Warm Front Grants

black-saturn

I'm not sure if this is in the right section but please feel free to move it if you want.

Warm Front offer grants mainly aimed at the elderly for free cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, double glazing, draft excluding, energy saving light bulbs and in some cases a whole central heating system.

A rep will visit your home for a survey and tell you what can be done and what your entitled to. Anyone on benefits can apply for it and if your in a rented house all they need is permission from your landlord. Let's face it what landlord is going to refuse permission for something which will put the value of their property up?

I'm a lone parent on benefits and I had cavity walls, loft insulation, draft excluders and energy saving light bulbs for all the rooms.

Warm Front

tootles_2

We are pensioners and have so far had two rented houses insulated under this programme, I think they will also replace heating systems if they are not economic,

I wish they would also do double glazing our landlord refuses to replace three of the windows in our house which are still single glazed, the difference in temperture on the landing and in the bathroom and back bedroom is unbelieveable. They did draghtproof those windows but it is not really sucessful.

[Deleted User]

I had my home insulated last year and boy does it work well.My heating bills have really dropped and although it's October I still haven't put my central heating on yet,the only downside is it's flipping hot in the summer and i need an electric fan to cool my house down a bit.It still is worth it's weight in gold though and i would recommedn it to anyone who can obtain it.

margaretclare

Yes, I think efficient home insulation is the one single thing you can do which is really cost-effective.

When my first husband and I moved to this 1930s bungalow in 1990 one of the first things we did was to insulate the loft. He put down really thick insulating material then put boards on top of it. This little house stays cool in summer and warm in winter.

Over the years I've replaced all the windows with 12mm double-glazed ones, and the gas-fired back boiler I bought 13 years ago is still going strong. It has a gas-fire in front but only on the very coldest days (like last February) do we need to put it on. We're sitting here in short sleeves this late in the evening.

BTW we pay £28 a month for gas, £20 for electricity (we cook electric).

Aunty Margaret

[Deleted User]

margaretclare wrote:

Yes, I think efficient home insulation is the one single thing you can do which is really cost-effective.

When my first husband and I moved to this 1930s bungalow in 1990 one of the first things we did was to insulate the loft. He put down really thick insulating material then put boards on top of it. This little house stays cool in summer and warm in winter.

Over the years I've replaced all the windows with 12mm double-glazed ones, and the gas-fired back boiler I bought 13 years ago is still going strong. It has a gas-fire in front but only on the very coldest days (like last February) do we need to put it on. We're sitting here in short sleeves this late in the evening.

BTW we pay £28 a month for gas, £20 for electricity (we cook electric).

Aunty Margaret

I know what you mean,the difference is amazing ,my bills are a lot lower and I am never cold anymore.I have osteo-arthritis and need to keep warm and dry as the cold and damp make my joints stiffen up.My Gas bills are £17.00 a month and my electric is £11.00 per month.I cook electric and live in a three bedroomed mid terrace house. I can't believe how much of an improvement it makes

System

Ours is a two bedroom semi, double glazed, loft insulated, etc, yet Staywarm quoted us 52.30 a month for gas/elect which has now increased to £67.11 a month, but daren't have the heating on too long, even through it's supposed to be "unlimited". I have extremely cold feet due to medication. My wife is disabled and unless I take her out, she is confined to the house. So your quote that you are warm on £28 a month makes me somewhat depressed. What should I/we do ?

black-saturn

Have you taken advantage of the Warm Front grant?

Other than that just make use of things like Hot Water Bottles and thermal clothing. Poundland have hot water bottles on sale at the moment and you get 2 for £1.

Other than that I don't know what to suggest other than keep your doors closed, get draft excluders and keep the curtains closed

I pay £25 per month gas but I do it by DD and usually get a payback of about £60 every 3 months. I just pay more to cover myself (but am thinking of reducing the payments).

John_T_5

I need some advice from someone who is knowledgable about the Warm Front grant system.

I have an elderly neighbour whos heating system was condemned 3 months ago and now has no heating other than an 2 electric fires, and has to heat hot water on the cooker to get washed. She had a survey done by a contractor that EAGA sent out.

When the survey was completed they told her that they would install a heating system subject to means testing and if she qualifies they would additionally charge her for lifting up her laminated floor and putting it back down, also for the removal of the old heating system and radiators.

They told her that the maximum amount of radiators they would install was 6, and any additional radiators would cost £260 each to install, she needs an additional 3 radiators on top of her allocation, they won't accept her buying radiators and getting them installed by them to reduce the fee. In total she was quoted nearly £1200 that she would have to pay towards the installation of the heating system on top of any grant that she might be awarded.

Now it seems to me that this is ridiculous, she doesn't have the money, and cannot possibly be expected to lift up and replace the flooring herself, the house is in joint names of her and her ex husbnad, despite the fact he does not pay anything towards the mortgage, she is severely disabled so I presume she receives incapacity benefit as well as her pension and to aggravate matters she is agoraphobic so never leaves the house.

Can anyone advise on what further action she could take as the situation is pretty desperate, I am really worried that she will get hypothermia, at present she only has 2 electric heaters heating the house and they are woefully inadequate.

black-saturn

Try going to see people at your local housing office, environmental health or Income Support. They might be able to offer her a crisis loan to pay for it which she can pay back interest free at a very small amount per week.

If she is on those benefits though I cannot imagine her not being able to save for a little while and pay for it.

ritaing

Hi just reading your post about warm front 2 years ago we had central heating put in by warm front best thing we ever did. I was in doctors surgery this morning and i saw a leaflet about warm front you may get one from your local surgery but i found a freephone no which is customer care they may send a leaflet out to you. If its a pensioner on housing benefit or low income you qualify. The no is 0800 183 1051 hope this helps.

Rita.

margaretclare

islandman wrote:

Ours is a two bedroom semi, double glazed, loft insulated, etc, yet Staywarm quoted us 52.30 a month for gas/elect which has now increased to £67.11 a month, but daren't have the heating on too long, even through it's supposed to be "unlimited". I have extremely cold feet due to medication. My wife is disabled and unless I take her out, she is confined to the house. So your quote that you are warm on £28 a month makes me somewhat depressed. What should I/we do ?

Don't bother with Staywarm!

I've lost count of the number of people who've told me 'you really should be with Staywarm, you pay the same amount regardless of whether you keep the heating on 24/7, what a good idea, no need to worry, it's based on number of bedrooms and number of people living there, not based on what you use'.

Well, I did the sums, several times. And came to the conclusion that we'd be paying more if we changed to Staywarm. Even if we decided to go away for an extended holiday in the winter, as many older people do, we'd still be paying the same amount for Staywarm, even if the heating was reduced just to 'tick-over' to prevent the pipes freezing. We could be away December - March and we'd still be paying Staywarm!!!

Best wishes

Aunty Margaret