches as they relate to domestic energy deprivation across the world.
Sergio Tirado Herrero - Spaces and politics of energy vulnerability in HungaryHarriet Thomson
This paper explores the embeddedness of energy poverty – understood as the inability to secure a socially- and materially-necessitated level of energy services in the home – in the socio-technical legacies inherited from past development trajectories, as well as broader economic and institutional landscapes. Using Hungary as an example, the paper investigates the recent expansion of energy poverty across different demographic and income groups.
While much of the mainstream literature focuses on cases where energy poverty affects distinct social groups and issues, the focus of this paper the systemic implications of a form of deprivation that is affecting a much wider range of social and spatial strata. It scrutinizes the different ways in which inadequate access to energy services has resulted in the emergence of new political reconfigurations among a variety of actors, while prompting the articulation of household strategies with far-reaching structural consequences.
Phillipa Watson “Getting Bill-Smart: Outcomes of an energy efficiency project for low income householders in Tasmania.” Energy Cultures Conference 2016
Kajsa Ellegard Energy Cultures Conference 2016 Keynote “On the success of energy conservation in the household sector– a matter of daily activities at individual, household and aggregate levels“
Lindsey McCarthy “Energy (In)Efficiency: Exploring what Tenants expect and endure in the Private Rented Sector in England.” Energy Cultures Conference 2016
Benjamin Sovacool "The Nordic Low-Carbon Transition: Implications and Insights for Researchers and Practitioners" Keynote Energy Cultures Conference 2016
Household energy, water vulnerability in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan: What we h...UNDP Eurasia
UNDP Presentation - Third Inter-Agency Conference on Regional Coordination and Compound Risks in Central Asia, 14 April 2011,
Ben Slay, Senior economist,
UNDP Bureau for Europe and CIS
Lindsey McCarthy “Energy (In)Efficiency: Exploring what Tenants expect and endure in the Private Rented Sector in England.” Energy Cultures Conference 2016
Benjamin Sovacool "The Nordic Low-Carbon Transition: Implications and Insights for Researchers and Practitioners" Keynote Energy Cultures Conference 2016
Household energy, water vulnerability in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan: What we h...UNDP Eurasia
UNDP Presentation - Third Inter-Agency Conference on Regional Coordination and Compound Risks in Central Asia, 14 April 2011,
Ben Slay, Senior economist,
UNDP Bureau for Europe and CIS
Plugging the gap between energy poverty management and the lived experience: ...Leonardo ENERGY
As an introduction we will elaborate on the current policy and activities in the Netherlands and the UK, to show differences and promising examples of new ideas on how to tackle energy poverty. Accordingly, we will articulate a new approach to energy poverty policy, based on bringing insights from a multi-disciplinary understanding of the lived experience of energy poverty into policy design. We argue that understanding the lived experience of energy poverty is critical in designing appropriate policies, which are both effective and aligned with people’s day-to-day lives. In addition, the range of disciplines that examine the lived experience of energy poverty (housing, employment, education, social policy, health, energy etc.) help to give breadth to our understanding of this challenging condition. We propose five principles for policy design, informed by a multi-disciplinary understanding of the lived experience. These principles can be applied at a range of scales (local, regional, national and super-national).
This presentation by Bethan Clemence and Jim McManus to the East of England Local Improvement Network for Housing provides a case study of health and housing work in Hertfordshire
Breakout session 5. Benefit and income maximisation (welfare advice and Registered Social Landlord’s money management projects)
• Catherine Bailey/ Phil Hodgson, Northumbria University, ‘Managing Money Better; evidence on reducing fuel poverty in Stanley’
Food for Life in Kirklees: Social Return on Investment Study - Mat JonesKirklees Council
A presentation by Mat Jones from the University of the West of England about the benefits of the Food for Life programme in Kirklees. Part of the Future of Local Food in Kirklees event, February 2016. Visit www.foodkirklees.org.uk to find out more.
Gordon Walker's presentation on fuel poverty beyond heating for the international workshop "Energy-related economic stress at the interface between transport poverty, fuel poverty and residential location", held at the University of Leeds, 20th – 21st May 2015.
One Size Doesn't Fit All: How data can support tailored approaches in public ...Data Con LA
Data Con LA 2020
Description
Nearly half of the world's population relies on solid biomass to fuel stoves for cooking and heating in low- and middle-income countries. Incomplete combustion of these fuels results in the production of gases and particles that are harmful to human health and the environment. Researchers estimate that cookstove pollution causes 4 million premature deaths each year and contributes to a quarter of black carbon emissions worldwide. As a result, clean cooking has gained increased attention over the years. A number of initiatives are now focused on bringing clean energy access to households and replace the more polluting, rudimentary cookstoves. However, these initiatives have taken traditional philanthropic approaches and as a result have failed. In this talk, we will present an alternative model, which generates clean cooking solutions tailored to local context and driven by data from the ground-up.
Speaker
Emily Conant, Nexleaf Analytics, Associate Data Scientist
I hosted this discussion on the economics of plastic at the proposal stage of my PhD research to gather stakeholder feedback on the research design. Thank you to the University of Bath Public Engagement Unit for all their guidance in making this possible.
