The proportion of people dying in poverty has risen by almost a fifth in recent years, according to analysis for an end-of-life charity.

More than 111,000 people are estimated to have died in poverty last year in Britain, up from 93,000 in 2019, a study by Loughborough University for Marie Curie has suggested.

While the charity’s previous research monitored the scale of people dying in poverty, a new report also indicated that around 128,000 people died in energy poverty in 2022, including 110,000 pensioners.

The researchers said those in their last year of life experienced increased rates of energy poverty – defined as having inadequate income to heat a home to a reasonable temperature – compared to those who were not at the end of life.

They said this could be because terminally ill people are more likely to need to heat their homes at a higher temperature and for longer, need medical equipment and lose income if they are of working age.

Sir Keir Starmer’s government has faced criticism, including from his own party, for its decision to cap winter fuel allowance for all but the poorest pensioners.

Marie Curie said the research should prompt the government, at a time when an assisted dying bill is being considered in Parliament, “to ensure that no one will feel any pressure to choose an assisted death purely and simply because he cannot afford the strict essentials of a decent. standard of living”.

Dr. Sam Royston, the charity’s chief executive for policy and research, said: “No one should face their final days worrying about money or whether they can afford to heat their home.

“And no matter how you cut it, by age, gender, ethnicity or location, poverty rates are higher for people at the end of life than for the rest of the population.

“At a time when our politicians are debating whether or not to legalize assisted dying, they will surely also want to ensure that no one feels pressured to choose assisted dying simply because they cannot afford it the essential elements of a decent standard of living. .”

The charity said the government should guarantee people of working age less than 12 months to live on a pension-level income and introduce a social tariff to reduce energy bills for people at the end of life.

The researchers used data from the Understanding Society household survey, the Family Resources Survey and the Office for National Statistics to formulate their estimates.

They said that while the population has grown, there has also been an increase in the overall risk of poverty in recent years, particularly affecting those aged 65 and over.

They suggested a social tariff providing those deemed vulnerable with 50% of their energy could lift up to 54,000 (45%) dying people out of energy poverty.

Dr Juliet Stone, researcher at Loughborough University’s Center for Social Policy Research, said: “The sharp rise in end-of-life poverty reflects the increasingly difficult financial circumstances facing low-income households over the past four years .

“It is clear that poverty at the end of life cannot be fully addressed without efforts to address poverty in general, but people in the last year of life face additional obstacles to achieving an adequate standard of living.”

Her colleague, Dr. Elaine Robinson, said: “Existing energy poverty policy is not helping those who are terminally ill – they can’t wait to improve the energy efficiency of their homes or change their behavior to save energy.

“Working adults, in particular, need support to help them with the loss of income they often experience at the onset of terminal illness.

“Welfare rates would provide much-needed help, but they do nothing to tackle inadequate incomes – current state benefits for terminally ill working-age people do not cope with the extra costs many face.”

A government spokesman said: “No one should have to suffer financial hardship because of a health condition – that’s why rules are in place to ensure those nearing the end of life can claim the support they deserve in time .

“On top of this, we are expanding the Household Support Fund, increasing benefits and the State Pension, while more than a million households are to be lifted out of energy poverty through the biggest potential increase in energy standards in history.”