It warns that rising inflation and energy prices amount to a ‘national emergency’. The NFA is among the 70 national charities across the health, mental health, education, care and social housing sectors that have signed the letter.

“We foresee real hardship in the coming months for our members’ council housing tenants, and while we know NFA members will do all they can to ease the difficulties of their customers, there is a limit to what they can achieve alone,” said NFA Policy Director Chloe Fletcher.

“The NFA has signed this letter because it makes clear the urgent need for top-level leadership on this crisis alongside real support for those who most need it. Our members are telling us that the consequences of doing nothing or too little will, as the letter says, be dire.”