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Contents Page

The UK Fuel Poverty Strategy
6th ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 2008
 
 

3 Energy efficiency and heating – national programmes

Warm Front - England

3.1 Warm Front has continued to be a key tool tackling fuel poverty in the private sector in England. From the Scheme’s inception in June 2000 to the end of April 2008, over 1.7 million households in England had received assistance with a range of heating, insulation and other energy efficiency measures. Warm Front funding for the 2008-11 period has been set at approximately £874 million including an uplift announced recently as part of the Government’s Home Energy Saving Programme. The average potential reduction in annual fuel bills as a direct result of those receiving assistance during 2007-8 is estimated at £186.74.

 

3.2 In 2007/8, Warm Front received £350 million funding, allowing the Scheme to assist almost 270,000 households; an increase of over 15,000 households over the previous year. Of those receiving assistance during this period:

·      over 100,000 households received a new heating system;

·      cavity wall insulation was provided to over 30,000 households; 

·      loft insulation was provided to over 58,000 households.

 

3.3 Despite the increase in activity, Warm Front has been able to significantly reduce waiting times for applicants. On average:

 

·      surveys were completed 6.7 days after the client’s application (against a target of 21 days);

·      insulation measures were installed 27.6 days after a survey (against a target of 40 days);

·   heating measures were installed 68.5 days after survey (against a target of 120 days).

 

3.4 Indicators show that customer service provided to Warm Front clients has also improved over the last year, with the customer satisfaction score increasing from 92% in 06/07 to 94% in 07/08 and complaint rates decreasing from 0.5% to 0.4% over the same period.

 

3.5 Warm Front has continued to make a significant positive impact on those households which it assists. The average energy efficiency (SAP) rating improvement for a house receiving Warm Front assistance in the last year has been 15 points, from 42 to 57. Although primarily a fuel poverty scheme, on average Warm Front has also reduced CO2 emissions by an estimated total annual saving of 1.2 tonnes for those homes improved each and every year for the next 20 years.

 

3.6 Warm Front will be continuing to seek out cost effective, established alternative technologies, with a particular emphasis on low carbon alternatives and

measures suitable for ‘hard to treat’ properties. As part of this work Warm Front has begun a pilot of solar thermal technology. The project will install 125 units (mostly alongside electric heating systems) in off-gas properties.

Installation of the systems is due to be completed by autumn 2008, with the final report completed in 2009.

 

Home Energy Efficiency Scheme – Wales

3.7 The Assembly Government’s main vehicle for helping improve energy efficiency for vulnerable householders in Wales is the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme. By the end of 2007-08 some £93 million had been made available to

the Scheme since the Welsh Assembly Government became responsible for it in 2000. This will have allowed the Scheme to assist approximately 93,000 households.

 

3.8 The Scheme offers energy efficiency advice and cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, draught proofing, central heating, energy saving light bulbs, smoke alarms and security measures. The main groups eligible for assistance are pensioners, the sick and disabled and low income families.

3.9 The Home Energy Efficiency Scheme had a particularly successful year in 2007/8 with over 18,000 households assisted against a target of 10,000.

 

Warm Deal and Central Heating Programme – Scotland

3.10 Since its inception in 2001 to the end of March 2008, the Central Heating Programme has delivered 96,496 systems. Over 2007-08 it delivered 14,377 systems, the highest number delivered in any one year to pensioner households in the private sector. Between 1999 and 2008 the Warm Deal Programme has insulated 279,743 homes. The total cost of this investment is over £378 million.

3.11 However, the review mentioned above highlighted the need for reform of these programmes to remain on track to meet the 2016 target. Whilst the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum makes its deliberations, applications to the Central Heating Programme will be prioritised to ensure that those who are most likely to be fuel poor receive assistance first.

All pensioners who do not have a central heating system in their homes will continue to be a priority.

 

3.12 In addition households where the heating system has broken down and the householder or their partner is aged 80 or over or is in receipt of the guarantee element of pension credit will be prioritised for a replacement central heating system. Applications from people in other categories will continue to be considered; but their application will depend this year on available resources and, in the future, on the recommendations of the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum.

 

Warm Homes and Warm Homes Plus Schemes – Northern Ireland

3.13 The Warm Homes and the Warm Homes Plus Schemes continue to be the main programme for tackling fuel poverty in Northern Ireland, through the provision of energy efficiency measures to owner­occupied and private sector homes.

 

3.14 Since its inception in 2001 the Warm Homes Scheme has assisted over 60,000 fuel poor households. Resources of £9.2 million over two years, were made available to the scheme through the Environment and Renewable Energy Fund, which increased the available budget to over £20 million in the 2006/07 and 2007/08 financial years.

 

3.15 This enabled an increase in the number of households benefiting from the provision of energy efficiency measures; assisted with the introduction of a boiler aftercare package that will enable service one year after installation; and extend the warranty to two years; and allowed 11,300 private sector households to receive improvements to the energy efficiency of their homes. The Northern Ireland Housing Executive improved 5,394 dwellings through its various

programmes. The Housing Executive has allocated £14 million to its programmes.

