MORE than 500 households are without central heating in Wirral, data suggests.

The analysis suggests that one in 25 people living alone aged 65 in some areas of England and Wales have no central heating.

The data is taken from the latest census which took place on March 21, 2021.

In Wirral, there were 23,457 one-person households aged 65 and over and 539 (2.3%) of them had no central heating.

In Cheshire West and Chester there were 22,156 one-person households aged 65 and over recorded. 340 (1.5%) were without central heating. Compared to Cheshire East who had 458 (1.8%) out of 25,692 homes without. 

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at older people’s charity Age UK told PA: “Having limited money in later life really impacts day-to-day living, exacerbating feelings of loneliness and disconnection from society.

“These figures are of tremendous concern, as older people lacking central heating often find it very difficult to stay warm during the winter months with potentially serious consequences for their health and wellbeing.

“Living alone can make this situation worse as it means that one person’s income has to stretch further to cover the fixed costs of heating a home, and it can, in some cases, lead to social isolation, which can have additional negative consequences.”

Barrow-in-Furness, Portsmouth and Pendle are among the local authorities with at least 4% of one-person households aged 65 and over in this position, as well as several boroughs in London.

Having no central heating is one of the household characteristics used as an indicator of deprivation.

There were 3.1 million one-person households aged 65 and over in England and Wales on March 21 2021, the day of the census, and of those 2.1% – 66,027 – had no central heating.

Overall, more than 66,000 over-65s across the two nations are likely to be living alone without central heating, according to PA news agency who compiled the figures published by the Office for National Statistics.