Concern over numbers in North Yorkshire worried about turning on their heating
It's as the cold snap continues
There's concern over the number of older people in North Yorkshire who feel they can't afford to heat their home.
The bitterly cold snap continues - with temperatures barely getting above freezing today.
Elizabeth Saxton is a gas engineer in York and says a lot of her customers live and heat just one room.
"Most gas fires need additional ventilation, so they have they have vents in your walls. I do see people blocking those up which is which is very dangerous because you need that air to circulate through the house.
"As long as people have got carbon monoxide alarms, you know they're the first port of call if something is to go wrong with the ventilation side of things.
She also says many older people are worried about the cost of turning on their heating: "It's upsetting, especially for my older clients, and I have young people as well, but they're out and about and you know, in and out of the house, whereas the older people they just sit there a lot of the time, huddled under a blanket.
It comes as Wes Streeting has acknowledged withdrawing winter fuel payments from pensioners "might be unpopular" following health service advice to keep home heated during this weekend's cold snap,
The Government last year axed universal payments of up to £300 to help with pensioners' heating bills, with the uplift now only available to claimants of certain benefits such as pension credit.
Asked whether his advice was "tactful", Mr Streeting said: "It is part of the advice that the NHS is giving to people during this cold snap to make sure that people are doing whatever they can to keep warm, to make sure, as we've been doing in the run-up to this winter, that people get vaccinated and so on.
"But just coming back to this issue of winter fuel allowance, the Chancellor (Rachel Reeves) did protect winter fuel allowance for the poorest pensioners.
"There is the warm homes discount (which) people should see if they're eligible for.
"So in terms of protecting the poorest pensioners this winter, the Government is taking action. Of course, that doesn't mean that getting rid of the winter fuel allowance for others has been a popular decision."
"The reason we've been wanting to make unpopular decisions in the last six months is to get Britain out of the massive hole it was left in.
"So they might be unpopular decisions now, but I hope they'll be decisions that in the longer run people thank us for when they see the country improving, when they see waiting times in hospitals falling, when they see children having enough teachers in the classroom and breakfast clubs, when there are more police on the streets, all of the change that we want to deliver, which isn't easy given the scale of the challenge in the country, but that's what we're focused on in 2025."
According to the NHS website, pensioners should heat their home to a temperature that is comfortable for them during the winter, with living rooms and bedrooms at least 18C.