Organisations from across Kent and the south east have come together to collaborate on helping over 50,000 vulnerable households living in fuel poverty.
We've recently launched new partnerships with eight organisations to work together to tackle fuel poverty and raise awareness of gas and carbon monoxide (CO) safety among their vulnerable clients. At a special collaboration event in Ashford last week, 16 partners were brought together to learn about the role the partnerships play in supporting vulnerable customers, promoting the Priority Services Register and what happens in a gas emergency.
Our Safe & Warm Partnership Network invites organisations to explore ways to collaborate, drawing on each other’s expertise and specialist services, with the hope that this approach will increase cross-referrals for vulnerable customers to receive tailored support. Energy advisers, workshops, tailored resource packs, community outreach and home visits are all being used to support the people who need the most support.
The event included Gas Safe Charity’s Think CO campaign providing a mix of presentations and activities to help partners explore CO awareness and safety. Kent Fire & Rescue Service gave a presentation on their Safe and Well programme while National Energy Foundation spoke how they support partners through their Better Housing Better Health initiative. Groundwork South also joined the event to provide attendees with a real insight from an established partnership on how they support vulnerable customers in Kent.
The event ended with a networking lunch where partners were encouraged to discuss potential collaborations and cross-referrals. As a result of this, East Kent Mencap have agreed to produce EasyRead materials for the Think CO campaign. Discussions between other partners have continued after the event.
The event was attended by representatives from partners Alzheimer’s and Dementia Support Services, Age UK Oxfordshire, Carers Support Bexley, Citizens Advice, Croydon Mencap, Cruse Bereavement Support, East Kent Mencap, Gas Safe Charity, Groundworks South, Healthy Homes Solutions Ltd, Kent Fire & Rescue Service, National Energy Foundation’s Better Housing, Better Health, Repowering London, Ridgewater Energy Limited, Sue Ryder and Worthing Mencap.
Sarah Bingham, Community Fundraising and Engagement Manager at Cruse Bereavement Support, said: “We had a very informative and thorough series of talks and services that will assist and complement the initiation of our partnership with SGN. It’s been a really good opportunity to meet with other partners too and explore other potential community links. There’s a lot of potential to make a huge difference to the people we support.”
Janet Duggan, Community Partnership Manager at SGN, said: “We’re really excited to be launching these new community partnerships and bringing them together with our existing partners working in Kent and across the south east. The event was a great opportunity for everyone to come together to explore ideas for collaboration and cross-referrals, and we encouraged them to explore ways of joined up working particularly so they can elevate the support they provide vulnerable customers.”
We have a bold ambition to help 500,000 vulnerable customers use energy safely, efficiently and affordably between 2021 and 2026. Our five-year vulnerability support strategy guides our activity to ensure we’re delivering genuine and valuable impact to those most in need of help to stay safe and warm at home. We’ve developed an extensive partnership network to help us deliver a comprehensive range of programmes to support vulnerable households up and down the country and we’re extremely proud of the programmes we’ve created and grateful to the expert partners who support us in going above and beyond for vulnerable households. Together, we’re keeping our communities safe and warm by providing tailored and targeted support for those who need it most.