Sharpen existing tools or get a new toolbox? Contemporary cluster initiatives...Orkestra
UIIN Conference, Madrid, 27-29 May 2024
James Wilson, Orkestra and Deusto Business School
Emily Wise, Lund University
Madeline Smith, The Glasgow School of Art
0x01 - Newton's Third Law: Static vs. Dynamic AbusersOWASP Beja
f you offer a service on the web, odds are that someone will abuse it. Be it an API, a SaaS, a PaaS, or even a static website, someone somewhere will try to figure out a way to use it to their own needs. In this talk we'll compare measures that are effective against static attackers and how to battle a dynamic attacker who adapts to your counter-measures.
About the Speaker
===============
Diogo Sousa, Engineering Manager @ Canonical
An opinionated individual with an interest in cryptography and its intersection with secure software development.
Have you ever wondered how search works while visiting an e-commerce site, internal website, or searching through other types of online resources? Look no further than this informative session on the ways that taxonomies help end-users navigate the internet! Hear from taxonomists and other information professionals who have first-hand experience creating and working with taxonomies that aid in navigation, search, and discovery across a range of disciplines.
Acorn Recovery: Restore IT infra within minutesIP ServerOne
Introducing Acorn Recovery as a Service, a simple, fast, and secure managed disaster recovery (DRaaS) by IP ServerOne. A DR solution that helps restore your IT infra within minutes.
This presentation, created by Syed Faiz ul Hassan, explores the profound influence of media on public perception and behavior. It delves into the evolution of media from oral traditions to modern digital and social media platforms. Key topics include the role of media in information propagation, socialization, crisis awareness, globalization, and education. The presentation also examines media influence through agenda setting, propaganda, and manipulative techniques used by advertisers and marketers. Furthermore, it highlights the impact of surveillance enabled by media technologies on personal behavior and preferences. Through this comprehensive overview, the presentation aims to shed light on how media shapes collective consciousness and public opinion.
This presentation by Morris Kleiner (University of Minnesota), was made during the discussion “Competition and Regulation in Professions and Occupations” held at the Working Party No. 2 on Competition and Regulation on 10 June 2024. More papers and presentations on the topic can be found out at oe.cd/crps.
This presentation was uploaded with the author’s consent.
Carolyn Snell - Heat or Eat: food and austerity in Rural England
1. Heat or Eat: food and austerity in
Rural England
Dr. Hannah Lambie-Mumford
(University of Sheffield)
Dr. Carolyn Snell (University of York)
2. Introducing the project
• Pilot project: £25,000, 6 months
• Communities and Culture Network+ funded
project
• Given the popularity of the phrase ‘heat or
eat’ this project seeks to consider:
– the existing evidence base
– assess whether this reflects lived experiences
– and how and why such decisions are made
• Very early days/tentative findings..
3. Heat…aka fuel poverty
• Explicit policy concern since the 1990s
• In 2012, the number of households in fuel
poverty in England was estimated at around 2.28
million, representing approximately 10.4 per cent
of all English households (DECC 2014)
• Support for the fuel poor includes:
– Warm Home Discount
– Cold Weather Payments
– Winter Fuel Payments
• Energy Companies Obligation especially Carbon
Saving Communities Obligation
4. Eat…aka food poverty/food insecurity
• Combination of rising cost of living and falling
incomes has made food 20% less affordable for
those in the lowest income decile than in 2003
• Rapid rise in charitable food provision – 1 million
food parcels distributed by Trussell Trust in 2013-
14 representing a 610% increase since 2011-2012
• Food prices typically left to markets, but All Party
Parliamentary Inquiry of 2014 signified rising
policy concern
5.
6. Assumed drivers of ‘heat or eat’
• Increasing food and fuel prices and decreasing
incomes
• Flexibility of food and fuel costs compared to
other outgoings
• However VERY limited evidence base, and
claims by NGOs/politicians are usually based
on single case studies/small scale surveys
7. Research aims
• To critically investigate the existing evidence
base and identify key research gaps
• To determine whether the characterisation of
a ‘heat or eat dilemma’ reflects lived
experience
• To understand factors that influence
household spending decisions around food
and fuel
• To consider the role for policy
8. Methodology
• Evidence review
• Secondary analysis of the Family Resources
Survey
– Investigate consensual measures of food/fuel poverty
• GIS mapping
– As a sample frame for the qualitative work & to
investigate the distribution of fuel poverty policy
priority areas and food banks
• Qualitative interviews with stakeholders and
households
9. Evidence review
• Very limited rigorous empirical research
– 6 academic studies have explicitly considered the ‘heat or eat’
tradeoff, 4 in the US/Canada, 2 in the UK.
– Studies are typically quantitative with a variety of approaches
including:
• Relationships between food & fuel expenditure and cold weather
• Biggest study considers the relationship between cold weather, food
expenditure and nutritional outcomes (e.g. dietary quality, vitamin
deficiencies etc.)
