subject: Warm Front Scheme Heating Grants For Households In England. [print this page] The Warm Front scheme provides financial assistance for households looking to install insulation and heating improvements to make their homes more energy efficient.
The Government has committed funds for the next two years, with 100m available in 2012/13. Household thermal efficiency under the Energy Performance Certificate Scheme will be taken into account when considering applications, to ensure the most energy inefficient homes will be granted help under the scheme.
What is the Warm Front Scheme
The Warm Front scheme provides heating and insulation improvement grants to households. Eligibility is now based on a combination of income-related benefits and people living in properties that are poorly insulated and/or do not have a working central heating system.
Qualifying households can get improvements worth up to 3,500 (6,000 where oil central heating and other alternative technologies are recommended).
Grants are available for improvements such as:
loft insulation
draught-proofing
cavity wall insulation
hot water tank insulation
gas, electric, liquid petroleum gas or oil heating
glass-fronted fire - the Warm Front scheme can convert your solid-fuel open fire to a glass-fronted
fire
Eligibility for the Scheme
The scheme is now targeted at people on certain income-related benefits and living in properties that are poorly insulated and/or do not have a working central heating system. You must own your home or rent it from a private landlord.
The Warm Front scheme is only available in England, and aims to help around 90,000 households over the next two years.
Eligible households are those awarded:
Pension Credit or;
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance that includes a work-related activity or support component (this includes contribution based ESA customers in the support group who get an income related top up because they automatically qualify for the enhanced disability premium payable with income related ESA)
Or those awarded:
Income Support or;
Income-based Jobseekers Allowance, or;
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance in the assessment phase (first 13 weeks of the claim)
Or who have one of the following:
A pensioner premium. or;
A disability or severe disability premium, or;
An award of child tax credit that also includes an element for a disabled, or severely disabled child or young person, or;
A child under the age of five living with you
In addition to the qualifying benefits listed above, the property you live in must also be poorly insulated and/or not have a working central heating system.
If your application meets the criteria, you will then be visited by a Warm Front surveyor, who will measure the energy efficiency of your home using a Standard Assessment Procedure which is the same way properties are issued with an Energy Performance Certificate. The surveyor will then make recommendations on which energy efficiency improvements are most appropriate for your property.
Other Government Schemes Available
Energy suppliers are obliged under CERT to help the most vulnerable households install energy efficiency measures. The government has already taken steps to ensure this work is better targeted.
The Green Deal, to be implemented from October, 2012 will enable people to pay back the upfront costs of energy efficiency measures through the lower bills that will result.
Under the new Energy Company Obligation (ECO) energy companies will be required to focus their assistance on low income and vulnerable households as well as those in hard to treat properties which cannot achieve financial savings without a measure of support, helping them manage their bills for the long term and heat their homes more affordably.
