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The Vale Housing Association Affordable Warmth Strategy

A Message from the Managing Director

This strategy is an important landmark in taking our work forward; we have through our environmental management system introduced a wide range of energy conservation measures. This strategy builds on those by including measures to address the difficulties faced by those for whom heating costs represent a high proportion of their income.

As in other areas many of the issues can best be addressed through partnerships with other agencies and we are keen to develop these. I hope you will find this useful, please contact us if you need any further information

Why ‘Affordable Warmth’?

As an Association we feel that for many people, the word ‘poverty’ can create a stigma which people are reluctant to associate themselves with. In order to avoid this and to emphasise the positive side of eliminating fuel poverty and enabling people to afford to heat their home we decided to focus on “Affordable Warmth”.

What is Fuel Poverty?

In the UK Fuel Poverty Strategy 2001 the Government defines households as being fuel poor if,

“In order to maintain a satisfactory heating regime, they are required to spend more than 10 per cent of their income on all household fuel use.” ?

This assumes that a satisfactory heating regime is one where:

  • the main living area is at 21°C (70°F)
  • other occupied rooms are at 18°C (65°F)
  • heating is available for 16 hours per day for households likely to be at home all day, and 9 hours per day for households in work or full time education
  • the whole house is heated except where the household is under-occupied, when it is assumed that half of the house is heated.

The UK Fuel Poverty Strategy uses two definitions of “income” – the first (used for calculating the Strategy’s targets) includes all benefits received, while the second (included to facilitate historic comparisons) excludes Housing Benefit and Income Support for Mortgage Interest. For the basis of The Vale Housing Association’s Affordable Warmth Strategy, we shall use the first definition of income i.e. including all benefits.

The Causes of Fuel Poverty

There are four main causes of fuel poverty:

  1. Low income
  2. Energy inefficient (difficult to heat) properties
  3. Expensive to run heating systems i.e. uses expensive fuel or is inefficient
  4. Ill health leading to an inability to use heating systems correctly

As a result of this those most at risk of fuel poverty are older people, lone parents, young children and the sick and disabled.

The Effects of Fuel Poverty

On Health

Fuel poverty can lead to an increase in cold related illnesses such as asthma, influenza, bronchitis and pneumonia as well as increasing the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other circulatory conditions. In the Vale of White Horse there are on average 144 excess winter deaths each year.

“Cold homes represent the primary health risk associated directly with the condition of the housing stock”

On Quality of Life

Fuel poor households have to spend a larger proportion of their income on keeping warm which can contribute to a decline in overall quality of life and general wellbeing. In extreme cases this could lead to people having to make decisions such as whether to heat their home or buy food. A common anecdote is that of the family that decided to buy their son a new school coat rather than have the heating on as he could then wear his coat at home to keep warm.

The Extent of Fuel Poverty for Vale Housing Association Residents

In March 2003 we carried out our biennial tenant survey. This was sent to all of our 4926 residents of which 41% (2021) responded. In the questionnaire we asked two questions:

How would you describe the temperature in your home this last winter? How easy or difficult would you say it is for you to pay your fuel bills?

 Graph showing outcome of question 'How would you describe the temperature in your home this last winter?'. Results: 62% Always warm enough, 29% Often warm enough, 7% Often too cold and 2% Always too cold. Graph showing outcome of question 'How easy or difficult would you say it is for you to pay your fuel bills?'. Results: 4% Very easy, 17% Fairly easy, 44% Neither easy nor difficult, 29% Fairly difficult, 6% Very difficult.

We were able to break down these responses by postcode area and calculate what percentage of each area is likely to be fuel poor. We classed as fuel poor all those who had said that their home was always or often too cold and found it difficult to pay their fuel bills as well as those that said their home was warm but found it difficult to pay their fuel bills.

Through this analysis it has been possible to map the level of fuel poverty in each postcode area where we have properties.

Map showing level of fuel poverty by postocde area in VHA properties in the Vale of White Horse

Level of
fuel poverty		Postcodes affected
 20 - 29%  OX2 9  OX12 7  OX14 2   SN7 8     
 30 - 39%  OX11 9  OX12 9   OX13 5  OX13 6     
 40 - 49%  OX12 8  OX14 3   OX14 5   OX15   SN6 8   SN7 7 
 50 - 59%  OX12 0  OX14 4         
 60 - 69%            
 70 - 79%  OX11 0          

What do we intend to achieve?

