Need for warm banks "totally unacceptable" charity says, as it implores Government to step in

The charity has found out of 355 councils in England and Wales, 194 are directly involved in or supporting local groups to open warm spaces as the cost of living crisis has plunged families into financial turmoil.

Some councils are supporting by providing grants from £500 up to £5,000 to voluntary and community organisations, including charities and religious groups, to set up warm spaces.

The total number of warm spaces is expected to run into the thousands, the charity said.

In Bradford, the council’s libraries, the Industrial Museum and Bolling Hall Museum are already signed up as warm banks and the council is inviting voluntary, community and social enterprise groups to join the Warm Spaces programme.

Knaresborough in North Yorkshire has set up a “public living rooms” programme which sees people in need able to access warm spaces with board games and tea available.

And Leeds City Council has set up an online map of places available providing warm space, including the city’s library, the Jamyang Buddhist Centre and St Andrew’s Church in Beeston.

But one leader at Save The Children said the Government must intervene by rising the rates of benefits as they called the situation “an extraordinary sign of the times.”

Dan Paskins, director of UK impact at the charity, said: "What an extraordinary sign of the times we are in that communities and councils are setting up warm spaces because so many people won’t be able to heat their homes this winter.

“We are extremely worried about the circumstances the country's poorest children will be living in as the weather turns colder if councils and charities are already anticipating this level of need.

"Being unable to afford a warm home will put the health of children at risk, which is an unacceptable human cost with a likely knock on effect to health budgets.”

He continued: “It is totally unacceptable that in modern Britain we need a vast network of warm banks to get us through the winter. We need a permanent solution to this energy crisis.

"As a starting point, the UK Government needs to reaffirm its commitment to increasing benefits in line with inflation at the Budget and scrap the benefits cap to put more money in people's pockets.”

It comes as over a fifth of UK pubs, restaurants and cafes have cut their hours over the past three months in a bid to cut energy costs.

New analysis from the Office for National Statisticsshowed that food and drink service firms were more likely than any other sector to cut trading to deal with mammoth increases in energy bills.