New research released has shown that some of the UK's poorest families can no longer afford to heat water to wash themselves. Debt charity Christians Against Poverty (CAP) has released statistics showing that of over 1,000 clients asked, eight per cent had struggled to pay for hot water due to debt. Furthermore, 50 per cent hadn't enough money to heat their home, 24 per cent couldn't always afford to cook hot meals and 16 per cent couldn't run a washing machine. ‘Fuel poverty isn't just about keeping warm, vital as that is,’ Matt Barlow, chief executive of CAP, said of the survey results. ‘It's about the grinding poverty that calls people to make impossible choices like do I make a hot meal or bath the kids? Will I run out of electricity if I use the washing machine?’ CAP client Jo was forced to survive on food parcels and feed her five children cold food because she couldn't afford to pay the bills.