  1. Improve the social aspects of our residents’ lives
    Through freeing up money that was previously spent on fuel bills we hope that our residents will be able to spend more money on the social aspects of their lives which will help to reduce social isolation and exclusion. This is especially important for children as social interaction is essential to their development. Having a home that is warm enough to enable children to invite friends round or to enable them to concentrate on their homework will help to improve this.
  2. Improve the health of our residents
    Through enabling our residents to properly heat their homes without causing damp and condensation, we hope to be able to help them to improve their health. This also involves ensuring that a proper referral system is in place not only for a GP to make recommendations to the Association but for Association staff to refer residents to their GPs. We understand that the level of heating required by different groups may differ with the elderly, immobile and young needing higher temperatures than other residents.
  3. Reduce the impact of our residents on the environment
    The Association already has an established Environmental Management System and, in 1999, we were the first Housing Association in the UK to be awarded ISO 14001 for our work in this area. We hope that through providing our residents with the opportunity to achieve affordable warmth we will also be helping them to reduce CO2 emissions. Where possible we will also endeavour to introduce renewable energy sources into our stock to help reduce these emissions further.
  4. Help our residents to improve their economic stability
    By reducing the amount of money our residents are spending on fuel and making them aware of any benefits that they may be eligible for, we hope to help our residents avoid building up debt not only with fuel suppliers but also with other companies that they may not have been able to pay due to their high fuel outgoings.
  5. Protect the quality of our properties
    Condensation and damp which are often present in poorly insulated, poorly ventilated or cold homes can damage not only the resident’s furnishings but can lead to rotting windows and structural decay. This will, in turn require more money to be invested in the property in order to repair the damage. Not only will helping our residents to keep their homes warm and dry help to avoid this but people are likely to stay longer in a home in which they are comfortable. This could result in a reduction in the number of void properties.

How will we manage the strategy?

The Steering Group

We have formed an Affordable Warmth Steering Group which has representation from across the Association. Whilst formulating the initial strategy, this group met on a monthly basis. Once the strategy has been launched, the group will meet quarterly.

Monitoring and Revising the Strategy

At the quarterly meetings, the group will discuss the progress of the various points on the action plan as well as discussing future action points that can be included when the strategy is next revised.

The strategy will be updated and revised on an annual basis in the last meeting of the financial year. At this point the action plan for the following year will be agreed. A progress report will be sent to the Board of Management in February each year as part of the larger environmental report and a section will be included in the Association’s annual Public Environmental Statement to provide feedback. There is also a section in the Environmental Statement which provides performance data including year-on-year changes in the average SAP rating and the number of heating and insulation improvements made each year which can be used to help monitor the success of the strategy.

How will we publicise the strategy?

  • In order to publicise this strategy we intend to utilise the following channels:
    1. Local media – press, radio, TV
    2. Tenants’ newsletter
    3. Staff newsletter
    4. Tenants forums and residents groups
    5. Staff meetings 
  • Each year progress with the strategy will be reported in the tenants’ newsletter as part of the environmental report.

  • In order to ensure that the strategy, supporting materials and publicity are accessible to all our stakeholders, all publications will be:
    1. Written in plain English
    2. Available in other languages on request 3
    3. Available on tape or in large print on request 

What We Have Achieved So Far

Since work started on this strategy in 2003 we have achieved a number of things including:

  • We have produced a directory of energy advice services and included it in out Moving In leaflet and our Energy Savings Advice leaflet.
  • We have promoted the Priority Services Register in our Moving In leaflet and tenants newsletter.
  • We have provided some basic fuel debt advice and information about tariffs and payment methods in our Moving In leaflet.
  • 13 members of staff have attended a City & Guilds course in Energy Awareness.
  • We have advertised the availability of stick-on raised dots to both staff and tenants as these could be used to help with using heating controls more effectively.  

Action Plan 2007/08

Key Aim 1 - Provide help and advice to prevent fuel poverty

Objectives Tasks Targets/Outputs Timescale Overall Responsibility Partners
1. Promote existing advice and information services to tenants
1.1 Place information in tenants newsletter and on Scheme notice boards i)  Include regular articles about saving energy and where to seek advice in the tenant newsletters
ii) Put information on Scheme notice boards in the autumn
 Ongoing Communications and Research Team  
1.2 Promote services at residents meetings, both at Forums and at Schemes i) Remind tenant forums of the need for keeping warm in winter and the help available annually
ii) Give help and advice
about keeping warm in winter at Scheme resident meetings

 Every November Communications and Research Assistant  
1.3 Give advice to vulnerable tenants through Scheme Managers i) Scheme Managers to provide advice during weekly visit in autumn

 Every autumn Scheme Managers
 
 1.4Update information regularly  i) Check all information is up-to-date annually  Ongoing  Affordable Warmth Steering Group  
2. Provide information on the safe and efficient use of energy 2.1 Provide information on housing-related health issues i) Put an article in the winter edition of the tenant newsletter each year on the importance of staying warm and promoting Winter Fuel Payment
ii) Put information on Scheme noticeboards in autumn

 Each winter/autumn
 Communications and Research Team  
2.2 Provide tenants with the likely fuel costs of their property
  1. where advice is sought provide advice over phone and through visits
Ongoing Services Team/ Tenant Liaison Officer  
3. Train frontline staff to deliver energy advice
3.1 Provide basic energy awareness course for all frontline staff  and more in depth training for relevant staff. ii) As of November 2006, all frontline staff have had basic energy awareness training.  Keep refresher courses in mind  and make sure new post-holders undertake training.
ii) Arrange City & Guilds course for relevant staff that do not already have this accreditation.

