VCMA project - Fuel Bank Foundation - Further expand Fuel Bank across Northern England

A contract has been awarded to The Fuel Bank Foundation (FBF) they are an independent charity that aims to support families who pay in advance for energy, typically via a prepayment energy meter and are at risk of self-disconnection or severe rationing or indeed have self-disconnected. Self-disconnection is an unfortunate term: people don't choose to self-disconnect, when the money runs out the electricity and gas switch off too. And in the current climate we are seeing more people than ever turn to the Foundation for much-needed support. A mix of national bodies and local, community-based organisations, what unites them and makes them part of Fuel Bank is that they target distinct demographic groups or particular types of need and identify households in Fuel Crisis. These families are referred into and provided with same-day help from Fuel Bank, to get 'the lights back on and the gas reflowing by tea-time', alongside being provided by relevant and easy-to-access energy advice to give additional support and to lower household money spent on energy. Our key target is that we provide support and help to people within hours of them being referred to us; currently we achieve this over 98% of the time. This creates the enabler that advice provided can be acted upon, with an aim to reduce the propensity for future referral into Fuel Bank for continued crisis help.

A number of simple, yet straight-forward criteria are used to determine when third parties refer a client for Fuel Bank support:

1. The consumer must pre-pay for energy.
2. They must also be in intense financial crisis, unable to fund the basic essentials for everydayliving (including food, rent or mortgage, energy, water, council tax, and essential travel).
3. The consumer must be at immediate risk of self-disconnection, or indeed have self disconnected,or is making choices that may be of a significant detriment to ensure that energy is funded.
4. The third party who identifies that financial Fuel Bank support is required has also identified some additional steps and actions needed to provide additional help. This can include, but isn't limited to benefits entitlement checks, debt advice, money and household management support, and energy efficiency advice and measures. Based on our most recent analysis 96% of clients are struggling with other essential household bills.