Health chiefs issue alert as cold snap raises death risk

Elderly more likely to die as temperatures plummet to zero

- JANE DALTON

A looming cold snap could increase the risk of elderly people dying, health chiefs are warning, as Age UK criticised the government’s limiting of winter fuel payments. The UK Health Security Agency has issued cold-weather health alerts for all of England ahead of a week of expected low temperatures.

Amber alerts mean that a rise in deaths – particularly among people 65 and over, and those with health conditions – is likely. The agency issued the alerts to run from yesterday until next Wednesday, 8 January.

Temperatures were expected to fall as low as minus 8C last night in rural southern Scotland and northern England, the Met Office said. It was also expected to be cold in rural Wales and southwest England, with the thermometer falling to minus 6C. Even the South East and London are forecast to experience freezing temperatures in the next few days, prompting a yellow weather warning.

Age UK director Caroline Abrahams said the government’s decision to limit the winter fuel allowance to only the poorest pensioners would be put “into sharp relief” by the cold snap. Ms Abrahams said the charity had already been contacted by older people “worrying about what to do when this moment arrived”.