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Temperatures are well below freezing, but the cost of putting on the heating is at record levels – so what support is out there, and how likely are you to be disconnected if you can’t pay?

Snow can be fun, but amid a cost of living crisis it can also cause problems for some.

The government recommends you heat your home to a temperature that is comfortable to you, and to keep the rooms you use the most (such as the living room and bedroom) above 18C if you can.

This is particularly important if you have a pre-existing medical condition.

What help is available?

Firstly, if you are sitting at home in the freezing cold, there is help available.

The Department for Work and Pensions has launched a top-up scheme, called the Cold Weather Payment, to help some people through the winter.

More on Cost Of Living

There are grants, benefits and sources of advice available to make your home more energy efficient, improve your heating or help with bills.

There are also support measures in place to help with the cost of living.

More information can be found on Age UK’s website.

Local councils often have support available, including discretionary grants, so contact them to see what is available.

Let your energy supplier know

It is important to contact your supplier as soon as you have any change in circumstances, including if you are unable to pay your bill. They may be able to help you.

Some energy companies have trust funds and hardship funds which can make payments to help clear energy debts.

Your supplier may also be able to help you with the cost of a more efficient boiler, or other energy efficiency measures.

If you have a medical or mental health condition which makes it harder for you to manage, ask your supplier to put you on their Priority Services Register so that you get extra help.

Reasons you can be added to the Priority Services Register are varied – from being a pensioner to being recently bereaved or pregnant.

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Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

Check you are receiving the energy discount

Every household in England, Scotland and Wales that is connected to the electricity grid will be eligible for the grant, which will provide £400 to help towards energy bills.

Check this amount is being credited to your account – it works out as around £67 a month, every month, from October until March.

If you are on a prepayment meter, you will either be sent redeemable vouchers by text, email or post, or you will be given an automatic credit when you top up as usual.

Double-check with your energy supplier to make sure you are receiving the money.

Is it better to have the heating on lots, or short bursts? Cold weather experts answer your questions

A jogger runs through the snow in Greenwich Park, southeast London
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A jogger runs through the snow in Greenwich Park, southeast London

Disconnections are rare

If you miss a payment, the supplier will first send you a reminder. If they still don’t hear from you, they may try to visit you at home to work out the best way to pay – but some could add the cost of this visit to your account.

If you don’t agree to a repayment plan, they may try to force you to have a prepayment meter installed. This means you would have to pay for your energy upfront, as well as a weekly amount to cover any debt.

If you haven’t paid your bill after 28 days, you may be threatened with disconnection of your supply.

While this is rare – with one campaign group claiming as few as eight people were disconnected in 2018 – it could still happen.

Families sledging through the snow in Greenwich Park, south-east London. Snow and ice have swept across parts of the UK, with cold wintry conditions set to continue for days. Picture date: Monday December 12, 2022.
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Families sledging through the snow in Greenwich Park

How to keep yourself warm on the cheap

Amid a cost of living crisis, it is not always practical or realistic to stick the heating on if you are cold.

If you have a spare room that is rarely used, make sure the radiator is turned off (or turned right down) to make sure you aren’t heating an empty room. Don’t forget to bleed your radiators too, to make sure they are working at their best.

Also check what time your heating is coming on. There is not much point it being on during the day if you are out at work.

If bills are still a struggle, heat one room of your house and try to spend most of your time there.

Electric blankets and throws can also work out as a cheaper alternative.

One big jumper can seem cosy, but wearing lots of layers works better to trap heat. Base layers, including thermal vests, are fairly inexpensive. Keep an eye out for clothing made from wool, cotton or a fleecy fabric.

A Southeastern train makes its way through Ashford in Kent as rail services remain disrupted in the icy weather. Snow and ice have swept across parts of the UK, with cold wintry conditions set to continue for days. Picture date: Monday December 12, 2022.
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A Southeastern train makes its way through Ashford in Kent

Draught-proof your house

If you are drying clothes inside, it may be worth leaving that one room ventilated (with the door shut) to prevent damp and mould. Shutting doors throughout your home is a good way to keep the heat in.

Try to block any areas in your home that are particularly draughty, including around window frames, keyholes and under doors.

Keep your curtains open during the day to let light and warmth in, but draw them just before it gets dark to avoid losing any extra heat gained during the day.

A general view of the Angel of the North in Gateshead. Snow and ice have swept across parts of the UK, with cold wintry conditions set to continue for days. Picture date: Monday December 12, 2022.

Warm food and drinks

The British Heart Foundation recommends trying to stick to a balanced diet of fruit and veg to keep your immune system working during winter.

