Five years of impact: from crisis response to lasting change

By Jessica Taplin, CEO of British Gas Energy Trust from 2020-2025

This article offers a reflection on the Trust’s journey and achievements over the past five years. A shorter summary of these insights will feature in our forthcoming Impact Report 2025, which is due to be published later this year. While the report will provide the key headlines and evidence of our progress, this thought piece takes a deeper look at the story behind the numbers, exploring the lessons learned, the challenges faced, and the transformative changes that have shaped our work since 2020.

As I reflect on the impact of the Trust over the past five years, it is humbling to know that since 2020 we have helped support hundreds of thousands of people. The millions invested have lead to significantly increased social and economic return, and the lives of so many have been improved or made more bearable. However, I am also aware that despite our progress five years into my tenure as CEO, the challenge of alleviating fuel poverty remains immense.

In 2020, the Trust was in a very different place, supporting around 21,000 people a year. Most operational delivery was outsourced to a commercial grant administrator, and the focus was on debt write-offs and a smaller number of project grants. That level of support was meaningful, but the model was limited. Change was on the horizon and the Board decided to change this approach, appointing me as the first full-time CEO.

Just weeks later that same year, the world changed. The pandemic reshaped lives, pushing already vulnerable households into deeper crisis. In the years that followed, volatile energy prices and the cost-of-living emergency left millions unable to heat their homes. The scale of hardship was unlike anything this country had seen in decades.

For the Trust, it was a defining moment. We could not stand still. We brought operations in-house, built a small but expert team, and strengthened our partnership with our funder, British Gas. This new way of working gave us agility, and with the tireless work of our partners, we scaled up at a pace few would have thought possible. By 2023/24, we were supporting over 67,000 people in a single year — almost four times the number before 2020.

Across the full strategic period, from 2020 to 2025, the Trust has directly supported over 350,000 people. More than £70 million has been invested into communities, representing the largest commitment in our history.

This transformation has not just been about scale, but also about scope. Our work now combines immediate relief — energy grants, debt write-offs, fuel vouchers — with holistic advice delivered through over 43 funded projects in 2025, including Citizens Advice and many independent advice charities embedded in local communities. These partnerships are at the heart of our funding model; we provide stability, resources and specialist energy expertise, while trusted community-based organisations deliver tailored advice that reflects the realities of the people they serve.

Alongside advice and grants, we have expanded the types of support available to meet urgent needs in people’s homes. This has included providing essential white goods — such as energy-efficient cookers, fridges and washing machines — so families can live safely and reduce ongoing energy costs. In some cases, funding has helped replace broken beds, purchase mattresses or provide small energy-saving devices like draught excluders and radiator foils. These practical measures, though simple, have been life-changing for many households, bridging the gap between crisis and stability.

We have also expanded innovative outreach like the Post Office Pop-Ups, which bring trusted, face-to-face help into local spaces where people already go. By broadening in this way, we’ve shifted from being a reactive crisis fund to a holistic network of support acting across income, housing, health, and energy.

Importantly, we also introduced thematic grants to support groups at increased risk of harm from poverty and fuel hardship — working with specialist partners to meet acute needs. For example, we awarded £159,764 to Kidney Care UK to deliver tailored money and energy advice directly to kidney patients, many of whom face dramatically higher energy costs due to home dialysis, a kidney-friendly diet, and frequent travel to treatment. Kidney Care UK reported a 240% increase in demand for heating-related grants last winter, and described our funding as “critical in helping the most vulnerable stay safe and warm.”

We also extended thematic support to disability-focused partners such as Mencap, enabling them to provide specialist energy and money advice to people with learning disabilities, and to organisations like Scope, helping disabled people access the additional financial and energy support they need. These targeted interventions ensure that those facing overlapping challenges — whether due to health, caring responsibilities, or disability — receive tailored support when they need it most.

Behind every statistic are real people. A young London family struggling with rent and fuel debt regained stability through guidance and grants. An older carer in East London finally had her energy debt cleared and unlocked benefits for the first time. A blind man and his mother, supported via a Pop-Up, were able to replace a broken bed and begin a housing transfer journey. And a single parent described the emotional lift of debt clearance: “You don’t realise how much this means… there were happy tears, and my shoulders feel a little bit lighter.” These voices show that we are not just reducing debt — we are restoring dignity, easing isolation, and helping people rebuild their lives.

Independent analysis by Oxford Economics shows that every £1 invested by the Trust delivers £5.50 in social value — including improved mental health, financial security, reduced NHS strain, and increased tax contributions. This impact stems from our focus on long-term change, not just crisis relief.

Yet despite our progress, the challenge remains immense. Fuel poverty in England doubled between 2020 and 2024, rising from 4.3 million to 8.9 million households. Fuel poverty continues to intersect with broader inequalities — income, housing, health — that we must tackle head-on.

Over the past five years, we’ve learned that scaling up works when funding and partnerships are aligned; that holistic support has greater lasting impact; that partnerships deepen reach; and that crisis help must be paired with structural solutions — like retrofit, simplified billing, and benefits reform.

As we close the 2020–25 strategy, what stands out is not just the leap in scale — from 21,000 to over 74,000 people in 2025 — but how our role has changed. We have become a community-led, insight-driven organisation that also advocates for systemic change. By convening voices from those on the frontline and those supported, we have developed evidence-informed recommendations for longer funding cycles, a social energy tariff, clearer billing, tougher rental standards, and joined-up retrofit programmes — all grounded in lived experience.

Our founding ambition remains: a future where help like ours is no longer needed at scale. Until then, we must keep innovating, strengthening partnerships, and pushing for structural reforms that shift us from alleviation to eradication.

In five years: over 350,000 people supported. Over £70 million invested. Thousands of lives improved.

The insight is clear, the evidence is compelling — now the challenge is to ensure policy and practice rise to meet it.