ABSTRACT
Being cold at home places people at considerable risk of physical and mental ill health and has a negative impact on wellbeing (Marmot Review Team 2011). For some, risk is heightened, for example, for the old, very young, those with pre-existing ill health and those in financial hardship. Living in a cold home could be both a cause or effect of factors identified in all of the key objective areas outlined in Fair Society, Healthy Lives (Marmot Review 2010; and see Table 1.1 of this volume). In terms of policy recommendations, Marmot focuses on reducing fuel poverty in each of the five life course stages Marmot Review (2010). However, whether someone is able to keep warm will depend on many and complex inter-relating factors of which fuel poverty is only one factor. This chapter reflects on selected findings from research that focuses on older people’s experiences and struggles to keep warm at home, the Keeping Warm in Later Life projecT or KWILLT. 1
