People in Peterborough say warm spaces are vital as the cold weather hits the region

Another yellow weather warning for ice and snow is in place for the city

Author: David Hughes PA, Aine Fox PA, Aaliyah DublinPublished 8 hours ago

Churches in Peterborough say they are seeing many people struggling to keep warm.

With another yellow weather warning for ice and snow being issued for the city, the problem could get worse.

Bretton Baptist church are providing a warm space for the community.

The church offers warmth, hot drinks and lunch for people who are struggling.

They do this one Tuesdays and Thursdays every week and it's free and open to anyone.

Liz Hallam, a community outreach worker at Bretton Baptist church, said:

"The main reasons for people not being able to turn their heating on are not having enough money to be able to afford to do that."

"A lot of the people we have coming along are struggling to make ends meet."

"Especially when it gets to the colder time of the year, it's not easy to make that money stretch across all the different things they need to buy and pay for."

"We have a lot of people who appreciate having that warmth and being able to stay here for a couple of hours."

Many people are finding it hard to keep up with the costs of heating their home.

The squeeze on winter fuel payments will force 100,000 pensioners into poverty in 2026, according to the Government's own estimates.

The payment is being restricted to only those claiming pension credit from this winter, with the aim of saving the public purse £1.5 billion a year.

Despite the official modelling, Sir Keir insisted elderly Britons would still be "better off" due to the increase in the state pension.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall revealed the Government's assessment of the impact in a letter to MPs, but stressed the figures did not take into account plans to increase the numbers on pension credit.

She told the Work and Pensions Committee:

'The latest modelling shows that compared to the numbers that would have been in poverty without this policy, it is estimated that in each year in question there will be an additional 50,000 pensioners in relative poverty after housing costs in 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2027-28, instead.'

'The modelling also shows that an additional 100,000 pensioners are estimated to be in relative poverty after housing costs in 2026-27, 2028-29 and 2029-30.'

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