In less than five months, local authorities in England will be legally bound to prevent the escalation of health and care needs. Warm homes will play a vital role in preventative health measures with guidance for the 2014 Care Act explicitly stating that ‘a healthy home would be dry, warm and insulated’.
Statutory guidance also recommends that councils can boost people’s health and wellbeing by delivering affordable warmth measures. Examples include the Energy Trust’s Energy Saving Advice Service and the ECO Affordable Warmth scheme.
This represents a big opportunity for fuel providers. Now is the time for them to demonstrate how their affordable warmth work is not just relieving fuel poverty but averting poor health and the effects of long term health conditions.
But there will also be increased pressure. Councils will look to energy companies to help them create ‘healthy homes’, putting added stress on both ECO targets and the dilemma of how to fill gaps left by ECO.
It’s these gaps that older, unwell people can fall through, especially if they don’t meet ECO’s eligibility criteria. Their broken boiler might be less than ten years old, or maybe their property needs draught proofing, not cavity wall insulation.
This is where the CSR schemes facilitated by energy providers come in. Many have been set up to help people living in cold homes who might not be entitled to ECO support but who can’t afford to pay for works. Energy company hardship funds can cover the cost of measures from loft insulation to new radiators.
Yet the success of these schemes depends substantially on whether providers can find those individuals with the greatest need. Often the most vulnerable are the hardest to reach. For example, their illness might make them housebound with a limited social network and a mistrust of ‘authorities’ like social services or utility companies.
I’m trustee of a charity called FILT (Foundations of Independent Living Trust) that helps organisations reach socially isolated, vulnerable people.
We work with a network of 200 local home improvement agencies and handyperson schemes. These services are not-for-profit, many are run by councils, and they have good links with hospital dementia wards, flu jab clinics, GPs and pharmacists – all touch points for vulnerable people in poor health.
Handyperson schemes often have trusted relationships with these individuals already, having won their confidence by fixing a broken door or maintaining their garden. As a result they are invited back into people’s homes, from where they can identify energy improvements that would enhance a person’s health. The next step is to put individuals in touch with the right hardship fund or contact that scheme on their behalf.
FILT currently works with two energy companies, as well as with an energy safety charity, to provide a channel through which they can tackle home protection for vulnerable people. These programmes of assistance build on the success the charity had with a national FILT programme backed financially by the Department of Health during the cold winter of 2012/13.
The results so far show that this outreach model is working. Over the past two years, FILT has helped more than 7,000 older and vulnerable people by distributing over £1m in charitable funds for works ranging from boiler repairs to home energy assessments and electrical safety measures.
The new Care Act shines a spotlight on the link between warm homes and good health. More so than ever, energy companies have an opportunity to demonstrate how they are improving health, contributing to a better society, and fighting back against poor public perception of their integrity. But to do this, they must first show how they are reaching those people most at risk – not an easy task.