Campaigning for warm homes Hi I’m Alice, and I’m a Senior Campaigns Officer at Age UK. I’m going to talk to you today about Age UK’s work campaigning for warm homes.

Campaign for warm homes We are also witnessing a disturbingly high number of winter deaths each year. Last winter, 40,800 older people died because of the cold. Age UK has calculated that there are on average 25,000 older people in England and Wales who don’t survive the cold weather each winter – that’s 206 deaths a day, or one death every seven minutes. And as I’m sure you’ll agree, this is very shocking. It’s the 21st century, it’s appalling that people in this country are still dying from the weather.

Poorly insulated, cold, leaky housing Causes Poorly insulated, cold, leaky housing We know that the root cause of all of these problems is the poorly insulated, cold and leaky housing we have in this country. The UK has the oldest houses in the EU, with over half built before 1960 and just over 10 per cent built since 1991. On average, older UK homes require at least twice the energy to stay warm compared with many European countries. A large proportion of households report damp, condensation, mould and draughts every year.

Make millions more homes more energy efficient Solution Make millions more homes more energy efficient So what’s the solution? At Age UK, we believe that the only sensible solution to all of these problems is an ambitious energy efficiency programme to bring all our housing up to standard. That’s why we’re calling on the Government to make millions more homes much more energy efficient. With proper insulation and energy efficiency measures, nearly all homes could be made much warmer.

What would this look like? Upgrading 2 million low income households with a an energy performance rating of D, E, F or G to Band C by 2020 Upgrading all houses to an A or B rating by 2030, starting with the poorest and most energy efficient homes The Government has already set a fuel poverty target of ensuring that as many fuel poor homes as is reasonably practicable achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of Band C, by 2030. However, in our view this doesn’t go far or fast enough. We want to see…

How would it work? Take a street-by-street approach, focusing on the most inefficient housing areas first, i.e. rural properties, houses with solid walls or houses built before 1945 This approach is most successful and cost-effective when delivered locality by locality, harnessing the skills of local authorities and the support of local communities. It’s widely agreed that the best way to do this would be by…

Campaign for warm park homes There are over 100,000 older people living in park homes across England and Wales and most of them are on low fixed incomes Park homes can be less energy efficient than other types of homes, especially those constructed some years ago 95 per cent of park homes were built before 2005, when insulation standards weren’t included in the British Standard for Park Homes. It’s widely agreed that the best way to do this would be by…

Shirley’s story ‘I want to retire really, the problem is I can’t afford to, because of the heating bills. I’m a person who really feels the cold dreadfully but I can’t afford to keep the heat on all day and I haven’t been able to improve the energy efficiency of my home because of the cost. I’m not eligible for a grant and a loan would be impossible to pay back, so I’m stuck, really.’ Shirley is 76. She likes living on her park site, but her fuel bills are expensive and while she would love to retire, she continues to work part time in a local shop in order to help her meet her bills.

Campaign for warm park homes ECO and the (now closed) Green Deal have been failing park home residents Age UK is calling on the Government to roll out an energy efficiency scheme specifically tailored to park home residents This would enable a group of older people who often have to count the pennies to reduce their heating costs and keep warm and well through the winter, supporting them to sustain their independence for as long as possible and relieving pressures on the NHS. It’s widely agreed that the best way to do this would be by…

Engagement leaflets and campaign report

Parliamentary launch event Sponsored by Natascha Engel MP Peter Aldous MP chaired 3 older park home residents spoke about their experiences 40 MPs attended 48 MPs now signed Early Day Motion (EDM)

Petition Petition ran from November 2015 until end of January 2016 More than 7,500 signatures (offline and online) Handed in to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the Rt Hon Amber Rudd on 10 Feb

Next steps Age UK is working with a technical panel on a park homes energy efficiency pilot scheme. Broadly the scheme would: cost £2-3 million to set up involve whole-house retrofits to bring 235 park homes up to EPC Band C or higher only use accredited energy efficiency products and approved and accredited installers guarantee a safe and easy customer journey and first-rate customer service involve inspections and a thorough reporting process from beginning to end. We are considering the best source of funding for the scheme, which could include: unspent £ from the Green Deal Communities Fund £ from the Industry Initiative park of the Warm Home Discount Scheme

Any questions? For more information, please contact me: Alice Woudhuysen Senior Campaigns Officer alice.woudhuysen@ageuk.org.uk 020 3033 0516 That’s it from me. Does anyone have any questions?

Thank you! That’s it from me. Does anyone have any questions?