Official Statistics

Sub-regional fuel poverty in England, 2024 (2022 data)

Published 25 April 2024

Applies to England

Summary findings

• The overall level of fuel poverty in England in 2022 was 13.1% using the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) fuel poverty metric.
• The lowest levels of fuel poverty were in the South East (9.7%), East (10.0%) and London (10.4%).
• The West Midlands had the highest rate of fuel poverty (19.6%) followed by Yorkshire and the Humber (17.0%).
• There were 28 Local Authorities with an estimated fuel poverty rate above 18% in 2022. Over half of these Local Authorities were in the West Midlands (15), with the other Local Authorities in the Yorkshire and the Humber (six), North West (four) and East Midlands (three).
• There were 22 Local Authorities with an estimated fuel poverty rate below 8% in 2022. Over half of these were in the South East, with the other Local Authorities in the East and London.

What you need to know about these statistics

Estimates of fuel poverty at the regional level are taken from the main fuel poverty statistics for 2022. Estimates at the sub-regional level are modelled and constrained to regional totals, they should only be used to look at general trends and identify areas of particularly high or low fuel poverty. They should not be used to identify detailed trends over time.

1. Introduction

Fuel poverty in England is measured using the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) fuel poverty metric, which was set out in the Fuel Poverty Sustainable Warmth strategy published in February 2021. The LILEE indicator considers a household to be fuel poor if:

• it is living in a property with an energy efficiency rating of band D, E, F or G as determined by the most up-to-date *[EPC]: Energy Performance Certificates Methodology; and
• its disposable income (income after housing costs (AHC) and energy needs) would be below the poverty line^{[footnote 1]}.

The Government is interested in the amount of energy people need to consume to have a warm, well-lit home, with hot water for everyday use, and the running of appliances. Therefore, fuel poverty is measured based on required energy bills rather than actual spending. This ensures that those households who have low energy bills simply because they actively limit their use of energy at home, for example, by not heating their home are not overlooked.

The Annual Fuel Poverty Statistics Report is an Accredited Official Statistics report which provides a comprehensive view of the latest statistical trends and analysis of fuel poverty in England. These statistics report on the proportion of all households in fuel poverty in England and the depth of their fuel poverty. The report also looks at the key drivers of fuel poverty and how fuel poverty in England varies by dwelling and household characteristics.

The sub-regional statistics are Official Statistics in Development (see Annex). These complement the Accredited Official Statistics on fuel poverty, by estimating the number and proportion of fuel poor households at smaller geographical levels, for example, Local Authority level. The sub-regional statistics do not report on the average fuel poverty gap.

The headline statistics detailed in the 2024 annual report are based on projections to 2023, so provide more timely estimates of fuel poverty down to regional level. The sub-regional fuel poverty estimates are based on the 2022 modelled data and cannot be run for 2023 using this methodology.

This year’s annual report, and a detailed methodology on how fuel poverty is calculated, can be found on the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero website at the following link:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics

Since 2019 sub-regional breakdowns have been produced based on the LILEE indicator, however sub-regional breakdowns are also available between 2010 and 2018 based on the LIHC indicator at the following link:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics

Accompanying tables

For each of the following geographical levels, estimates are available for the total number of households, the number of fuel poor households, and the proportion of households in fuel poverty:

• Table 1: English Region^{[footnote 2]}
• Table 2: Region, County, Unitary & Local Authority
• Table 3: Lower Super Output Area (LSOA)
• Table 4: Parliamentary Constituency

Interactive map

An interactive map for indicators of domestic energy efficiency and energy consumption is available which includes the percentage of households in fuel poverty down to Lower Layer Super Output Area. The fuel poverty data for 2022 is available through our interactive map at www.domesticenergymap.uk.

2. Regional fuel poverty

There was a high level of variation in the rates of fuel poverty between regions. This was analysed in the annual fuel poverty statistics and supporting tables. There was a strong negative correlation between fuel poverty rate and median after housing costs (AHC) incomes for each region^{[footnote 3]}.

The highest regional rates of fuel poverty in 2022 were in the West Midlands (19.6%) and Yorkshire and the Humber (17.0%) which both had median (AHC) incomes under £25,400. These regions also had median fuel poverty energy efficiency ratings (FPEER) below the national median of 68.

Households in the North East and North West also had median (AHC) incomes under £25,400, however the rate of fuel poverty was lower due to higher median fuel poverty energy efficiency ratings (FPEER), 70 and 68 respectively, and smaller than typical home size, with a median floor area (m2) of 84 and 82 respectively. The lowest fuel poverty rates were in the South East (9.7%), East (10.0%) and London (10.4%) due to a combination of median fuel poverty energy efficiency ratings higher than the national median and median (AHC) incomes, greater than £27,400.

In the annual fuel poverty statistics (report section 3.1.7) an additional indicator of the fuel poverty gap was used to measure the depth of fuel poverty, but this is not modelled at sub-regional level. This indicator shows that in 2022, fuel poor households in the South West and North West had the deepest levels of fuel poverty due to a combination of having energy costs above the national median, the size of home and median energy efficiency.

Further information on the drivers of regional differences in fuel poverty is detailed in the annual fuel poverty report, based on estimates of fuel poverty to 2023.

Figure 1: Proportion of households in fuel poverty, by Region, 2022

3. Sub-regional fuel poverty

Maps provide a useful way of comparing fuel poverty across different geographical areas. Figure 2 shows the proportion of households in fuel poverty in England at Local Authority level.