Regular hot drinks and food including porridge, soups and stews can also help keep you warm.

Frozen or tinned fruit and vegetables (if there’s no added salt or sugar) are just as healthy as fresh and can be more affordable if they’re out of season in winter.

If you are trying to keep cooking costs down, an air fryer or slow cooker might be a cheaper way to reduce costs, although you have the initial outlay.

Opening the oven door after you’ve finished cooking will also funnel any leftover hot air into your home.

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UK on ‘slippery slope’ to ‘death on demand’, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood warns ahead of assisted dying vote

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UK on 'slippery slope' to 'death on demand', Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood warns ahead of assisted dying vote

The UK is on a “slippery slope towards death on demand”, according to the justice secretary ahead of a historic Commons vote on assisted dying.

In a letter to her constituents, Shabana Mahmood said she was “profoundly concerned” about the legislation.

“Sadly, recent scandals – such as Hillsborough, infected blood and the Post Office Horizon – have reminded us that the state and those acting on its behalf are not always benign,” she wrote.

“I have always held the view that, for this reason, the state should serve a clear role. It should protect and preserve life, not take it away.

“The state should never offer death as a service.”

Analysis: Justice secretary’s intervention is potentially embarrassing for the PM

On 29 November, MPs will be asked to consider whether to legalise assisted dying, through Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

Details of the legislation were published last week, including confirmation the medicine that will end a patient’s life will need to be self-administered and people must be terminally ill and expected to die within six months.

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Minister ‘leans’ to assisted dying bill

Ms Mahmood, however, said “predictions about life expectancy are often inaccurate”.

“Doctors can only predict a date of death, with any real certainty, in the final days of life,” she said. “The judgment as to who can and cannot be considered for assisted suicide will therefore be subjective and imprecise.”

Read more: Gordon Brown says assisted dying should not be legalised

Under the Labour MP’s proposals, two independent doctors must confirm a patient is eligible for assisted dying and a High Court judge must give their approval.

The bill will also include punishments of up to 14 years in prison for those who break the law, including coercing someone into ending their own life.

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Details of end of life bill released

Read more: Where does the cabinet stand on assisted dying?

However, Ms Mahmood said she was concerned the legislation could “pressure” some into ending their lives.

“It cannot be overstated what a profound shift in our culture assisted suicide will herald,” she wrote.

“In my view, the greatest risk of all is the pressure the elderly, vulnerable, sick or disabled may place upon themselves.”

Kim Leadbeater waits to present the Assisted Dying Bill. File pic: House of Commons/Reuters
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Kim Leadbeater waits to present the Assisted Dying Bill. File pic: House of Commons/Reuters

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who put forward the bill, said some of the points Ms Mahmood raised have been answered “in the the thorough drafting and presentation of the bill”.

“The strict eligibility criteria make it very clear that we are only talking about people who are already dying,” she said.

“That is why the bill is called the ‘Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill’; its scope cannot be changed and clearly does not include any other group of people.

“The bill would give dying people the autonomy, dignity and choice to shorten their death if they wish.”

In response to concerns Ms Mahmood raised about patients being coerced into choosing assisted death, Ms Leadbeater said she has consulted widely with doctors and judges.

“Those I have spoken to tell me that they are well equipped to ask the right questions to detect coercion and to ascertain a person’s genuine wishes. It is an integral part of their work,” she said.

In an increasingly fractious debate around the topic, multiple Labour MPs have voiced their concerns.

In a letter to ministers on 3 October, the Cabinet Secretary Simon Case confirmed “the prime minister has decided to set aside collective responsibility on the merits of this bill” and that the government would “therefore remain neutral on the passage of the bill and on the matter of assisted dying”.

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Justice secretary’s assisted dying intervention is explosive – and potentially embarrassing for PM

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Justice secretary's assisted dying intervention is explosive - and potentially embarrassing for PM

With six days to go before Friday’s historic Commons showdown on assisted dying, it’s the opponents who are turning up the heat.

The explosive attack on the bill by Shabana Mahmood follows the poignant and personal plea from Gordon Brown to MPs to reject the bill.

We knew the justice secretary is opposed to the bill. She has already made that clear. But her attack on it, in a letter to constituents, is brutal.

Read more: UK on ‘slippery slope’ to ‘death on demand’, warns justice secretary

She talks about a “slippery slope towards death on demand”. Savage. The state should “never offer death as a service”, she says. Chilling.

So much for Sir Keir Starmer attempting to cool the temperature in the row by urging cabinet ministers, whatever their view, to stop inflaming or attempting to influence the debate.

