Thrive in the Home

Aim

To support older people to be safer and warmer in their homes during the winter months when many will struggle with living and fuel costs.

Age UK Lindsey is a local, community based, independent charity and brand partner of the national Age UK charity.   We have been providing essential support and helping older people in local communities for over 30 years.

This winter many older people will be struggling to pay their bills and heat their homes. This should not be the case and we want to provide direct help to vulnerable older people in our area, many who will face very difficult decisions about whether to keep their homes warm or pay for other essentials, such as food and rent, due to the current ‘cost of living’ crisis. 

Whilst the crisis will have an impact on everyone, we have seen how the effect of high fuel bills and cold homes does disproportionately affect older people, especially the most vulnerable, as they are they more susceptible to adverse health impacts from cold conditions and are frequently dependent on a low, fixed income such as pensions and benefits.

We really want to make a difference!

Age UK Lindsey's dedicated team of staff and volunteers want to help older people who might be at risk this winter by helping them to be safer and warmer in their homes during the winter months.  Working in partnership with other agencies and organisations that support older people such as Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service and targeting the most vulnerable older people in our local communities, we will deliver real help and support.

It is easy to take for granted the comfort of a safe and warm home, but as prices continue to rise; this is a luxury that more and more people will not be able to afford and the evidence from people contacting the charity is that this leads to older people feeling worried, unsafe in their homes – this really impacts their health and wellbeing. 

How will we use these funds?

With any funding we receive, we will help and support older people maximise their income, improve energy efficiency and stay warm and also safe during the winter. 

We will help those older people at greater risk, by completing a Home Energy Check; this will be initially by telephone, to be followed up with Home Energy Check Home Visit where we see what small measures can be installed to keep older people stay warmer and save money whilst providing energy advice and practical tips to help keep fuel bills down.

We will also complete a Benefits Energy Check; this will help older people apply for the benefits they are entitled to. Maximising income lessens the stress of paying energy bills when the weather is cold. 

As part of our Benefit Entitlement Checks and Home Energy Checks, we will also provide advice on keeping warm and saving energy, offering free Age UK information guides that may be useful and refer older people to local services they may find helpful.

We help older people to help themselves.

In 2021/22, Age UK Lindsey identified and helped secure over £1.6 million of unclaimed benefits across our area, helping many older people who were struggling to financially manage.   Local older people were then able to spend this extra money to help fund extra support in their own homes with much of the money spent in the local economy. 

 Extra help we want to provide!

Where a client is in fuel poverty, a referral will be made for a Winter Warmth pack including tea, coffee, sugar, cup a soup, hot chocolate, squash, digestive biscuits, fleece blanket, hand-warmers, hat, fleece or thermal socks, flask, hot/cold insulated cup, flask, draft excluder, plug in night light, thermometer and advice leaflets.

As well as struggling with the cost of living, we know that many vulnerable people are at risk of being targeted by scams and fraud as unscrupulous people see opportunities to take advantage of older people when they are at their lowest point and therefore, we will also look at initiatives that can help prevent and support victims and potential victims of scams. 

We know that we can help older people by improving a household’s income (and their ability to pay bills), reducing their fuel costs, and reducing their energy consumption by improving energy efficiency and this will be a key focus for our service delivery over this winter.

Ken’s story

Ken is 73 and lives alone, he doesn’t have any family and can feel lonely. He struggles physically on a bad day due to his arthritis. He also has high blood pressure and a heart condition.

Ken is struggling to manage and gets some help from his neighbours who cut his grass and fetch some of his shopping. Ken feels upset that his garden looks untidy as he has been very proud of it and a keen gardener until his later years. He also worries a lot about his bills as he doesn’t like to owe money and goes to bed early so he doesn’t have to heat his house or turns his heating off.  

Feeling worried about how he will pay his heating bills this winter, Ken contacted Age UK Lindsey. We completed an assessment with Ken of his needs.  His main issues were worry about his heating, especially as the cold makes his arthritis hurt. Accessing more home help was another change he wanted to make to his life. Ken’s goal was to see if he was claiming everything he was entitled to as he was already struggling financially, but needed to arrange better support at home. 

We did a benefit energy check and identified that he should be entitled to additional benefits, Pension Credit and a Council Tax reduction. We also provided a Winter Warmth pack for Ken and he said ‘I just can’t believe someone cares about me, this will make such a difference to me’.   We also signposted Ken to our Befriending service.

What your donations will do

As the winter hits and we want to keep our homes warm, many people across the Lindsey area are going to be struggling to pay the bills. Some older people will decide between eating or heating, but with energy bills soaring the chance is they won't be able to pay their energy bills at all. 

So, we want to make sure we are there to support as many vulnerable older people as possible. Giving them the support they need, offering them a listening ear, providing our Winter Warmth packs can make a real difference this winter.

Your donations will help us do that and our committed and dedicated team of staff and volunteers are ready to help support those older people who most need our help.

This project successfully funded on 27th February 2023