Single parents and disabled households among the worst hit by energy arrears, official data shows

Single-parent families, disabled households and Black families are bearing the brunt of the UK’s energy debt crisis, according to new analysis of the government’s own official household survey, and newer research suggests the pressure is still growing.

The analysis, by Ana Castro and Jonathan Bradshaw at the University of York, draws on the Family Resources Survey 2024/25.

The survey asked whether people had been in arrears with their gas, electricity or other fuels over the previous 12 months, and it found that 3.9 per cent of households, around 1.1 million in total, had fallen behind.

Arrears ran at 14.3 per cent among single-parent families, more than three times the national rate. The figures show 9.5 per cent of Black, African, Caribbean and Black British households were behind, as were 6.6 per cent of families with a disabled member, compared to just 1.9 per cent where no one is disabled. Families with children were also far more likely to be in arrears than households without.

Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “This new analysis lays bare who is paying the price for our broken energy system and should remind policy makers and regulators that this is a can’t-pay crisis, not a won’t-pay one.

“And this is a picture from last year. The number of households under strain is growing, not shrinking as the price shock profiteers extracting and selling the gas that drives our bills continue to post billions in profit.

“What’s worse, Citizens Advice recently found that network companies have been handed a £5 billion windfall by the very inflation that pushed families into debt.

“The long-promised energy debt relief scheme must now be brought forward and funded through energy company windfall profits, not added to consumer bills. The firms handed billions by this crisis should be first in line to help clear the debt mountain it created.”