 March 2008 Communications and Research Assistant/ Managing Director / Personnel Manager  
3.2 Draw up checklist to recognise symptoms of cold related illness i) Publicise in tenants newsletter
ii) Publicise in staff newsletter
Winter 2007 Communications and Research Team  
4. Provide energy advice visits at home 4.1 Offer energy advice visit at the start of new tenancies i) All new tenants to be given the opportunity to have an energy advice visit
 Ongoing Tenant Liaison Officer  
4.2 Offer follow-up visits for vulnerable grou i)    Scheme managers to provide follow-up visits for all those that request them
 Ongoing
 i) Specialist Services Team  Connections
4.3 Help tenants to set heating controls and manage heating regimes i)    Number of tenants visited by heating engineer for a set up and explain job
ii)    Number of tenants visited by a scheme manager for help with this


 Ongoing Services Team/ Specialist Services Team  
5. Assist people in fuel debt
5.1 Refer to agency (e.g.. CAB) in cases of multiple debt. i) Ensure frontline staff are aware of where to refer people through annual reminders each autumn
 Each autumn Communications and Research Assistant and all frontline staff  
6. Assist tenants to maximise their income 6.1 Establish referral mechanism with welfare rights agency to carry out benefit checks i) Number of referrals made at sign up
ii) Number of referrals made by Scheme Managers
iii) Continue Eaga’s Benefit Healthcheck service with available budget – target elderly tenants when have this data

 Ongoing




Autumn 2007

Housing Manager/ Specialist Services Team/ Communications and Research Assistant Vale of White Horse District Council
Eaga

Key Aim 2 – Carry out improvements in stock to maximise energy efficiency

Objectives Tasks Targets/Outputs Timescale Overall Responsibility Partners
1. Carry out energy audit of stock and establish targets for improvement of stock 1.1 Audit to provide details of SAP (Standard Assessment Procedure) i) Have a record for  all properties; 70% SAP are completed
 March 2008 for all properties where have floor plans (90% of existing stock) Services Team  
1.2 Set SAP target for Affordable Warmth and identify properties below target i) Identify target SAP ratings for audited properties and prioritise work based on this.  Different targets to be given based on existing situation of properties.
 May 2008 Services Team  
1.3 Investigate further insulation works to solid wall properties i) Look at providing insulation for solid wall properties.  Most of flats have already been done

 Ongoing Service Team
1.4 Ensure Association complies with Government “Decent Homes Standard” i) Association to comply with Decent Homes Standard
 2010 Services Team/ Head of Building Surveying/ Director of Property Services  
1.5 Consult with tenants to establish targets i) Consult with priority consultation group when looking to set targets for energy efficiency work
 April 2008 (following SAP audit completion and prior to setting target) Services Team/ Communications and Research Assistant  
2. Review repairs and maintenance specifications and schedules 2.1 Ensure adequate ventilation is installed to provide a healthy indoor atmosphere i) Where possible use traditional ventilation methods
ii) Continue to offer whole house (positive pressure) ventilation where this is likely to work considering the potential problems of drafts

 Ongoing
 Services Team  
2.2 Ensure heating systems and controls are user friendly i) Continue to provide the most suitable heating controls
 Ongoing Services Team  
2.3 Adapt heating controls for people with special needs i) Where necessary install dial heating controls instead of digital
 Ongoing
 Services Team    
3. Evaluate the effect of work carried out as part of the strategy 3.1 Carry out a pilot project measuring before and after fuel consumption for a sample of households i) Carry out this measurement for the two volunteer tenants’ households already identified
ii) Identify two more volunteer tenants to carry out measurements for (focussing on different types of heating changes)

 To be completed in March 2008 Services Team  
3.2 Collect feedback from tenants on improvements i) Devise a survey in order to collect long term feedback from tenants on the success of any improvements carried out
ii) Circulate this survey to tenants that have had different kinds of heating changes
iii) Annually every April, send out feedback forms a minimum of 6 months after heating systems have been installed

 i) and ii) December 2007
iii) April 2009

 Services Team/Communications & Research 
  

Key Aim 3 – Help tenants to take advantage of the competitive supply market

Objectives Tasks Targets/Outputs Timescale Overall Responsibility Partners
1. Continue with Preferred Energy Supplier Agreement 1.1 Maintain or increase benefits of agreement when renewed. i) New agreement in place in 2005. To be renewed in 2008.
 Ongoing Services Team/Head of Design Scottish and Southern Energy

