Supporting residents over winter and beyond - The HACT Fuel Fund 23-24

The Energy Hardship Fund success

Following a £200,000 donation from Fusion21 and smaller contributions from other funders, HACT ran a fuel and cash voucher support scheme across the UK through May and June. This allowed the Energy Hardship Fund to provide emergency support to social housing residents who were struggling to pay for their household energy bills.

Over a 6-week period, the fund distributed £339,330.40 to 1,568 households via a network of 70 social housing providers. The majority (73%) of the funds were distributed as cash vouchers and the average value of support received by household was £216.41.

Most of the funds were spent by medium sized housing organisations with 5,000 – 25,000 homes. This is potentially due to the funds moving so quickly that smaller organisations didn’t have the resources to draw down as much as the funds as the medium sized organisations.

For the first time we saw that the highest proportion of funds went to households with an income between £10,000 – £19,999, compared to previous years where the highest proportion of funds has gone to households with <£9,999 in income. This is likely a result of the cost-of-living crisis impacting those who previously were just about managing, but are now feeling financial pressures.

Due to a small number of voucher expiring at the end of July, just under £30k was returned to the pot for reissue and we’re delighted that this has since been administered to social housing residents through our Age Friendly Social Housing Programme networks.

So, how can we continue to help?

Introducing, the HACT Fuel Fund 23-24

We’re delighted to have secured funding from a new funder for the HACT Fuel Fund 23-24. This fund, however, is slightly different, with support not only available over the coming winter months, but over the next 12 months. Given the on-going cost-of-living crisis, it is clear that more and more residents need a continuous source of support.

Our successful bid means we can now distribute pre-payment meter fuel vouchers to social housing tenants via social housing organisations. Households will be eligible for up to six vouchers, each to the value of £49.

To participate as a referral partner for this funding, you need to:

• Register your interest here
• We will then send you an EOI and terms and conditions
• Sign and return the EOI to us

You will need to complete these steps even if you have previously accessed and distributed fuel vouchers through our other schemes.

Please also note that access to vouchers will work differently this year. A recording of our recent webinar explaining the process will be available shortly.

Please note, funding is only available for tenants living in England, Wales and Scotland and vouchers requests can only be submitted by social housing organisations.