Warm Homes Healthy Futures
Delivering health benefits through partnership
All four UK gas distributors are working alongside National Energy Action to address the health implications for customers living in cold, unheated homes.
More than 10,000 deaths each year are attributable to cold, damp housing and the situation costs the NHS more than £1.4 billion every year.
The VCMA project sees National Energy Action, together with local partners, deliver support ‘on prescription’ such as energy advice, benefits checks and boiler servicing.
Health organisations can refer their patients to the programme, to tackle the root causes of illness.
The project has delivered support to more than 4,700 individuals in our region and unlocked more than £8 million in previously unclaimed benefits across all four gas distributors’ operating areas.
Fuel debt relief
An 80-year-old man who was struggling from multiple long-term health conditions, exacerbated by living in a cold home, was referred to the National Energy Action programme by a Social Prescriber.
He was eligible for £1,700 in fuel debt relief and had his existing energy debts written off. Following a benefits entitlement check, his partner received Carer’s Allowance.