Key Aim 4 – Develop & maintain a cross-sector partnership to achieve affordable warmth

Objectives Tasks Targets/Outputs Timescale Overall Responsibility Partners
1. Co-ordinating officer to maintain outside relationships 1.1 Maintain relationships with all relevant organisations and bring representatives into the partnership i) Continue to sit on Vale Affordable Warmth Steering Group
ii) Identify opportunities to invite members of steering group into the Vale Housing Association’s work

 Ongoing Communications and Research Assistant Vale Affordable Warmth Steering Group
2. Create and maintain a referral network 2.1 Provide training or information events to promote the referral system i) Agree on referral system between The Vale Housing Association, the Vale of White Horse District Council and the health sector
ii) Promote procedure for referrals in staff newsletter
iii) Include in staff induction training
iv) Investigate methods of promoting system to health visitors and SureStart in high concentration areas

 2005 - ongoing





Yearly – in autumn

ongoing

2005 - ongoing
 Communications and Research Assistant/ Services Team
  • Vale Energy Team
  • South West Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust

Partners

  • Vale Affordable Warmth Steering Group
  • Vale Energy Team 
  • Vale of White Horse District Council Benefits Team 
  • Age Concern 
  • South West Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust 
  • Anchor Staying Put 
  • Thames Valley Energy Centre 
  • EAGA – The Warm Front Team 
  •  Scottish and Southern Energy 
  •  Connections 
  •  NEA

Glossary

Combined Heat and Power This utilises the waste heat from electricity generation so can provide more efficient, cheaper electricity for households served by community heating. Domestic units for individual properties are likely to be available in the future
Cold Weather Payments Payments made during a period of exceptionally severe weather to vulnerable households on Income Support or Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Energy Efficiency Advice Centres (EEACs) Agencies providing advice on the efficient use of energy to householders and small businesses. The network is overseen by the Energy Saving Trust (EST). The local EEAC for the Vale Housing Association is Thames valley Energy Centre.
Energy Efficiency Commitment (EEC) An obligation on gas and electricity suppliers to encourage or assist domestic customer to take up energy efficiency measures
Energy Saving Trust (EST) A non-profit making company set up by the Government and the major energy companies. Its purpose is to work through partnerships towards the sustainable and efficient use of energy in the domestic and small business sectors
energywatch The new body to represent energy consumers, replacing the Gas Consumers Council and the Electricity Consumers Committees
Fuel Direct A scheme administered by the Benefits Agency whereby households on Income Support or Income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance have sums deducted from their benefit and paid direct to the fuel supplier to cover current consumption and to recover debt
Fuel Poverty Where a combination of energy inefficient housing, low income, expensive heating systems and poor health lead to an inability for a household to afford to heat their home sufficiently i.e. where they have to spend more than 10% of their income on fuel costs
Housing Corporation The Housing Corporation is a Non Departmental Public Body, sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Its role is to fund and regulate housing associations in England
NEA A national energy efficiency charity which campaigns for warm homes and provides training to help others with this work
Primary Care Trust (PCT) A local National Health Service management area. The Vale of White Horse is covered by the South West Oxfordshire PCT
Priority Services Register Each energy company has one of these registers. All customers who are of pensionable age, disabled, chronically sick or have sight or hearing difficulties are able to join their energy suppliers’ registers. By being on this register customers may be eligible for free gas appliance safety checks, quarterly meter reads, repositioning of meters and a password scheme among other things
SAP Rating Standard Assessment Procedure Rating – a scale from1 to 120 used to assess the energy efficiency of a property. 1 is least efficient, 120 is most efficient
UK Fuel Poverty Strategy Published in November 2001, this strategy was developed by the Government for removing fuel poverty in vulnerable households by 2010 and other households by 2015
Universal Housing The new computer system implemented by The Vale Housing Association in October 2003
Vale Energy Team The energy advice team based at the Vale of White Horse District Council
The Vale of White Horse District Council The local authority from which The Vale Housing Association purchased the housing stock in 1995

Useful Contacts

NEA
St Andrew’s House,
90-92
Pilgrim St,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
NE1 6SG 0191 260 5677
www.nea.org.uk

The Energy Saving Trust
08457 277200
www.est.co.uk

Thames Valley Energy Centre
0800 512012
www.tvec.org.uk

Southern Electricity
0845 7444 555

energywatch
0845 906 0708
www.ukpower.co.uk

Benefits Enquiry Line
0800 882 200
Textphone 0800 243 355

Winter Warmth Line
0800 085 7000

The Vale Housing Association
The Old Maltings
Vineyard
Abingdon
Oxon
OX14 3UG

The Vale Energy Team
Vale of White Horse DC
Abbey House
Abingdon Oxon
OX14 3JE