Fuel Poverty in England, Scotland and Wales 2026 — Rates, Trends and Why They Do Not Compare
Fuel poverty is the official way of counting households that cannot afford to keep their homes warm. It is a statistical measure rather than a status anybody is awarded, and it is used to decide where help is aimed.
The most important thing to know before reading any number for it is that there is no British or United Kingdom figure. England, Scotland and Wales each define it differently and measure it over different kinds of period, so their rates are not comparable and cannot be added together. Every figure below is labelled with whose it is.
What fuel poverty means, and why it means three things
Every definition in use tries to capture the same idea — a household whose income, home and energy costs together leave it unable to stay warm — and they draw the line in different places.
England’s measure requires both a low income and an energy-inefficient home. A household on a very low income in a well-insulated home is not counted, which is a deliberate feature of the measure rather than an oversight: it is designed to point at homes that can be fixed. Scotland and Wales approach it from the income and cost side instead. The consequence is that a higher rate does not necessarily mean more hardship — it may mean a wider definition.
Each nation, on its own definition
Each nation, on its own definition
How many households cannot afford to heat their homes
These three figures cannot be compared with each other, and putting them on one chart would be the most misleading thing this page could do. Each nation sets its own definition of fuel poverty, measures it over its own kind of period, and publishes a different second measure — so a higher number here does not mean more hardship, it may simply mean a wider definition. There is no United Kingdom figure, and none is calculated below.
England
20249.9%
of households · 2,472,012 households
Publishes no second measure of severity.
Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE). A household is fuel poor when it has a low income after housing and required fuel costs, and its home has an energy-efficiency rating of band D or below.
Scotland
2022-202431%
of households · 794,000 households
Extreme fuel poverty: 17%
Scottish statutory fuel-poverty definition. The Scottish measure applies its statutory income, required fuel cost and Minimum Income Standard tests. Local figures are three-year survey estimates.
Wales
October 202425%
of households · 340,000 households
Severe fuel poverty: 5%
Full-income 10% definition. A household is modelled as fuel poor when required fuel costs exceed 10% of full household income.
The trend in England
Only England publishes a long run on a consistent basis, so this is the only trend on the page. Scotland pools three years of survey responses into each estimate and Wales models a single month, and neither would line up with the series below even if more editions were held.
England · 2010 to 2025
The trend in England
Fuel poor households in 2025
2,363k
of 25,074k households · 4,780k in 2010
Which homes they are in, 2025
These four groups add up to the total above rather than sitting beside it. For each one, how many households are fuel poor and how many are not.
- Bands A to CCannot be fuel poor under this definition, which requires a home rated band D or worse
- Band D23.8% fuel poor
1,886k fuel poor and 6,049k not, of 7,936k in the band · the fuel poor ones are short by £211 a year on average
- Band E24.7% fuel poor
352k fuel poor and 1,074k not, of 1,426k in the band · the fuel poor ones are short by £799 a year on average
- Bands F and G24.3% fuel poor
125k fuel poor and 390k not, of 514k in the band · the fuel poor ones are short by £1,742 a year on average
In 2025, the published fuel-poverty rates range from 23.8% to 24.7% across bands D to G. The average gap ranges from £211 to £1,742 — 8.3 times as much.
The count of households that are not fuel poor is the figure DESNZ publishes, not this total minus the fuel poor count. Each column of the workbook is rounded to thousands on its own, so the three do not always add up: on 15 of the 80 band-years they differ by up to a thousand households. The percentages are the more exact pair and add to 100 on every row.
What households are spending, 2025
- Median energy costs as a share of income, all households6.8%
- Median energy costs as a share of income, low income households14.9%
A different definition, kept separate
These two measure the old definition of fuel poverty — spending more than a tenth of your income on energy — which stopped being the headline measure in England in 2013. They are published alongside the figures above but are not part of them, and the two must never be read as one series. The before and after housing costs versions have different denominators, so they are not alternatives either.
- Households spending over 10% of income on energy, after housing costs7,635k households
- Households spending over 10% of income on energy, before housing costs4,599k households
Low Income Low Energy Efficiency: a household is fuel poor if it is on a low income and its home has an energy efficiency rating of band D or worse. Scotland and Wales measure fuel poverty differently and their figures are not comparable with these.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0
Fuel poverty where you live
The national rate is a poor guide to any particular place: within England the range across council areas is far wider than the gap between one year and the next. Energy use in your area resolves your own council from a postcode and shows its fuel poverty estimate beside its consumption, heating types and efficiency ratings — from the same official releases as the figures here.
Where to get help
Being counted in these statistics is not an entitlement to anything, and nothing on this page can tell you what you qualify for. What it can do is point at the schemes that exist and at the official check for each.
The scheme register lists what is available, what each is worth and which nations it covers, and every entry ends at the government’s own eligibility checker rather than at our guess. The Warm Home Discount and the Winter Fuel Payment are the two largest, and they cover different nations from each other. If you are behind on a bill, energy debt and credit balances sets out what suppliers are required to offer.
Frequently asked questions
How many households in the UK are in fuel poverty?
There is no such figure, and anyone who quotes one has added up numbers that do not belong together. England, Scotland and Wales each define fuel poverty differently, measure it over different kinds of period, and publish different measures of severity — so the three cannot be summed or averaged into a national rate. This page gives each nation separately, with its definition and its period attached, which is the most that can honestly be said.
Why is the Scottish rate so much higher than the English one?
Mostly because it is a different measurement, not because Scottish households are three times worse off. England uses a measure that requires both a low income and an energy-inefficient home, so a household on a low income in an efficient home is not counted at all. Scotland and Wales do not work that way. On top of that, the Scottish figure pools three years of survey responses and the Welsh one is a model of a single month. Comparing them tells you about the definitions rather than about the households.
Why do no efficient homes show up as fuel poor in England?
Because the English definition rules it out. It requires the home to be rated band D or worse, so households in homes rated A to C cannot be counted as fuel poor however low their income or high their bills. The zero against those bands is the definition restating itself, not a measurement of how those households are doing — which is why this page labels it rather than showing it as progress.
Is fuel poverty getting better or worse?
For England the page shows the whole series back to 2010, so you can see it rather than take our word for it. For Scotland and Wales there is no comparable series to show: only one edition of each is held, and neither is measured on a basis that would line up with England’s anyway. Beware of any trend that appears to span all three.
Does this page tell me whether I qualify for help?
No, and being counted as fuel poor is not itself an entitlement to anything. Fuel poverty is a statistical measure used to describe a population; the help available is decided by separate schemes with their own eligibility rules. The links at the end of this page go to what exists and to the official checks for each one.
Related reading
Written by
Rob Gibbs
Hi, I'm Rob, and I run Energy-Review.co.uk. I initially started this project in 2018 when I was looking to switch energy suppliers and found there wasn't a website that provided simple, data-backed reviews on all the suppliers available. Since then, I have spent a lot of time (too much, some may say!) looking at all publicly available data about each supplier and writing reviews using this information. These reviews are updated as regularly as possible, and any data is backed up by a source where necessary. I have also started writing guides on various energy-related topics, which hopefully you will find useful. If you find any issues, please use our contact form to let us know.