End of life charity Marie Curie has found the number of people who have died in poverty in the past year has risen to 111,000 – a huge 19% increase in four years
A shocking 300 people are dying in poverty every single day in the UK, new research reveals.
End of life charity, Marie Curie, previously found that 93,000 people died in poverty across the UK in 2019. But that number has now risen to 111,000 – a huge 19% increase in four years. They found more than one in five are dying in fuel poverty – including 110,000 pensioners.
One widow was left with a £5,000 energy bill after her husband died of cancer in June. Simona’s husband, David, died in June 2024 from a stage four glioblastoma, six months after he was diagnosed.
She said: “David had to stop working straight away after his diagnosis because he couldn’t walk or move. And I had to stop work to be his full time carer. The amount of money we had through state benefits was barely enough to get us to the end of the month. His condition meant that he was constantly cold, so we had to keep the heating on all the time. We discussed this with our energy companies, and the only things they provided was an electric blanket and a discount of £200 – it wasn’t enough.
“All the medical equipment David needed was electric. It really raised the cost of our energy bills, and I still have an outstanding bill of £5,000 from the energy company.
“When David was on oxygen towards the end of his life, I spoke to the provider as the oxygen machine needed to be on all the time. They told me they would refund the cost of running the equipment, and later I had a cheque through the post from them for £13.”
The Dying in Poverty 2024 report is based on research carried out by Loughborough University for Marie Curie. The charity is calling on the UK Government to guarantee working age people – with less than 12 months to live – a pension-level income. They also want to see the country introduce a social tariff to cut energy bills for people at the end of life.
The report found a social tariff that halves energy bills could lift as many as 54,000 (45%) dying people out of fuel poverty.
Dr Sam Royston, Executive Director of Policy and Research at Marie Curie, said: “No one should have to face their final days worrying about money or whether they can afford to heat their home. And no matter what way you cut it, by age, gender, ethnicity or location, rates of poverty are higher for people at the end of life than the rest of the population.
“At a time when our politicians are debating whether or not to legalise assisted dying, surely they will also want to ensure no one would feel any pressure to choose an assisted death simply because they cannot afford the bare essentials of a decent standard of living.”
They say a social tariff could lift as many as 54,000 (45%) dying people out of fuel poverty. Their research also found working age people are at higher risk of dying in poverty than pensioners (28% vs 16%), as the state pension is more generous than benefits.
The charity say terminally ill people should not face the “injustice” of dying before they can access the State Pension which they may have spent decades paying into.
To sign Marie Curie’s petition, calling on the UK Government to fix the cost of dying crisis, visit: mariecurie.org.uk/cost-of-dying-petition
