Findings from the British Gas Energy Trust third roundtable event

THE BRITISH GAS ENERGY TRUST 20^TH ANNIVERSARY ROUNDTABLE PROGRAMME

Date: 27^th June 2024

Location: Civic Office, Doncaster

Objective: To ensure British Gas Energy Trust (the Trust) is supporting its local partner organisations as effectively as possible in their work to alleviate fuel poverty, with a particular focus on the needs of unpaid carers.

Newly appointed Chair of the Trust who was in attendance, Arvinda Gohil OBE said: “During my time at the Trust I’ll be listening to our partners to understand how we can do things differently. With these roundtables, we are taking the opportunity to gather as much knowledge as we can to help inform our strategy planning going forward.”  

Key themes: Speakers from a diverse range of community groups and support organisations began by discussing their work in Doncaster and beyond, particularly relating to unpaid carers, including young people who often face additional financial struggles and were discussed at the last roundtable in Glasgow.
They highlighted a range of issues particular to carers, who are often hidden in communities but are vital to the UK health and social care system, and who often have additional energy requirements around heating and powering medical equipment.

Observations included:

Carers are often hidden in communities and so do not receive the support they need and are entitled to. This can be because they feel there is a stigma around asking for help, or because they do not recognise themselves as carers.

• While census data suggests that the number of unpaid carers across the UK is 5.7 million, Carers UK research estimates this could actually be as high as 10.6 million.
• Speakers raised similar concerns to those discussed at a previous roundtable which focused on mental health issues, highlighting an unwillingness to ask for support because of a sense of shame, or because they did not believe help would be forthcoming.
• Helen Walker, Chief Executive of Carers UK, said people often don’t recognise themselves as carers, considering it as part-and-parcel of their family life. She said: “It takes on average two years to self-identify as a carer; that’s time when you are not getting the benefits you are entitled to. We need to speed that up. It’s a particular issue with young carers, who may be caring for a parent with mental health or addiction and are more likely to be hidden in society because of the stigma around these issues.”
• Jessica Taplin, Chief Executive of British Gas Energy Trust, said: “I know of a case where a gentleman was being cared for by his wife and part of the challenge was getting her to share the detailed personal information that was required to complete the forms to access support. It took months to overcome, because she felt there was a stigma there.”
• James Woods, Chief Executive Officer at Citizens Advice Doncaster, added: “We need to normalise asking for help.”

Carers have particular economic and emotional challenges, including limited earning potential and social isolation, as well as extra energy needs, making them particularly vulnerable to fuel poverty.

• Jessica said that in May 2024, the Trust had received 1,000 applications for energy debt write off grants, of which 40% were from households with disabilities and 16% were from carers.
• James said there are 33,000 unpaid carers in Doncaster, 3,500 of whom are children. He said: “Carers often need to keep their homes warmer than average; they use electricity for medical equipment and have additional laundry needs. Many carers are also unable to work full time, due to their caring responsibilities, so it’s really difficult to absorb rising costs.”
• Helen added that 600 people give up work every day in order to care for someone. She said: “Many are working below their potential in lower paid and/or part-time jobs in order to juggle work and caring. As a result, carers are much less financially resilient and over a third told us they have had to cut back on essentials, such as heating.”

The benefits system does not support carers effectively, it is overly complex and needs fundamental reform.

•  Carers UK is calling for a fundamental review of the Carer’s Allowance, which is £81.90 a week if you care for someone for at least 35 hours a week; equivalent to just £2.34 an hour.
• Access to various statutory bodies can be difficult navigate, which can mean people do not receive all the benefits they are entitled to, further contributing to fuel poverty.
• Helen said: “It’s creating a cycle of poverty. The complexity of the benefits system is outrageous; to apply for Carers Allowance you need to fill out a 20-page document. You need to be a rocket scientist to find your way around the benefits system. We need to simplify that.”
• Paul Bristow, Chief Executive of Kidney Care UK, agreed, saying: “The health service would fall apart without carers, but there are billions of pounds in benefits that go unclaimed. There’s a need to be more proactive about engagement and work with partners to identify people who need help, as well as making accessing support simpler to navigate, especially for those with complex needs.”

Next steps: The panellists were asked to share strategies that could prove effective in supporting unpaid carers in the communities where they live.