Figure 2: Proportion of households in fuel poverty by Local Authority, 2022

The Local Authorities with the highest rate of fuel poverty are shown in dark blue, where 28 Local Authorities had a fuel poverty rate of 18%  or above. This included 15 in the West Midlands, and six in the Yorkshire and the Humber. The Local Authorities with the highest estimated levels of fuel poverty were Stoke-on-Trent (24.7%), Birmingham (24.0%), and Wolverhampton (23.0%).

The Local Authorities with the lowest levels of fuel poverty are shown in light yellow, with 25 Local Authorities having a fuel poverty rate of 8% or less. This included 16 in the South East, and seven in the East of England. The Local Authorities with the lowest estimated levels of fuel poverty were City of London (5.3%), Wokingham (6.0%), and Bracknell Forest (6.1%).

The level of variation in the rate of fuel poverty within a region differs quite substantially at lower geographic areas. Figure 3 plots the fuel poverty rates for the 33,755 Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA) by region. This shows that the largest difference between the top and bottom 10 per cent of LSOAs was in the West Midlands where the 90th percentile was more than 20 percentage points higher than the 10th percentile. The second highest was the Yorkshire and the Humber with a gap more than 17 percentage points. London had the smallest variation in fuel poverty rates with a difference of over eight percentage points between the 90th and 10th percentiles.

Figure 3: Proportion of households in fuel poverty, LSOAs within Region, 2022

The box plot shows the median and interquartile range of the proportion of fuel poor households in LSOAs by region. The whiskers represent the 10th and 90th percentile LSOAs for each region.

4. Methodology

Fuel poverty statistics are based on data from the English Housing Survey (EHS). Given the sample size of the EHS in 2022 (10,890 households with physical surveys in the combined 2021/22 and 2022/23 dataset^{[footnote 4]}, it is not possible to reliably estimate fuel poverty levels in small geographical areas, such as Local Authorities, without the use of modelling.

A logistic regression model is created, matching data from the EHS on whether a household is fuel poor or not (as the binary dependent variable) with data from other sources available for all Census Output Areas (OA), e.g. Census 2011 data  (as the independent variables). The factors used in the modelling are set out in the sub-regional methodology documentation, alongside other details of the methodology  .

The model is used to estimate the levels of fuel poverty for all OAs across England; these are then aggregated to higher level geographies, which are constrained to the regional totals. This modelling approach introduces the possibility that small, atypical areas are not accurately picked up by the model and will be influenced by the regional trend in fuel poverty rate. E.g. the figure and trend for Cornwall will be influenced by the trend for the South West region.

In 2013, the former Department for Energy & Climate Change undertook an internal review of the methodology used to produce sub-regional estimates of fuel poverty, in conjunction with Office for National Statistics (ONS) Methodology Advisory Service. This review found that  estimates of fuel poverty were robust at Local Authority level, but not robust at lower levels of geography. In particular, estimates of fuel poverty at Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) should be treated with caution. The estimates should only be used to look at general trends and identify areas of particularly high or low fuel poverty due to their high uncertainty. They should not be used to identify trends over time within an LSOA, to rank LSOAs within a year, or to compare LSOAs with similar fuel poverty levels due to very small sample sizes and consequent instability in estimates at this level.

Annex: further information

Revisions policy

The department’s statistical revisions policy sets out the revisions policy for these statistics, which has been developed in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice for Statistics.

Official Statistics in Development

These statistics are deemed Official Statistics in Development as work is ongoing to improve the modelling approach used to produce these statistics. The current approach uses constrained regional totals and limited predictor variables which are known to yield estimates that are of lower quality at smaller geographies.

Work is in progress to incorporate administrative data as the base from which fuel poverty is modelled at sub-regional level, rather than using a sample-based approach such as the EHS. Under this approach fuel poverty statistics would be based on data from the Energy Performance Certificates (EPC), matched with other data sources, to form a more up to date and accurate picture of fuel poverty for small areas in England. This alternative approach should increase the reliability of estimating fuel poverty at sub-regional levels, by making more use of actual measured data through EPCs to more accurately determine the household’s Energy Efficiency Rating.

When alternative methods are sufficiently developed we will share details of the new method and the impact on the estimates with users.

User engagement

Users are encouraged to provide comments and feedback on how these statistics are used and how well they meet their needs. Comments on any issues relating to this statistical release are welcomed and should be sent to: fuelpoverty@energysecurity.gov.uk.

The Department’s statement on statistical public engagement and data standards sets out the department’s commitments on public engagement and data standards as outlined by the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Pre-release access to statistics

Some ministers and officials receive access to these Official Statistics up to 24 hours before release. Details of the arrangements for doing this and a list of the ministers and officials that receive pre-release access to these statistics can be found in the Department’s statement of compliance with the Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics Order 2008.

Responsible statistician: Stephen Oxley
Email: fuelpoverty@energysecurity.gov.uk
Media enquiries: 020 7215 1000
Public enquiries: 07471358388

1. The poverty line (income poverty) is defined as an equivalised disposable income of less than 60% of the national median: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/articles/persistentpovertyintheukandeu/2015 ↩

2. These are Official Statistics and are presented in the Annual Fuel Poverty Statistics Report. ↩

3. Median incomes and FPEER ratings by region in 2022 are shown in table 5 of the Fuel Poverty Supplementary tables www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fuel-poverty-supplementary-tables-2024-2022-data ↩

4. More information on the EHS combined dataset can be found in Annex B.4 of the Annual Fuel Poverty Statistics report: www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics ↩