| The Warm Front Scheme is a major component of the Government's UK Fuel Poverty Strategy, which aims to eliminate fuel poverty in England by 2016, and to eliminate it in vulnerable groups by 2010 as far as practicable. Fuel poverty damages an individual's quality of life and health, increasing the likelihood of influenza, heart disease, and strokes as well as increased risk of death in winter. The Scheme helps alleviate these problems by providing grants for a range of insulation and heating measures to vulnerable people in owneroccupied homes or in private rented accommodation to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. It replaced the former Home Energy Efficiency Scheme on which we reported in 1998.[1]
Since the Warm Front Scheme began in June 2000, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has spent on average £150 million each year on the Scheme, around 75% of which was spent on grants and the other 25% on administration and survey work. Day to day administration of the Scheme is carried out by two Scheme Managers covering different parts of the country. Warm Front is administered on behalf of the Department by two Scheme Managers—Eaga Partnership Ltd and Powergen Warm Front Ltd. The Scheme Managers are responsible for a range of activities including marketing, identifying eligible households, approving applications, surveying properties, appointing and managing contractors to complete the work, and carrying out quality insurance inspections on work done.
On the basis of a Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General,[2] we examined the Department and those responsible for administering the Scheme. We looked at the current eligibility criteria for the Scheme and the targeting of grants; the range of measures it provides; and the Scheme's impact on fuel poverty.
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