Mum struggling to heat 1930s home gets help

A mother of two who moved into a 1930s home said the family faced a "massive" hike in heating bills until she received help.

Holly Farmer said heating was one item they could not "scrape by" on, with youngsters aged four and eight to look after.

Until funds from the West Midlands mayor helped pay for insulation, extractor fans and solar panels, she said they used to have the heating on all week.

She said it was the "little things" they noticed had improved, like running a bath that was hot enough without having to put the heating on.

Ms Farmer's three-bedroom home, which she moved into three years ago, is one of 200 social homes in Sandwell built between the wars that are being improved in Wednesbury's Friar Park.

She said: "Before, we would lose so much heat. We were starting to have a problem with little bits of mould."

Heating bills pretty much doubled after Covid, she said, adding: "It was hard, working part-time. There are things you can't scrape on when you've got children."

She said it was possible to cut costs in other ways, such as shopping, but not with gas and electricity.

"You can't with two children," she said. "They have to be warm."

Ms Farmer, 30, said they now "don't put [the heating] on half as much" and she was grateful for the support.

But she warned there were hundreds of other parents having to decide whether to put the heating on or not.

Mother-of-four Sasha Beckford, who is also getting help, said she struggled to pay energy bills after they shot up in 2022.

She said: "Energy was quite cheap before the price chaos started and then all of a sudden the bills just started going up and up."

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Describing how she was "going out of my mind", she said: "I couldn't afford it. I have to pay my rent, council tax, maintain the house and look after four children."

Her 1920s semi-detached home is being fitted with solar panels, insulation, windows and doors to help stop heat leaking out.

Mayor Richard Parker is putting £167m into upgrading up to 10,000 of the oldest and coldest social and privately-owned homes in the region to make them warmer and cheaper to run.

He described it as "the most ambitious programme" the region had seen to improve living standards and tackle fuel poverty.

An estimated 254,000 West Midlands households are in fuel poverty - one of the highest rates in the country, his office said.

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