Theme four: support interventions

Participants were asked about their experiences in accessing support and what would make the biggest difference in their life.

Third sector support

Participants particularly focused on support they’d received from local charities.

Support included:

• Advice
• Home visits
• Fuel vouchers
• Debt write offs
• Food vouchers
• Distribution of products to help with energy usage, including air fryers and electric blankets
• Help with suppliers
• Referrals to other help available

Participants thought that third sector support is vital and can really help their mental health. One participant said:

“The support I received I feel like it literally saved me. I was in so much debt and with Christmas coming up and my child to take care of I didn’t see a way out but the help I received made me realise that people do care. They helped me so much with a payment to clear my fuel debt and have helped me stay out of debt.”

Another participant said:

“Without the support of you guys many of us wouldn’t be able to top up our meters or feed our kids. I have been very grateful for the support received and I know other have been too.”

Support with contacting suppliers was also seen as being very important. It was described as “taking the stress and anxiety away” as it provided a support network, rather than leaving someone to handle the energy company on their own.

The locality of organisations was stressed as being important because it ensures understanding of local issues, in particular issues related to rurality. It was felt that having the support services in prominent locations in towns makes them accessible and welcoming. In one focus group it was discussed that small communities can mean that advisers know the clients, but while this can sometimes cause embarrassment this is not often the case as people are used to living in a small community.

Other support

Conversations across focus groups primarily focused on support provided by the third sector, but participants did briefly discuss other support. In one focus group GPs and job centres were described as “sometimes having information, but it is hit or miss as to whether they know things.” One participant highlighted helpful material provided by registered social landlords as a part of new tenant packs. While accessing local groups was seen as being straightforward, some participants said that accessing suppliers and larger organisations, like Social Security Scotland, was extremely difficult.

Suggestions for improvement

Third sector

Participants had a number of suggestions around how support could be improved. In one focus group, participants said that they would like to see more partnership working between organisations that help with fuel and food poverty. In another focus group the importance of holistic support was stressed, with one participant saying:

“It would be better if there was a more holistic approach to support, the professionals shouldn’t just focus on the presented issue (e.g. health). There may be other things going on that need tackling and then the health situation would be resolved, e.g. bad housing conditions/cold houses causing constant ill health. So get the house sorted and then the health would also be sorted. The whole person’s situation needs to be understood, not just one bit.”

Participants flagged that the third sector needs more funding, and there was a general concern amongst many participants that the third sector shouldn’t be doing the work that the government and energy suppliers should be doing. One participant stated that:

“If the government is going to rely so heavily on the third sector, at least give them funding to be able to help.”

One participant spoke specifically about their local Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). They highlighted that there is a long waiting list to get an appointment and follow up is not good as a result of a lack of resources. There is a need for more funding so that they can hire more energy advisers.

Participants also stressed a need for greater budgeting and debt advice. Here collaboration between energy suppliers and debt advisers was emphasised, with a participant stating that energy companies need direct lines to trained debt advisers. It was felt that energy suppliers should have robust funds to write off energy debt. One participant also discussed the fact that there are no fuel vouchers available after 3.30pm on Fridays, suggesting that there should be a bank of pre-loaded pre-payment meter keys that could be given out on weekend.

Energy market reform

Participants viewed the energy market as complex and confusing. They had a number of recommendations related to energy market reform:

• Participants in one focus group discussed how they would like to see a “genuine” social tariff
• Zonal pricing – participants felt that areas of high energy production should pay less. There was resentment and frustration amongst participants that energy, especially electricity, is so expensive when areas are surrounded by wind turbines
• Standing charges were felt to be unfair and too high
• Participants in one focus group felt that energy should be nationalised and devolved to the Scottish Government
• A participant felt that business energy should be charged fairly on a sliding scale

Housing

Participants made various recommendations on housing. Some of these comments focused on social housing. Participants in one focus group highlighted that housing associations need more funding to bring their housing stock up to standard and retrofit with solar panels; remove storage heating and replace with air source heat pumps; insulate fully; install quality triple glazing, and sound external doors. It was stressed in this group that housing associations must fully insulate the houses where they have installed heat pumps as poorly insulated houses are unaffordable to heat by air source heat pump.

The same recommendations applied to new build housing. The importance of installing renewable systems and insulation in new build housing was stressed. New build housing was viewed by participants as being flimsy, and it was flagged in one group that some were still being built with oil or storage heating systems. Participants also flagged that while there is funding available for insulation/renewables, there is nothing for windows and doors. Windows and doors were seen as important because of the cold and windy conditions in rural and remote Scotland, especially on islands.

Participants in one focus group described experiencing issues with “overnight contractors” (contractors who come to an area specially to do a job) for retrofitting projects/heating system changes. The quality of work delivered by these contractors was seen as varying, and participants would prefer to use local contractors. One participant who had had a new oil boiler fitted had experienced more issues with it than the one it replaced:

“The mainland company are there to do a quick job and then leave again. They don’t care about anything but the money. Every job they do is about getting in and out of the property as quickly as possible, but not looking at the whole property including windows, doors, and other issues, such as roof repairs.”

It was felt by these participants that the Energy Company Obligation 4 (ECO4) especially needed better quality control. One participant who had had work done via ECO4 said that they had had to oversee the contractor and correct them on a number of occasions.

One participant had received a grant and loan from Home Energy Scotland for an Air Source Heat Pump, which they described as a massive help. They are currently receiving Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) payments, but worry that the system will be very expensive to run when these stop.

Renewables

Participants in multiple focus felt that wind and solar farms should make much higher and fairer contributions to communities and to Scotland. There was a feeling that private wind developers are exploitative and purely driven by profits, offering minimum local benefit. The funding offered to local charities through wind farm community benefit funds, for example, were viewed as “paltry” compared to the vast profits made by developers.

Participants felt that the barriers to community ownership of wind developments should be removed. Communities should be empowered to build their own wind energy sources and sell to grid.

Other suggestions

Participants in one focus group said that there should be one website showing all help available which is kept up to date, thereby ensuring that its not left to the third sector to continually try and keep on top of everything. Contradicting this, however, a participant in a different group flagged that all support being online was a problem, as often those that need the help most are not online.

It was also felt that islands and the most remote areas do not get enough support.