Tackling Fuel Poverty:
Towards integrated
approaches in London
boroughs
Chris Church
Community Environment Associates
Fuel Poverty –the ‘ultimate
antithesis’ of sustainability?
Negative impacts on
 Environment – unnecessary Co2 / pollutant emissions
 Economic – increasing poverty and debt , money
flows out from local communities
 Social – poor health, isolation, inequality
Very few agencies tackle all of these
Solution are needed at all
levels:
 Policy / strategic change
 Infrastructure / delivery
 Engagement
Again, few agencies work across all these
The audiences to engage with
are diverse:
 Older people
 Families with children
 Those with long-term heath issues
 Those in poor housing (social, private)
 Those in poverty
Again, many agencies.....
Also one of multiple stresses for many households
A meeting point?
At borough level the one place where all these can /
do meet is within the VCS
How do we enable public (councils, health sector,
social housing), VCS and private sector agencies to
plan and act together to maximise impact and
synergies and to reduce overlap and confusion?
A significant challenge for inter-disciplinary working?
Are there too many stakeholders to work with?
Finding and binding?
We are only like to make impacts on the scale needed, given
the level of resources available if all those involved have a
clear picture of what is being and needs to be done. Some
initial shared goals:
 Ensuring common knowledge and understanding of fuel
poverty as it is at the operational level
 Understanding who else is working in that area / at that level
and the nature of their desired outcomes
 Recognising energy efficiency as being at the core of long-
term solutions
“Our analysis shows that improving the
housing of those at risk is the most costeffective way of tackling the problem,
cutting energy waste, with large longterm benefits to society as a whole. ”
Professor John Hills, Government
Independent review of fuel poverty
The national / London level agenda
“What is needed is better and more effective
integration between fuel poverty alleviation' work”
by different agencies with: (LVSC seminar, Dec. 2013)
 Housing policies to create warm and safe homes
 Action by the health sector to end early deaths
associated with energy costs
 The use of carbon tax incomes to support large scale
retrofit of the worst housing
 National energy policy including work on renewable
energy and climate change.
The local / borough level agenda
 Who’s taking the lead?
 Some boroughs have excellent projects – council
or health sector or VCS
 Others less so – too many Heath & Wellbeing
Boards not prioritising or leading
 If there is no leadership how can this develop?
Islington SHINE Hub
A broad range of services for referrals:
 Advice on saving energy and grants available
 Support with bills and energy debt
 'Energy Doctor in the Home' home visiting service
 Benefit checks
 Falls Assessments
 Telecare applications
 Befriending services
 Fire Safety Checks
 Home Security Checks
 Air quality alerts for those with respiratory diseases
 Handyperson Service
Can’t get there from here?
Why not?
Lack of....
 Resources?
 Time?
 Buy-in from others?
 Knowledge?
 Skills?
Working together –
Building a strong local....
Hub?
Network?
Project?
Referral centre?
Interdisciplinary work needs to
complement each organisation’s work
(and not threaten, confuse or complicate...)
So where to start?
 Get the local evidence (e.g. DECC figures)
 Read the local HWB strategy
 Be clear on what you / your organisation can
really offer
 Do the local research – find the other agencies
 Understand others’ reservations
 Those suffering from FP may have little interest in
sustainability / energy issues
Common impacts, shared outcomes,
local outputs
 Impacts: healthier, better educational attainment,
better off, happier (more sustainable...)
 Outcomes: fewer EWDs, less energy waste, people
getting benefits to which they are entitled
 Outputs: more people engaging, more advice given,
more homes improved, (more local funded work!)
Outputs relate to local circumstances, but feed in to th
same impacts
Two key levels for action
 London / national policy frameworks / support
 Local level engagement by agencies working
together to get more households active and
solving their problems
THANK YOU!
[email protected]
Who do we need to involve?
Each table has a sheet like
this.
Firstly identify local
organisations to involve in fuel
poverty work, and map them
on the sheet in terms of what
you think to be their interest
and importance to the work
Secondly look at some of the
‘important /uninterested’ and
discuss how you might get
them too engage.