Green Doctor case study: Cheshire East
Cheshire East Council began their partnership with Green Doctor when it became apparent they had no central point of contact to provide energy advice and support to its residents. What followed was a coherent and collaborative response to energy poverty, making a real difference to residents struggling to live comfortable in their own homes.
Before Cheshire East Council worked with Green Doctor, it didn’t have the capacity to offer any energy advice to its local householders. With a rapidly ageing population, increasing fuel poverty and high rates of winter deaths, the council was feeling the pressure to do something to help its residents. And fast.
Although Cheshire East did have a winter well-being partnership (made up of internal departments and external partners) which brought together health and social care, highways, benefits and housing services to help reduce winter deaths, there were gaps in the service. Whilst the partnership brought together expertise from a varied pool of services, what was lacking was a central point of contact for Cheshire East’s residents experiencing housing and energy needs.
The need: A central point of contact
It was at this crucial point when Karen Whitehead, Housing Standards and Adaptations Manager, went on the journey to find an organisation that could help.
Fortuitously, Cheshire East gained the Warm Homes Fund in 2018, which was what spurred them to start a procurement process to find the right organisation to help. What they were looking for was a body that had the skills, experience and relationships necessary to provide Cheshire East’s residents with the holistic and thorough support they needed: Support that included both the immediate, practical fixes and funding to keep their homes warm, but also the longer-term changes to their mental and physical well-being.
Green Doctor rose to the challenge. As a nationwide of trained energy-efficiency experts, Green Doctor offers free, impartial advice to residents wanting to take control of their bills, save energy in their homes, and access other services available to them.
Green Doctor fulfilled the criteria and came on board with Chesire East, and have worked with them for the last three years to provide advice, support and referrals to residents.
Green Doctor: Delivering expert advice to residents
Typically Cheshire East Council will refer two main types of residents to Green Doctor.
Firstly, there are those whose central heating has stopped working, either because it has broken, or because they’ve been cut off. Secondly, some are struggling to afford their energy bills.
Once the introduction has been made with the resident, a home visit allows the Green Doctor to identify all the issues they might have in their property, first focusing on energy efficiency measures and energy bill management, but also looking out for other red flags that might signal the need for other support services.
On top of this, Green Doctor has been delivering the Household Support Fund energy vouchers by hand to hundreds of households, whilst simultaneously offering advice on their energy bills. By way of comparison, most councils simply provide residents with an online application and, if successful, an energy voucher in the post. By delivering the vouchers in person, Green Doctors have the opportunity to see for themselves what else the resident might benefit from, whether that be a tariff switch or help to apply for other funding available to them.
The challenges of remote support during Covid-19
The main challenges Cheshire East and Green Doctor have faced over the last three years have been a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
To start with, Green Doctor visits had to be replaced by telephone conversations as per the Government-enforced regulations to keep the population safe. Although telephone consultations kept Green Doctor’s work alive and kicking throughout the pandemic, the lack of face-to-face contact limited their scope. It meant they couldn’t pick up on the extraneous issues a resident might be facing, whether that be mobility issues, mental health problems or other concerns in the property.
Fast forward to the end of the pandemic, and it has been a bumpy transition going back to home visits, although Green Doctor services are well on the way to getting back to how they operated before 2020.
The impact: More people receiving energy support in Cheshire East
The partnership between Cheshire East council and Green Doctor has had a noticeable impact on local residents, despite the challenges of both Covid-19 and the developing fuel poverty crisis.
Not only has there been an increase in the number of people who are receiving help (although there are of course many more people being affected by fuel poverty), but there has been a marked improvement in their journey towards getting the support they need.
Those living in cold homes with no hot water who may not even have realised what support was out there were now seeing an improvement, not only in their living conditions but in their physical and mental health.
Jacquie is a perfect example. When she contacted the council for help with reducing her energy bills, she was only vaguely aware that her home could be more energy efficient. But, living alone and on a low income, she was unable to afford any energy efficiency measures, and was already hard-pressed to keep up with her monthly bills.
Cheshire East council referred Jacquie to Green Doctor who assessed her situation and provided her initial energy advice. They also secured her some short-term help to pay her energy bills and helped her to apply for a Green Homes Grant.
The grant that was approved came to a massive £10,492 to cover loft insulation, an upgrade from single to double glazing, an energy-efficient external door and solar panels for her roof.
As a result of these amendments, Jaquie’s home’s EPC improved from a D to a B rating, her CO2 production went from 6 tonnes to 1.8 tonnes, and her estimated running costs plummeted from a whapping £750 to £175 per year. But for Jacquie personally, this has meant a vast improvement in her living conditions, as well as an improvement in her day-to-day financial anxieties.
What’s next for Green Doctor in Cheshire East?
Just like the rest of the UK, Cheshire East has many more Jacquies, and these cases are increasing every day as a result of the harsh realities of the cost of living crisis and increasing fuel poverty – not to mention the many and varied effects Covid-19 has had on individual households.
But as Cheshire East and Green Doctor have demonstrated, the benefits of a coordinated approach to supporting residents with fuel poverty needs are felt by real people in real homes. And while the road ahead might be challenging, Green Doctor is committed to bringing its expertise, experience, and local networks to provide positive change to communities all over the country.