 

 

Carbon Emissions Reduction Target – Great Britain

3.16 In April 2008, Government launched the third phase of the energy supplier energy efficiency programme, now known as the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT). The Scheme applies across Great Britain.

3.17 CERT’s primary aim is reductions in carbon dioxide emissions in the domestic sector, but as it brings about a general improvement of the housing stock, it can also help to future proof homes against fuel poverty. The target for CERT for the next three years represents roughly a doubling of CO2 savings under the previous Energy Efficiency Commitment in 2005-8. Suppliers are required to deliver at least 40% of their carbon savings from energy efficiency measures in households of low income consumers, known as the priority group, or those over 70.

 

3.18 It is expected that about twice as much resource, equal to about £1.5 billion over 2008/11, is directed at priority group customers compared to earlier Schemes. The Government estimates that about 1.23 million homes in the priority group will receive cavity wall insulation during the lifetime of CERT (out of 2.9 million with unfilled cavities).

 

3.19 In addition, the Government is proposing an increase in the existing CERT target by 20 per cent in the present period up to March 2011. This will require additional expenditure by the energy suppliers of an estimated £560 million of which an estimated £300m will go to the priority group of low income and elderly customers.

 

3.20 Defra has commissioned research to look at the impact of CERT in tackling fuel poverty and a report is expected later this year.

 

Decent Homes, Scottish Housing Quality Standard and Welsh Housing Quality Standard

3.21 Since the last UK Fuel Poverty Strategy Annual Report, the UK Government

has continued to make progress towards ensuring all social sector housing meets the Decent Homes standard that applies in England. The Standard has a thermal comfort element that requires the presence of efficient heating and effective insulation in homes.

The Department of Communities and Local Government expects 95% of all social housing in England to meet or exceed this standard by 2010, and social landlords must agree specific deadlines for the remaining 5%, or are in the process of doing so.

 

3.22 The figures from the English House Condition Survey for 2006 show that since 1996, there has been a reduction across all tenures in the proportion of households living in non-decent homes. The proportion of social sector tenants living in non-decent homes has fallen by an average of 2.5 percentage points each year, so in 2006, only 28% of were living in non-decent homes.

 

3.23 The Government aims to have 70% of vulnerable households in decent homes by 2010. In the private sector, the proportion of vulnerable households (those in receipt of means- tested or disability- related benefits) living in decent homes has increased to 68% in 2006, a considerable improvement compared with the 43% in 1996.

3.24 In England the Decent Homes Standard is a minimum standard below which homes should not fall. It is a trigger for action and not a level that remedial work should be completed to. Indeed the majority of local authorities and registered social landlords are carrying out work well in excess of the thermal comfort standard, with 90% planning to install both cavity wall insulation and loft insulation even where the standard only requires one. Between 2001 and 2007, over 910,000 local authority dwellings have received work to improve their central heating, and over 750,000 local authority dwellings have received work to improve their insulation under the Decent Homes programme or as part of wider local authority work to update the stock. In fact, progress is being made on thermal comfort at a faster rate than the other components of the Decent Homes Standard, and the number of social sector homes in England failing on that criterion has more than halved since 1996 – from nearly 2 million down to 700,000 in 2006.

 

3.25 The energy efficiency of homes has been steadily improving over the last decade – the average energy efficiency (SAP) rating has improved by 7 points from 42 in 1996 to 49 in 2006.

We have improved the energy efficiency (SAP) rating of social homes from 47 in 1996 to 57 in 2006. Therefore social sector homes are substantially more energy efficient than private homes. In addition the social sector has improved at a faster rate since 1996 than the private sector. The work that social landlords in particular have carried out has contributed to reductions in fuel poverty.

 

3.26 In Scotland, Scottish Ministers established the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) in February 2004. It is the principal yardstick for measuring housing quality in Scotland. The SHQS includes five criteria which a house must fulfil before it passes SHQS. Among these criteria is that the property must be energy efficient i.e. have effective insulation (cavity wall, tank, pipe and loft) and a full, efficient central heating system. The objective that all social housing in Scotland should meet the SHQS by 2015 was also set in 2004. Progress on SHQS has so far been steady with overall failure rates in the social rented stock falling from 77% in 2002 to 60% in 2005-6. On the energy efficiency criteria in particular, the failure rate for social rented stock fell from 69% to 47% over the same period. Further investment in local authority and housing association stock should bring with it further progress in terms of meeting the SHQS.

 

3.27 In Wales the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) introduced in May 2002, provides a common target standard for the physical condition of all existing social housing within Wales to be achieved by 2012.

 

3.28 The Standard requires the annual energy consumption for space and water heating to be estimated using SAP2005 and specifies the minimum ratings to be achieved. SAP2005 means that WHQS will now contain a single target standard of 65 out of a possible 100 for a perfectly energy efficient dwelling.

 

3.29 In 2004 the Living in Wales Survey assessed 15% local authority stock and 57% of housing association stock complied with the energy efficiency standards of WHQS. An update of the Living in Wales Survey is due to be published in 2009.

 

 
     
 
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