News

.... a weekly column from Dover and Deal MP Gwyn Prosser

17 May 2007

With the summer fast approaching it might seem an odd time to be promoting winter warming measures but now is the time to think about upgrading your loft insulation or trading in your old boiler for a modern efficient self condensing boiler – and it needn’t cost you the earth.

For the last five years the Government has been helping older and vulnerable people with the cost of improving their heating and insulation arrangements through their popular Warm Front scheme and lots of my constituents in Dover and Deal and the villages have already reaped the benefit.

In our patch, the Government uses the social enterprise partnership, Eaga to run the scheme and so far more than 1,600 households in Dover have been assisted and over £900,000 has been paid out in our area to make people’s lives a little more comfortable.

Despite our Winter Fuel Payments, far too many local people are still struggling to heat their homes, often at serious risk to their health. The Warm Front scheme is here precisely to help vulnerable people make their homes warm – it’s a fantastic programme that we should be taking advantage of and I should know because I’ve visited the homes of constituents who have already benefited from the scheme. But I’m still meeting people who have no idea that they could qualify and it’s a great shame that some are missing out.

As part of the package, clients applying for the Warm Front scheme are also offered the opportunity to undergo a check to see if they are in receipt of all the benefits to which they are entitled. Benefit Entitlement Checks or BECs as they are known are very useful and in Dover alone, the average increase per client, identified and obtained amounts to over £26 a week.

The Eaga Partnership tell me that over 1,300 local households are now making savings after having their homes insulated, more than 150 have had their heating systems repaired or upgraded and a similar number have had their old boilers replaced with new units.

The scheme was introduced by the Government to help combat fuel poverty which is defined by the Department as one which needs to spend more than 10% of its income on fuel use including heating the home to an adequate standard of warmth. This is double the percentage of income that the average household spends but alarmingly, nearly 5% of English households spend more than 30% of their income on fuel.

To qualify, householders need to either, own their own home or be renting from a private landlord. You also need to be in receipt of an income or disability related benefit such as Disability Living Allowance or Income Support. Other qualifications may apply but if in doubt local residents should contact the Warm Front team on 0800 316 6014 or visit www.defra.gov.uk/environment/energy to check out your entitlements and find out how to apply for a Warm Front grant – before the winter comes.