Warm Front Grant

downshifter98

hi - just thought I would pass on my 'warmfront' experience (so far) - after reading these wonderful forums I realised that we could be eligible for some help with our central heating system - we have needed numerous repairs recently and have been told that our 25 year old boiler is on it last legs (though still mainly working). We currently receive max child tax credits (income below £15,000 - it's a long story!) so I filled in the online form 2 months ago and basically forgot about it (we received a confirmation letter) - then yesterday we received a phone call and were asked whether today (!) would be a convenient time to visit - the chap turned up on time and proceeded to measure the house ('to assess the size of any grant') - he checked our proof of child tax and child benefit and mentioned that it is preferable to be receiving working tax credit as well but, no worries, he would say on the form that I'm about to claim it! (unlikely as my wife is a carer and i'm currently doing voluntary work!). Anyway he had a look at the boiler and agreed that it was rather old - I emphasised that although currently working it is now a little unreliable, at which point he said that it was upto me whether I wanted him to describe it as working or non working - of course I opted for non working (almost certainly true sometime soon). He then tapped away on his laptop for 5 minutes and told me that he was willing to provide a full grant upto £2700 (plus the 2 lo energy bulbs) for any work required to the central heating (no extra insulation required apparently) - now I have to wait upto 6 months for a service engineer to visit and decide whether the boiler is worth another repair or replacing - as this will presumably be the contractor who will be doing any work I'm guessing and hoping that he will be more than happy to take as much of the £2700 grant available for a new boiler!!
Overall I'm obviously happy with this outcome (and now hoping the boiler packs up completely in the next few months!!) and clearly, where possible, the surveyors are encouraged to offer grants rather than not (I read recently that gordon brown has announced a big boost to the funding of this scheme - something to do with a european directive to reduce greenhouse gasses). I hope this all helps someone - if u r struggling financially then its definately worth investigating.

Poppycat

We are due to gte our boiler replaced any day now having waited since last October. The chap came round 5 weeks ago and said that we should have it replced by 4 weeks, we are still waiting.

We got the energy bulbs 3-4 weeks back. I rang them up 2 weeks ago and asked if they could fix or replace our kitchen rad as it hardly works its only a small rad but they declined.

We were also told that the new boiler would have to be in a cupboard due to safety issues, this is in the same places as our old boiler.

Trix

We had our assessor out at the end of November and had our heating system done a few weeks ago. The heating was off on the two coldest days we've had all year - it even snowed! We kept warm by decorating the living room (and to be productive while they worked instead of sitting twiddling our thumbs) and had halogen heaters on at night. The kids stopped at my mum's house.

I'm a bit confused though. When the heating guy came out to look at the job he said the condensing boiler would be put in the alcove on my daughter's window wall. This would mean losing that corner to some degree but we would gain the cupboard that the hot water tank was in (other alcove). When the people came to actually do the job, we found out that the copper hot water tank was to be replaced by some new kind, so not only do we still have a tank in the cupboard, along with all the controls, we also have lost space in the other alcove with the actual boiler!

They said that it would cost extra to move the tank to the same area as the boiler so it would have to be repriced and booked for a different time if we wanted that done. It turns out the workers were only contracted by the original guys company and they say he always gives duff info. The boiler actually makes a bit of noise as well. Before, any noise of switching on and off was in the dining room behind the fireplace, but now it's in my daughters room so it's a bit annoying.

Everyone told me that you didn't need the tank once you had the boiler, so does anyone know why I still have both?

(I am really grateful for having a new system for under £30 by the way. It's just when you picture something one way and get something different it's disappointing)

black-saturn

I thought anyone on benefit was entitled to a Warm Front Grant?

Trix

Just certain benefits, if you own your own house or have a private landlord that agrees to the work.

See HERE

downshifter98

Trix -I think it's the combi boiler that doesnt need a tank - a condenser is just an uprated (and apparently less reliable!!) version of the normal boiler!

susi

I didnt realise these grants also helped with central heating systems. Can anyone tell me if my father would qualify. He is in his seventies and has a heart condition, among various other conditions, he has solid fuel central heating and is finding it increasingly difficult to manage humping coal buckets around. Would he be eligable for a grant to change over to gas? he is on DLA

Poppycat

A friend of mine who is only a very low income got a grant but has turned it down, as they couldn't supply a central heating system for a small terraced house without it costing more than the maximum grant, think it was £2,500 or similar. They did tell her she could pay the difference but she cant afford to, they then offered her storage heaters but she cant afford to run them either.

They don't appear to take into account peoples medical conditions either mealy if you qualify in monetary terms, ie WFTC, CTC etc.

Trix

susi - check my link in the post a couple up from yours. DLA means he should qualify.

susi

Thanks Trix, will have to give them a call, I know he had the cavity wall and the loft insulation done last year, does anyone have the tel. number????