Grants available for homes improvements & energy efficiency

asm1970

Hi, My mother in law is 80 years old and is currently receiving Pension Credit & a single person Council Tax reduction. I am sure that she should be eligible for more help with her home. It is currently mortgaged, she has metal window frames (from the 1950s I think!), she has oil central heating which was fitted about 15 years ago. If anybody could help me & her, I would greatly appreciated it. Many Thanks

Ken68

Hi asm....this site for a start, then Age Concern, Help the Aged, and also your MIL's energy provider will provide a few links.
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/What-can-I-do-today/Energy-saving-grants-and-offers
Pension Credit will also entitle for Cold Weather Payments, ( a seperate benefit to the Winter Fuel Allowance.

scooby.doo_6

Hello,
last November our boiler started playing up, as my husband is presently unemployed and the boiler is only 4 years old we rang about a grant for repairing it.
We were told that we would be contacted by Warm Front, 6 weeks later we were telephoned and an appointment was made for them to visit. This they did and we were told that we had to wait for an engineer to call to make an assessment. During this time, as you know we have had a lot of cold weather and some snow, the house has been very hard to keep warm for our three children and ourselves and the boiler has gotten prgressively worse. Now at last the engineer will be calling at the end of the month. We were told that we will probably require a new boiler and the cost will be about 2500.00. I'm not sure that it couldn't just be repaired and so saving the governmentome money. It is a shame that Warm Front does all the work and that we cannot get the work done by another qualified engineer, as i'm sure it would be much cheaper.
We had the loft insulated and cavity wall insulation fitted when we had our boiler fitted 4 years ago, but did not have the funds then to replace the windows.
We are loosing a lot of heat out of our windows which are not double glazed, but we cannot afford to replace them. Are there any schemes available where we can apply for financial help with this?
Thanks.

pancake_2

My daughter is registered blind. I am converting my garage to a family room for her. Am I eligible for any form of grant to offset the costs?

Cougargb

One word that describes Warmfront is "Inconsistent"! The work that they will do for the £2700 grant differs from client to client (even in the same town) and invariably requires additional topping up!

However MSE members only want positive advice and to that end my advice is this .....

1. Get a copy of what the engineer suggests is required at the time of his visit, it can take weeks to get it after!

2. Do NOT take any notice of his comments on cost, according to Eaga he is not allowed to discuss costs!

3. Remember that on your original application for a grant you agree that the grant may not cover the complete cost and that you may have to pay a top up. This will be repeated to you ad nausea should you call Eaga to discuss any top up. They will not discuss/give a breakdown cost of the total cost.

4. Most councils have a grant section that will pay the top-up amount if asked, so give them a ring.

I am "lucky" in that my total bill of £2830 is to be paid BUT my local Corgi engineer says that if he was to do the job he would charge £1500. I will be writing to my MP as this waste of public money is disgusting.

Cougargb

I forgot to mention another little gem from Eaga and the Warmfront scheme.

You will notice that part of the deal is to include a pack of Energy saving bulbs once the installation is completed.

Surprisingly before I had even agreed to continue my pack arrived.

It consisted of...

6x Philips bulbs, 4x11w,2x14w.

Nice little freebie you think but NO when the letter came saying how much the cost of the installation will be (PLUS the top-up!) they had charged £8.09 for the bulbs! (This they deducted from the grant)

However in Morrisons those same bulbs (11w anyway) were on offer 5 for £1.

Eaga when told I didn't want the pack, said sorry but you have to have them!

Something else I shall report to my MP :-)

kizziegirl

Hi i rent privetly and my Gas Boiler is about 30 yrs old. My Landlady has it checked every year and while it is not effient, it works. My bills are huge and even with cavity and loft insulation it is alot of money. Is there some where i can get a grant to replace the Boiler as my Landlady says she has no funds for this
Thanks.

klint

Does anyone know of any grants available for internal wall insulation? (We can't have cavity insulation, for which there are grants, because we've got solid walls.)

Cougargb

kizziegirl wrote: »

Hi i rent privetly and my Gas Boiler is about 30 yrs old. My Landlady has it checked every year and while it is not effient, it works. My bills are huge and even with cavity and loft insulation it is alot of money. Is there some where i can get a grant to replace the Boiler as my Landlady says she has no funds for this
Thanks.

Kizziegirl

If either of you are in receipt of a benefit then grants are available, among these are Pension Credit, Council Tax Benefit, Working Tax Credit.

There are many threads here about this subject, one you might find interesting is ...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=3663199

Don't forget to ask your local council!

echohoteloscar

klint wrote: »

Does anyone know of any grants available for internal wall insulation? (We can't have cavity insulation, for which there are grants, because we've got solid walls.)

The name councils give properties with solid walls, off mains gas or non-traditional build are "Hard to Treat" homes. Insulation tends to be 'enveloping' (external sprayed or clad insulation) or internal plasterboard-type insulation boards fixed by adhesive or a frame. Councils have either specialist grants / loans or do not offer help because there is less return for their budget. It is common for such properties to be improved as part of 'group repair' schemes, where streets or neighbourhoods are offered grant help en masse, as it is cheaper to the council because of quanitites of scale. Ring your local district / borough / city council or to find out. I'm not aware of energy improvement grants from other sources for these types of properties.