Warmer Homes Scotland: annual review 2017 to 2018

Part 1: Introduction and Background

Warmer Homes Scotland is the Scottish Government's flagship national fuel poverty scheme and is one of a range of schemes funded and delivered by the Scottish Government's Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland (HEEPS). Warmer Homes Scotland is at the forefront of the Scottish Government's efforts to tackle fuel poverty and focuses on providing energy efficiency measures in the homes of households who are living in, or at risk of living in, fuel poverty. The scheme offers eligible households a range of energy efficiency measures, including insulation, heating and micro-generation.

Warmer Homes Scotland was launched by The First Minister in September 2015. Following an open procurement process the Scottish Government appointed Warmworks Scotland LLP to manage the contract on its behalf.

Warmworks is a joint venture partnership that was formed in 2015 specifically to tender for and deliver the Warmer Homes Scotland contract. The joint venture partners are the Energy Saving Trust, Changeworks and Everwarm. Warmworks is responsible for the full Warmer Homes Scotland customer journey from the initial survey stage through to the after care service following the installation of measures available under the scheme.

During the period of this report which details the progress and achievements of the scheme during the financial year from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018, Warmer Homes Scotland helped 4903 customers, who benefited from the installation of 13,761 separate measures, giving them an average saving of £318 off their annual fuel bills.

The overall objectives and guiding principles for Warmer Homes Scotland were created as part of the design and implementation process for the scheme. They are an important part of how the success and achievements of the scheme are evaluated.

The stated objectives of Warmer Homes Scotland are to:

I. reduce fuel poverty by reducing heating costs to vulnerable households;

II. contribute to a reduction in the emissions of carbon dioxide from Scottish homes;

III. improve Scotland's housing stock;

IV. offer good value for money by leveraging additional funding into the scheme; and

V. provide benefits to the wider community through vocational training and employment opportunities.

The basic guiding principles of the scheme are that:

I. It should be customer focussed and provide a first class service to customers regardless of where they live;

II. It should set high standards in terms of quality and health and safety, even going beyond industry norms;

III. It should encourage the involvement of local SMEs as far as possible; and

IV. Its impacts should be long term and sustainable.

Warmer Homes Scotland is also designed to contribute to the Scottish Government's five National Objectives and the overarching purpose of sustainable economic growth. (See Figure 1)

The Scottish Government has committed to reviewing Warmer Homes Scotland throughout its lifetime to ensure it continues to meet its stated objectives and delivers its service in accordance with its guiding principles. The reviews will also be used as a tool in the continuous improvement process that plays an important part in the operational delivery of the scheme.

Figure 1 - Overarching national objectives^[1]

Scope

As set out in the Terms of Reference the scope of this review is linked to the overarching objectives of Warmer Homes Scotland.

The review should firstly determine if the scheme is on track to meet its stated objectives and establish if there are any areas where progress is not being made or where the work being carried out is not aligned to the overarching national objectives. The review should also include recommendations to ensure the stated objectives are on track to be met. In addition, the review should also establish progress in implementing the recommendations made in the 2016/17 review. Where progress has not been made or is limited, this review should make further recommendations to ensure that the required improvements are on track to be made.

A copy of the Terms of Reference can be found at Appendix 1.

Methodology

Data and evidence was obtained from various sources including Warmworks, Home Energy Scotland, the results of the audits carried out by Pennington Choices, the Scottish Government's appointed independent auditors for Warmer Homes Scotland, and the review team's own investigations. This data was both quantitative and qualitative in nature. To ensure consistency of approach, the data was analysed following the same methods used in previous Annual Reviews of the scheme.

As Warmer Homes Scotland did not operate for the full 2015/16 year, it was decided at that time that more meaningful conclusions could be drawn from the data if comparisons were made in percentage terms rather than on a purely numerical basis. This convention has continued in all subsequent reviews.

Data Sources

Figure 2 - Qualitative data sources