Category

• Promising Local Practice

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Poverty impact

• Mitigation

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Poverty driver

• Provide benefit in-kind (material)
• Non-driver - improving quality of life

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Keywords

• Fuel Poverty.
• Financial Support.
• Advice and Guidance.
• Health.

Aim

The aims of the project are to increase knowledge and awareness of energy efficiency, provide direct financial support to alleviate hardship, maximise household income and reduce energy related debt.

Summary

Advice for Vulnerable Households is a project funded through the industry initiatives strand of the UK Government’s Warm Home Discount programme which aims to mitigate the impact of energy poverty by helping low-income households with their winter electricity bills. This project, delivered by Energy Action Scotland, works with housing associations to support tenants in social housing where fuel poverty rates are amongst the highest in Scotland.

What difference does it make?

It’s difficult to focus on one story as Energy Action Scotland has helped thousands of people. Some people have been very emotional about the financial help they have received, even though it is still modest support. Some households have received hundreds of pounds of additional financial value and not just the one-off £150.

Key take-aways

• Tailoring payments to suit unique client circumstances reflecting how households pay for energy used, and when they may need financial energy aid the most. It is positively impactful to provide advice and support alongside the financial payments. This creates some respite for these households which in turn enables them to perhaps act differently than a crisis moment would allow. This can aid real trust between households and partners, and it will make it easier for them to be engaged.
• Energy Action Scotland is trying is to fix something within a broken system. This may not be the way to tackle the problem on the larger scale, but it is what Energy Action Scotland is able to do. Systemic reform is needed and there should be a better and fairer system.
• Scottish Government programmes are aimed at homeowners and therefore referring to these services has no real value to social housing tenants. Therefore, it is important to partner with housing associations because the target group is their tenants, and the quality of the accommodation is the responsibility of the social landlord or housing association.

 

Organisations

Energy Action Scotland and 8 housing associations deliver the project, including: Almond Housing Association, Eildon Housing Association, East Kilbride Housing Association, Hillcrest Housing Association, Paragon Housing Association, Williamsburgh Housing Association, West of Scotland Housing Association and West Whitlawburn Housing Co-operative.

Location

Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth & Kinross, Renfrewshire, Scottish Borders, South Lanarkshire, Stirling and West Lothian.

Contact