• Self reported questions around food intake, cold weather and energy
prices
• Typical focus on households with low incomes, elderly and children
– One qualitative study that considers the importance of warmth
to older people
10. Evidence review: gaps
• Terminology and methodology
– No consistency on what the term ‘heat or eat’ refers to
– very little of the existing research is actually identifying a
trade off, but rather fluctuations in spending
– A reduction in food expenditure does not necessarily
translate into reduced calorific intake
– Fuel expenditure remaining constant does not imply a
household is cold (or warm enough)
• The UK context
– Energy billing periods will make a very big difference to
household expenditure patterns (and whether a
household can ‘smooth’ over shocks)
11. Evidence review: gaps
• Existing research tends to ignore subjective factors
– about spending decisions, where food and fuel choices sit
amongst other outgoings, why and how these choices are
made
• Existing research does not sufficiently consider the
impact of different fuel payment methods:
– PPM customers most likely to be on low incomes & least
likely to be able to ‘smooth over’ high bills – thus facing
short term budgeting decisions
– Households paying on a quarterly basis may be exposed to
greater financial ‘shocks’, but these may be less often
12. Secondary analysis of consensual measures within
the Family Resources Survey (2012-2013)
Households that are (or have recently been)
behind with their gas bill are 2.2 times more
unlikely to say that they can afford a
meat/fish/vegetarian equivalent meal every
second day
Households that cannot afford to keep their
home adequately warm are 2.8 times are more
likely to say that they cannot afford a
meat/fish/vegetarian equivalent meal every
second day
13. Methodology: mapping
• Mapping of ECO 1.2/2 deprived rural, rural &
deprived areas by Trussell Trust foodbanks
• Mapping of LSOA fuel poverty rates by foodbanks
attempted but poor quality results
• Food banks in deprived rural LSOAs (ECO 1.2/2)
used as a sample frame for case study selection:
– Often off gas network (increased risk of FP), high
levels of poverty
– Technically households should be eligible for fuel
poverty support so good to test for this
17. Regional stakeholder interviews
• Interviews with stakeholders working in relevant
organisations (CAB, NEA, Foodbank Managers, Housing
association etc.)
– Whether they think there is a ‘heat or eat’ issue
– Whether policy responses are sufficient
– What more could be done
• Interviews with individuals attending the selected food
banks
– Questions around household finances & budgeting,
spending priority exercise, specific questions about how
food and fuel spending choices are made, coping
strategies, access to policy support
18. Emerging themes…
• Within policy – recognition that a food voucher may need to be supported with an
energy top up to make it viable
• Householders constantly referred to food and fuel without being prompted
• Impact of the following exposes or insulates:
– housing arrangements
– benefit sanctions & delays in support
– support networks - taking children to friends and relatives’ houses to get a hot meal or bath
• Limited discussion of fuel poverty support despite being in an ECO priority area
• Impact of billing periods
– PPMs V big bills
• Rationing behaviours
– Using less fuel
– Self disconnection at end of benefit periods
– Eating differently
– Eating cold food
– Frequent reliance on food bank despite official referral system
• Stealing food
• Not paying other bills
19. Initial findings: impact of big bills
‘Yes, we get given our bill and this one was £690 and then it is broken
down over the next three months for what you pay until it is paid off.
At the end of the three months whatever is outstanding we will pay a
lump sum, which isn’t very good because sometimes it can be £200.
That is when we need help and we end up at the food bank’ (Hannah,
household with children)
‘I do try and keep my bills up to date so I am not chasing them all the
time. Some weeks it is really difficult. When I first moved in there it
was six months before I got a gas bill and it was £90-odd and that was
my giro gone’ (Jim, single household)
20. Initial findings: impact of PPMs – not
topping up in order to buy food
‘Bill: Yes. My house has got no electric at the
moment. Neither of us have any money at the
moment.
Interviewer: So you just let it run out?
Bill: Yes, it’s all we can do’ (Bill, 18, lives with
parent)
21. Heat or eat?
‘I would probably say eat because with the heating
there are blankets and stuff like that which could be
used to keep the kids warm and keep us warm. I
would make sure we ate’ (Hannah, household with
children)
‘I would rather have food than heat. As long as you
have got food inside you then you are heating
yourself because you have got fuel’ (Roger, single
household)
22. Next steps
• Full analysis of household data
• Full analysis of stakeholder data
• Policy roundtable event to discuss findings
23. Dr. Hannah Lambie-Mumford (University of Sheffield)
h.lambie-mumford@sheffield.ac.uk
Dr. Carolyn Snell (University of York)
Carolyn.snell@york.ac.uk
Project website:
http://www.communitiesandculture.org/projects/heat-
or-eat-food-and-austerity-in-rural-england/
Contacts
Editor's Notes
Some examples of grey literature imagery
Yorkshire and the Humber – where we plan to do the fieldwork
Hull looks like a prime candidate for sampling – we have a food bank in a dark green area.
Identified preferred study sites: Hornsea/holderness food bank (East Riding) Brigg food bank (North Lincs).