Ms Mahmood talks, as other opponents have, about pressure on the elderly, sick or disabled who feel they have “become too much of a burden to their family”.

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Details of end of life bill released

She hits out at a “lack of legal safeguards” in the bill and pressure on someone into ending their life “by those acting with malign intent”.

Malign intent? Hey! That’s quite an assertion from a secretary of state for justice and lord chancellor who’s been urged by the PM to tone down her language.

It’s claimed that Sir Keir ticked off Wes Streeting, the health secretary, after he publicly opposed the bill and launched an analysis of the costs of implementing it.

Read more: Where does the cabinet stand on assisted dying?

Will the justice secretary now receive a reprimand from the boss? It’s a bit late for that. Critics will also claim Sir Keir’s dithering over the bill is to blame for cabinet ministers freelancing.

Shabana Mahmood is the first elected Muslim woman to hold a cabinet post. Elected to the Commons in 2010, she was also one of the first Muslim women MPs.

She told her constituents in her letter that it’s not only for religious reasons that she’s “profoundly concerned” about the legislation, but also because of what it would mean for the role of the state.

But of course, she’s not the only senior politician with religious convictions to speak out strongly against Kim Leadbeater’s bill this weekend.

Gordon Brown. File pic: PA
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Gordon Brown. File pic: PA

Gordon Brown, son of the manse, who was strongly influenced by his father, a Church of Scotland minister, wrote about his opposition in a highly emotional article in The Guardian.

He spoke about the pain of losing his 10-day-old baby daughter Jennifer, born seven weeks prematurely and weighing just 2lb 4oz, in January 2002, after she suffered a brain haemorrhage on day four of her short life.

Read more: Gordon Brown says assisted dying should not be legalised

Mr Brown said that tragedy convinced him of the value and imperative of good end-of-life care, not the case for assisted dying. His powerful voice will strongly influence many Labour MPs.

And what of Kim Leadbeater? It’s looking increasingly as though she’s now being hung out to dry by the government, after initially being urged by the government to choose assisted dying after topping the private members bill ballot.

All of which will encourage Sir Keir’s critics to claim he looks weak. It is, or course, a private members bill and a free vote, which makes the outcome on Friday unpredictable.

But the dramatic interventions of the current lord chancellor and the former Labour prime minister are hugely significant, potentially decisive – and potentially embarrassing for a prime minister who appears to be losing control of the assisted dying debate.

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Max Verstappen wins Formula One world title for a fourth straight year

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Max Verstappen wins Formula One world title for a fourth straight year

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has won the Formula One world title for a fourth straight year.

His victory was confirmed after finishing fifth at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Mercedes’ George Russell won the race.

Max Verstappen celebrates his win. Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

The 27-year-old Dutchman becomes just the sixth driver in Formula One history to win four titles or more, after outscoring Lando Norris who took the chequered flag in only sixth.

Verstappen is now guaranteed the world crown with two races still remaining, with his domination cementing his name among Formula One’s greats.

“Oh my God man,” said an emotional Verstappen after securing the world title. “What a season. Four times. It was a little bit more difficult than last year.”

Lewis Hamilton raced back from 10th to second place to complete an impressive one-two finish for Mercedes. Carlos Sainz finished third for Ferrari, one place ahead of his team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Russell’s third victory was the most dominant of his career so far, crossing the line 7.3 seconds clear of Hamilton.

More on Formula 1

Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton have each won a record seven, with 1950s Argentine legend Juan-Manuel Fangio on five ahead of Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel and now Verstappen on four.

Having won every Drivers’ Championship since claiming his first in the controversial end to the 2021 season when he beat Hamilton in deeply contentious circumstances, Verstappen now joins Hamilton, Fangio and Vettel in winning four titles consecutively.

Only Schumacher has achieved a run of five.

Red Bull's principal sponsor Christian Horner on the Las Vegas Strip Circuit. Pic: Reuters
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Red Bull’s principal sponsor Christian Horner on the Las Vegas Strip Circuit. Pic: Reuters

The team were hit by controversy earlier this season, with Red Bull’s principal sponsor, Christian Horner, facing allegations of controlling behaviour by a female staff member. Horner, who denied the accusations, was cleared, and a subsequent appeal was thrown out.

Horner congratulated Verstappen on the radio, telling him: “Max Verstappen you are a four-time world champion. That is a phenomenal, phenomenal achievement. You can be incredibly proud of yourself.”

Red Bull is on course to finish third in the constructors’ championship this year. This century only Hamilton in 2008 with McLaren, and Verstappen in 2021, have won the drivers’ title when their team did not win the constructors’ championship.

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