BLOG: The Cure for Cold
Our views on why, despite the welcome news of cuts to fuel bills announced by the Chancellor today, there is still an urgent need to ensure those who live in the coldest, dampest homes get the targeted help and support they so desperately need.
By Graham Duxbury, Groundwork’s UK Chief Executive
The fact that, in a wealthy country, so many people are struggling to afford a basic level of warmth and comfort is hard to take. Even harder to take is the realisation that this is no longer a short-term crisis, but a new normal – inflation coming down means only that prices don’t keep rising at the skyrocketing rate they have been doing in the last few years. Changes announced in the budget designed to bring down bills will be welcomed by many, but we know for some the reality is that urgent relief schemes are rapidly swallowed up by rising levels of debt.
The need for a long-term plan has been recognised and all eyes are now on whether the Government’s long-awaited Warm Homes Plan will be sufficiently resourced and targeted to ensure those who live in the coldest, dampest homes get the help they so desperately need.
However, even the most optimistic projections for what that might deliver will leave millions at risk of physical ill-health and the stress and anxiety caused by acute and sustained financial hardship as a result of energy debt. This can be compounded when energy bills become one more thing to worry about when people are already in distress or vulnerable, for example after a bereavement, when the same house needs heating on half the household income, or when a medical diagnosis means more hot water or more electrical equipment in the home.
Our Green Doctors are visiting tens of thousands of people every year, fitting practical energy saving measures, checking for hazards such as damp and mould, helping people change their energy behaviours and providing access to other forms of financial support. What Green Doctors report most consistently is that everybody’s circumstances are different, which is what makes a tailored, in-home service so important. As well as making sure that people are staying as warm as they can afford, Green Doctors have, in some cases, been able to spot and resolve urgent health hazards while in others they have been the first visitor to a house in months, able gently to support someone whose main problem may be isolation and loneliness.
Ensuring the people who need it most – wherever they are – can access this tailored support is Groundwork’s priority. This is even more important now that the Chancellor has scrapped the ECO scheme, which, for all its flaws, has been funding support to vulnerable customers. We need both to meet growing demand in the communities we already serve, and to extend our activities to new areas. This means new partnerships with organisations able to identify those who most need help and to provide referrals, particularly in the health and housing sectors. It means working with energy and other utility providers so that they can offer better support to their priority customers. It also means seeking donations to help us buy more measures to fit in homes and to make sure our Green Doctors can devote the time needed to address all of the issues they might find when they walk through the front door.
As the families we support face another winter of impossible choices, please consider donating or get in touch if you think we can work together to bring some warmth and comfort into their lives.
Read just a few of the stories showing the life-changing impact that this intervention can have on people in need – and why we need your support to reach even more families this winter:
Find out more information about how you or someone that you know can access Green Doctor support:
Notes to editors
For more information please contact: media@groundwork.org.uk
About Groundwork
Groundwork is a federation of charities with a collective mission to take practical action to create a fair and green future in which people, places, and nature thrive. We support communities and businesses to build capacity and resilience in order to tackle hardship, achieve a just transition to net-zero and help nature recover in a way that reduces inequality and leads to healthier, happier lives for all: www.groundwork.org.uk