Nearly half a million of our clients can’t afford to heat their homes

3 ways local Citizens Advice are providing practical help to stop health problems caused by the cold

Everyday we see people struggling to heat their homes. In 2017, 400,000 of our clients said they weren’t able to keep their home warm enough. A cold home puts your health at risk.

Practical help, like getting access to cheaper energy tariffs, understanding ways to make savings on your energy bills, or doing a benefits check, are a lifeline for people struggling to pay their bills — and having a warm home can stop people becoming ill.

But we know people aren’t always able to access the support they need.

Getting practical help needs to be easier

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends setting up local housing and health referral services across the country to help tackle cold-related health problems. These should provide a single point of contact for both people vulnerable to cold-related ill health and the front-line workers that support them, so that people get the practical help they need.

Our new report, ‘Warm homes, affordable fuel and healthy people’, describes 3 of our projects in support of the NICE guideline.

• Trying different ways to refer people that need support. Through our winter resilience project, 7 local Citizens Advice trialled and tested different referral pathways with health partners. We wanted to know whether these pathways led to better outcomes for clients and how best to work with health practitioners. The pilot had a big impact on clients’ control of their energy use and ability to keep warm. Health partners welcomed the service and want to see it continued.
• A single point of contact for housing and health services. Citizens Advice Mid-North Yorkshire is running a single point of contact housing and health referral service for local residents, funded by North Yorkshire Council. This connects frontline health workers with services that can sort out practical help. The predecessor project to this service was widely used and had a big impact on clients’ health and wellbeing.
• Local authority and health toolkits. Cornwall Council and Citizens Advice, with funding from BEIS, designed 2 toolkits. These give advice to local authorities, health and third sector partners on working together to support vulnerable households, particularly those suffering ill health due to cold homes and unaffordable fuel bills. We expect the toolkits will encourage more councils and health partners to set up local housing and health referral services.

3 things need to change

These projects have worked well, but more needs to be done to make sure everybody has access to the support they need.

We want to see 3 things happen:

1. All local authorities and health agencies should work with voluntary sector agencies, like Citizens Advice, to provide housing and health referral services in their area. These need to be well-resourced and sustainable.
2. Public Health England, NHS England and relevant government departments, should oversee and review the implementation of the NICE guideline and promote good practice.
3. Local authorities and health agencies should use the Cold Home Toolkits for practical guidance on setting up housing and health referral services.

We’ll encourage local Citizens Advice to work with local authorities and health agencies to provide referral services so that our clients no longer have to struggle to heat their homes and put their health at risk.