East Suffolk Flexible Eligibility Statement of Intent

The purpose of flexible eligibility is to identify private households that may benefit from energy saving measures and are:

1. Fuel poor households, especially those that are not in receipt of Affordable Warmth eligible benefits, and the estimated 20% of fuel poor households that are not in receipt of any benefits; and
2. Low income households that are vulnerable to the effects of living in a cold home (LIVC)

Local authorities can make “declarations” in relation to such households in fuel poverty which in turn enables registered installers to access funding from Energy Companies to grant aid the installation of insulation and heating measures. They can also declare some non-fuel poor homes as eligible, to facilitate solid wall insulation projects, as long as a proportion of the households in the project are in fuel poverty or LIVC.

This Statement of Intent includes the ability to declare “infill properties”. An infill declaration is allowed where a proportion of the residents are not technically in fuel poverty, but where the scheme allows for inclusion of their properties in the programme rather than leave gaps.

The local authority must declare that in its opinion, the premises listed in the declaration are occupied by a household(s) living in fuel poverty (FP) or by a household(s) living on a low income and vulnerable to the effects of living in a cold home (LIVC).