Too often, funding for front line organisations comes with limitations that hamper their ability to deliver long-term solutions, forcing them to focus on short-term ‘sticking plaster’ support services. Longer-term funding settlements would help.

• Currently, organisations typically receive one-year funding packages to work on specific issues or in particular communities.
• Chris Margrave, Chief Executive Officer at St Leger Homes, which manages around 20,000 homes on behalf of Doncaster Council, said: “At the moment, funding comes with very strict criteria, including time limitations. The reality is that applying for funding and spending it in the same financial year is virtually impossible. We need funding that sustained over a number of years, which would enable us to deliver properties that are appropriate for the people who live there. For carers, that could mean homes that are purpose built or adapted for their specific needs.”
• James added: “Longevity of funding is always a challenge, and we would welcome longer projects. The way funding is awarded can also restrict our ability to be more reactive to emerging issues and local needs that arise, so it would be good to build in more flexibility.”
• In short, front-line support organisations believe that they could tackle fuel poverty more effectively if they had funding settlements lasting at least three years and the freedom to use these resources without restrictions. This would also enable a shift towards more preventative strategies, to stop people falling into fuel poverty in the first place.

 There is an opportunity for energy companies to deliver customer support for carers – especially young carers, who may manage the family finances on behalf of an older relative – in a more flexible and compassionate way. That should include enabling a proxy, perhaps from a charity that has a trusted relationship with the customer, to engage with energy providers on their behalf.

• It can be intimidating for people who are being cared for to engage with energy companies and other organisations. Carers often don’t have the authority to act on behalf of the people they care for, especially if they are not the bill payer.
• Nigel Friend, frontline advisor at Citizens Advice Doncaster, said: “Some of our clients are scared to call their energy company. It can be frustrating even getting through to someone who can help, and even then, clients feel like they’re not being believed or taken seriously.”
• Steve Weeks, Learning Disability Caseworker Team Leader at Mencap, said: “We need to be able to access energy companies on behalf of our clients. It can be very difficult for someone with a learning disability or their carer to navigate these processes and some of our clients are relying on us to make contact for them.”
• Louise Billingham, British Gas Customer Operations Director, highlighted the firm’s £50m investment in customer service provision and training, as well as a new trial scheme whereby representatives from certain thematic charities were piloting a direct line approach for advisors helping clients.

There is an opportunity to train people like engineers and housing providers, who are going into people’s homes, to identify people who need support and signpost them towards organisations that can help.

• There was a view that proactive face-to-face engagement can be more effective at identifying ‘hidden carers’.
• Emma Burdon, Operations Manager at Citizens Advice Doncaster, said: “There are so many unidentified carers. If you are in someone’s home, then you can get a much better idea of what’s going on. We are implementing a home visiting service where we can actually go out to isolated people and families. This will help us identify other issues in households, like the state of the property, and how cold it is, as well as identifying carers. We need to do more of that. We’ve got the funding to provide one adviser, but that’s not going to be enough.”
• Chris said his organisation had returned to area-based working. He said: “Our housing teams now work in a particular area, and they do ‘keep in touch’ visits with our tenants. That helps create familiarity and build trust. They are already trained to recognise things like signs of domestic abuse and poverty. We could do that for carers too.”

Common themes

This was the third in a series of nine round table discussions being held around the country, which have so far focused on mental health, young people and carers, and a number of common themes are now emerging:

• It is well understood that fuel poverty is rarely an issue that exists in isolation and a holistic approach can better understand all the factors that contribute to fuel debt.
• There is the potential for front-line organisations from different sectors (Funders, Charity, Local Authorities, Housing Associations etc) to work together more effectively to deliver support in this way.
• Clear call for Funders both Trusts and Foundations, but also Local Authorities and central government to invest in longer-term funding provision to help front line service organisations plan more strategically and delivery meaningful support which recognised the complex ongoing nature of need, and that the economic situation would remain challenging until 2030+.
• Those in debt, including energy debt, can experience feelings of shame and disillusionment. People also remain unclear or reticent of seeking help – there is an ongoing need to create an environment where they feel more comfortable sharing their struggles and asking for help, recognising self-serve and digital is not suitable for the highest deciles of need.
• While providing ‘sticking plaster’ support such as fuel vouchers does not provide a long-term solution, it is an opportunity to build trust and establish longer-term relationships that can enable more permanent resolution.

Find out more about the Trust’s roundtables here.