Who is at risk?
During the coldest months of the year, older people and other at risk groups are vulnerable to fire because of worries over the effects of rising fuel bills.
Financial worries may lead to the use of cheaper and less safe forms of heating. In some cases they can be even at risk of hypothermia, from turning their heating off or down to unsafe levels in order to save money.
In extreme cases their power might be unecessarily cut off for failing to deal with arrears on their bills.
Over the winter months we work closely with the Energy Saving Trust (EST), and other partners and agencies who work with the vulnerable, to provide relief in the short to intermediate term.
How we can help
We can provide community workers with easy assessment criteria, details for referring clients to us for a home fire safety visits, or for urgent same day assessments under our Winter Warmth Campaign.
We aim to:
- work with partners to identify vulnerable members of the community who may be at risk from using inadequate or dangerous forms of alternative heating and lighting
- work with partners to reduce or mitigate the causes of fuel poverty
- support and provide advice to those facing fuel poverty
- provide short term and more sustainable solutions to fuel poverty and related health problems associated with it
Advice is also available on claiming benefits and/or applying for grants by calling the Energy Savings Trust on Freephone 0800 512012.
