Warm Homes Healthy Futures

Description

​​The project will build a healthcare led energy safeguarding network across the GDN areas, delivered in partnership with National Energy Action in England and Wales and Energy Action Scotland in Scotland. It will focus on identifying, training and supporting health care organisations so they can confidently and sustainably help local households in, or at risk of, an energy crisis. Delivery will continue through a nationally coordinated model, with NEA leading delivery while continuing to work with local partners to collectively provide frontline support, underpinned by strengthened quality assurance, evaluation and learning. The activities involved in delivering this project collectively represent thousands of additional touchpoints that extend the project's impact beyond individual casework, into whole communities and professional systems. This package of support will ultimately improve safety, address affordability and wellbeing for vulnerable households, while strengthening local systems and reducing duplication across VCMA portfolios. ​WHHF addresses gaps in service provisions by embedding fuel poverty and energy vulnerability within health and social care pathways, enabling trusted professionals to identify risk and connect households to ​practical support before harm occurs. Evidence from NEA's Impact Report shows that in 2024 to 2025 professional extended reach to an estimated 3.85 million people, based on 6,783 individual professionals trained. This demonstrates the significant multiplier effect of professional training and its contribution to population-level prevention. ​The programme objectives are to: ​• Support customers in vulnerable situations to remain warm, safe and healthy at home ​• Reduce the risk of carbon monoxide harm ​• Improve household financial resilience through income maximisation ​• Strengthen professional capability across health and community services ​• Embed energy safeguarding within local health systems ​• Deliver measurable social value and positive SROI ​ ​Working with all GDNs, NEA, EAS and their contract partners will support those living in or at risk of fuel poverty, by delivering the following services: ​• Energy casework ​• Benefits advice ​• Benefit claim support ​• Referrals into GDN for the servicing, repair and replacement of essential gas appliances ​• CO alarms ​• Community energy efficiency training ​• Community CO awareness training ​• Frontline worker training ​Delivery is tailored within each participating GDN network area, reflecting existing VCMA portfolios, NHS and voluntary sector partnerships, and local deprivation and health inequality data