Warm Streets
Warm Streets
Tackling cold homes and carbon emissions across Somerset
Warm Streets is a county-wide project which is aimed at tackling the problem of cold, damp homes by installing loft and cavity wall insulation.
The project began in October 2008 and is funded by Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) with additional support from five district councils and two unitary authorities of Somerset (see box, right). Warm Streets is available to all households across the council areas but particularly targets vulnerable households in, or at risk of, fuel poverty.
Warm Streets has installed over 7500 measures (loft and cavity wall insulation) since 2008. That's a lot of warmer homes, a lot of lower energy bills and a lot less carbon emissions.
The project developed out of the Somerset Warm and Well scheme which began in 2003 and has widened its focus to include benefits advice and an innovative community engagement initiative.
What the scheme provides
- A basic home energy survey
- Free cavity wall and loft insulation measures for households containing someone claiming eligible benefits, or someone over 70, or someone meeting certain council grant criteria.
- Significantly discounted (up to 50%) cavity wall and loft insulation for all other households.
- Free benefits checks and assistance in making benefits claims when households are identified as eligible.
- Inter-agency referrals for heating system upgrades (for those on eligible benefits via referral to the Government’s Warm Front grant scheme) and household security.
To find out if Warm Streets can help you get a grant for your home insulation, click here.
Warm Streets will increase the number of adequately insulated homes in Somerset
Warm Streets Benefits
The Warm Streets benefits team can offer advice on how to claim any state benefits you are entitled to. (Read more about how we do it here) Confidential benefits checks can be carried out by our trained advisors where requested. As well as the extra income you might secure, being in receipt of a benefit could mean you qualify for free insulation.
If you have never had an assessment to see if you are entitled to pension credit, or if your health is not as good as it used it be, then now could be the time to have an assessment by one of our trained benefits advisor to make sure you are not missing out on an essential benefit.
This can increase your income by £49.30 if you receive Attendance Allowance, and if you receive the guaranteed element of pension credit, you get a full rebate on your council tax.
So far (as of May 2011) we have referred 136 people to the Department for Work and Pensions for a full benefit application through the Warm Streets scheme – and this has resulted in a total yearly extra income of £272,039 for 65 households.
If we expand this for the following 5 years this equates to extra income of over £1,250,000 we have helped to generate for households who would very likely not have applied for the disability allowances, pension credits or council tax benefit they had been entitled to.
The year ahead
Warm Streets delivers events and activities throughout the year to engage with householders and community groups delivered through the Warm Streets Communities project. This aims to actively encourage sustainable communities by providing funding and practical support for those local groups signed up to the scheme, to help them engage with and refer local residents to the Warm Streets scheme.
At the moment there is an exciting trial of free water saving shower heads, which save a lot of energy, both through water use and through heating water.
To find out if Warm Streets can help you get a grant for your home insulation, click here.
How CSE’s benefits advice is making a difference to people’s lives