Enhanced heating regimes: consultation

Consultation Questions

23. The following sections set out our views on what households the three enhanced regimes should be applied to and how we intend to identify these households in the SHCS.  We are keen to ensure that the enhanced heating regimes are applied appropriately to ensure that overall fuel poverty rates are as accurate as possible and reflect the heating needs of households across Scotland. 

24. As noted earlier our support schemes use a variety of proxies to target households that are in or are vulnerable to fuel poverty and we have committed to reviewing these to align as closely as possible to the new definition of fuel poverty. Within the final Fuel Poverty Strategy we will set out the characteristics of households in fuel poverty and we will use responses to this consultation to inform both the regulations for enhanced heating and how to best support households in the future.

Enhanced Heating Regime 1.  
Requisite temperature: 23 degrees Celsius for the living room and 20 degrees Celsius for any other room
Requisite number of hours: 16 hours a day

25. We are proposing that the Enhanced Heating Regime 1 would be applied to the households set out below: 

• where a household member has a long-term mental or physical illness lasting or expected to last 12 months or more AND they regularly spend more time in the home during winter  
• where a member is in receipt of benefits received for a care need or disability AND they regularly spend more time in the home during winter
• where a member of the household is age 75 and over AND they regularly spend more of their time in the home during winter

The SHCS already asks if any member has a long-term mental or physical illness lasting or expected to last 12 months or more, are in receipt of care need or disability benefits and aged 75 years and older.  In order to establish whether any members spend more time at home during the winter we propose to ask corresponding questions in the SHCS. 

Enhanced Heating Regime 2
Requisite temperature: 23 degrees Celsius for the living room and 20 degrees Celsius for any other room
Requisite number of hours: 9 hours a day on a weekday and 16 hours a day during the weekend.

26. The Enhanced Heating Regime 2 would be applied to those households set out below: 

• where a member has a long-term mental or physical illness lasting or expected to last 12 months or more but they DO NOT regularly spend more time in the home, on weekdays, during the winter 
• where  a member is in receipt of benefits received for a care need or disability but  they  DO NOT regularly  spend more time in the home, on weekdays, during the winter
• where a member of the household is age 75 and over but they do not regularly spend more time in the home, on weekdays, during the winter 

27. This Enhanced Heating Regime recognises that not all long term mental or physical illnesses impact on people’s day to day lives and activities.  Many people with long term conditions are in full time employment or spend time outside the home for other reasons, but this regime recognises that these individuals may be more vulnerable and therefore should have a higher temperature in their home.  

Enhanced Heating Regime 3
Requisite temperature: 21 degrees Celsius for the living room and 18 degrees Celsius for any other room
Requisite number of hours: 16 hours a day

28. Enhanced Heating Regime 3 applies the standard temperature but for longer hours.  During the previous consultation on fuel poverty we stated that the enhanced heating regime would not be applied for households with children under 5 since this is inconsistent with established NHS guidance.  However, this was in relation to an enhanced heating regime with higher temperatures for longer hours.  

29. We recognise that some households with young children may spend more time in the home and are therefore more likely to require longer heating hours. 
The amount of time spent in the home may reduce from birth onwards as children become eligible for funded early learning and childcare.  In Scotland all 3 and 4 year olds (and around a quarter of 2 year olds) are eligible for funded early learning and childcare of around 600 hours a year and from August 2020 this will increase to
1140 hours a year (the equivalent of 30 hours a week if taken term time).  In light of this and the levels of uptake we are proposing that only households with children under the age of 3 who spend more time in the home would have the enhanced heating regime with longer hours applied.

30. We are proposing that the Enhanced Heating Regime 3 would be applied to households:

• With children under the age of 3 AND who regularly spend more time at home during the winter 

Assessing Impact

31. Alongside the publication of the Fuel Poverty Bill, we published a range of documents setting out the impacts of our proposals.  This included:

• Children's Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment^[7]
• Equality Impact Assessment^[8]
• Health Impact Assessment^[9]
• Island Community Impact Assessment^[10]

32. We are continuing to assess the impact of our policies and are therefore seeking views on whether there are additional households that an enhanced heating regime should be applied to.