Warming Bristol
Warming Bristol
Helping people in Bristol living in cold, damp homes and struggling with fuel bills
This project is about helping Bristol residents who are struggling in cold, damp homes and with high fuel bills.
The aims and objectives were to:
- To identify people who live in cold damp homes, who are struggling to pay fuel bills, or who have fallen into arrears
- To help people out of fuel debt where this has already become a problem (clearing debt)
- To support clients in maximising their income by ensuring that they receive the state benefits (e.g. working tax credit, income support) to which they are entitled
- To minimise energy bills by ensuring that grant-aided energy efficiency measures are installed wherever possible
- To provide advice on how energy use can be reduced - without lowering quality of life
- To support clients in making applications for home improvement measures
The project will establish a centralised fuel poverty referral system, to allow all project partners to make one simple referral, from which CSE staff will proactively refer and follow-up all further referrals to relevant grant schemes, advice services, benefits agencies and debt-reduction services.
It will provide a one-stop shop approach for householders in Bristol, making it quick and easy to get the help they are entitled to. Warming Bristol advisors can make referrals to other agencies on behalf of the client and support clients through applications for energy efficiency measures and benefits.
Bristol houses: fuel poverty is found in many pockets of the inner city
Training in fuel-poverty and energy-use trigger will be provided with a range of referral partners in order to equip them with the knowledge to be able to identify clients who might be living in fuel poverty, or have other issues that could be addressed through energy efficiency grants and fuel arrears clearing services.
We will also run a range of outreach events and advice surgeries (in partnership with referral partners where applicable) to increase knowledge of benefits, grants and services to reduce fuel bills and fuel debt, and general advice on good practice in the home to reduce energy use.
And we will establish a monitoring system to allow for follow-up of any client referred to the scheme, to ensure that all energy efficiency grants, advice and debt-clearance services are fully accessed.
CSE will also produce printed success stories on individuals and families helped by the scheme, in order to further raise awareness among the targeted communities that help is available. These will be distributed to community groups and other meeting places, and will be produced in alternative language formats where necessary.
In the first year the project gave energy efficiency and benefits advice to 756 people.