Ofgem offers £22mn for vulnerable households & energy projects, plus more funding news
Melanie May | 13 September 2022 | News
£22million is available to charities and community energy groups supporting households most at risk from cold homes and high energy bills, or working on innovation and carbon emissions reduction across England, Scotland and Wales.
The grants are available through the Ofgem Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme (Energy Redress Scheme) second funding round of phase two of the scheme.
The money comes from Ofgem’s enforcement and compliance activity, which collects voluntary payments from companies that may have breached Ofgem administered rules. Energy Saving Trust manages the allocation of payments for the Scheme, which has been in place for four years. Its priorities are to support energy consumers in vulnerable situations, develop innovative products or services and empower consumers to reduce their carbon emissions.
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Charities can apply for grants to deliver energy related projects through four different funding streams. Funding is also open to community energy groups – including community interest companies, co-operative societies and community benefit societies – who can apply to either the Carbon Emissions Reduction Fund or the Innovation Fund.
- The Main Fund contains £14.4 million. This is aimed at projects seeking grants between £50,000 and £2 million that will support households in vulnerable situations.
- The Small Project Fund contains £1 million – aimed at projects seeking grants between £20,000 to £49,999 that will support households in vulnerable situations.
- The Innovation Fund contains £3.3 million – aimed at projects that will develop innovative products or services to benefit households. Applicants can apply for grants between £50,000 to £1 million.
- The Carbon Emissions Reduction Fund contains £3.3 million – aimed at projects that empower householders to reduce their carbon emissions and engage positively with the transition to net zero. The fund awards grants between £50,000 to £1 million.
Nearly one thousand organisations are already registered with the Energy Redress Scheme and can apply to the open rounds. Organisations that have not yet registered with the scheme must do so 10 working days before the closure of the relevant Fund to allow time for eligibility checks to take place.
The deadline for applications is 5pm on Thursday 6 October 2022.
£1mn to help over 65s with cost-of-living crisis
Independent Age has launched a £1 million emergency fund to support community projects helping older people through the cost-of-living crisis.
The charity will allocate funding to local organisations that can help over 65s struggling financially to weather the cost-of-living crisis. It is looking to support a range of projects that get more money into the pockets of older people. This could be through ensuring they are claiming the benefits to which they are entitled or reducing their expenditure, by switching energy providers or getting better deals for other services.
Simon Hewett-Avison, Director of Services at Independent Age, said:
“The cost-of-living crisis is having a devastating impact on many older people who have no way to increase their income. As prices go up, and with inflation at an all-time high, more and more older people are being pushed into poverty or having to make impossible decisions about what to cut back on, because the extra money is simply not there.
“We cannot stand by as people struggle. The scale and speed of the crisis means we need to work together to widen the support options for older people.
“Our £1 million in rapid response grants will help community-based organisations to provide grassroots support for older people and ensure people receive the sustainable help they need. And our existing community work and national services will continue, so we can reach as many people as possible.”
“We are calling on other funders to collaborate with us to support more organisations and more older people across the UK deal with this crisis”
The Phase 1 application form is open until the end of this week – 16 September.
Barclays Community Football Fund launches
Sported has partnered with Barclays to deliver a new community fund, providing grants to groups making football more accessible at the grassroots level.
Grants of £500 are available for groups wishing to start offering football, those keen to expand their existing provision to new audiences or those already delivering football to under-represented young people. Alongside the grants, the programme will be offering training and support resources to help reduce inequalities in the participation of football.
The programme’s engagement will focus on including girls and young people from lower socio-economic and under-represented groups: including racially diverse communities, young people with disabilities, and young people from the LGBTQ+ community.
Applications are welcome from all types of organisations including football clubs, community groups, youth groups and charities.
POhWER opens applications for new round of Arthur Bate Fund
Grants given out from POhWER’s Arthur Bate Fund, worth up to £2,000, will be used to continue Arthur’s legacy by supporting individuals and organisations to contribute to the voluntary sector as a volunteer or trustee, especially in advocacy and peer support.
Individuals or organisations can apply for the grant to cover costs related to achieving a desired goal. Money can therefore go towards training, advertising, hiring a meeting room or some other relevant activity.
Recipients of previous Arthur Bate Fund awards have included the Basingstoke and District Disability Forum, who were awarded £1,500 to help grow their volunteer base, Disability Snowsport UK, who secured £800 for inclusion training, and Striving for Unity, who received £900 to help fund the first six months of a community hub for children with learning disabilities and their families.
The Fund first launched in 2021 to remember Arthur Bate, a founding member of POhWER, who passed away in August 2013, at the age of 54, following a short illness.
Applications close on 31 October.
More funding news
Bromley and Croydon Women’s Aid receive social investment loan from SASC
Bromley and Croydon Women’s Aid (BCWA), a domestic abuse charity and a registered supported housing provider, has received a social investment loan of £2.75 million from Social and Sustainable Capital (SASC).
The loan from SASC’s Social and Sustainable Housing fund (SASH) will allow BCWA to purchase 11 residential properties for use as supported housing. These properties will range from one to three bedrooms and can accommodate 11 women and their children moving on from refuge.
BCWA received 2,395 referrals and supported 2,171 women across the boroughs. A woman typical stays in a refuge 6 months.
The new properties will add to BCWA’s existing supported housing operation which covers nine refuge properties across both boroughs (54 bed spaces in total) and provide essential housing and support services for women and their children fleeing from domestic abuse.
HEINEKEN Africa Foundation & WaterAid partner on pandemic preparedness project
HEINEKEN Africa Foundation and WaterAid have announced a new €1.125 million partnership centred around pandemic preparedness, focusing on handwashing facilities in five countries, as an important line of defence against the spread of disease and future pandemics.
The partnership follows the organisations’ joint COVID-19 response programme, which reached more than 37 million people across Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda, Mozambique and Ethiopia.
Since 2020 the Foundation has donated €2.8 million to the international charity, supporting its emergency response work to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in vulnerable communities in sub-Saharan Africa.
This included reaching over 37 million people with hygiene messages spread via TV, radio and print campaigns, as well as installing over 1400 handwashing stations in markets, schools and health centres, reaching 1.7 million people. 1800 people were also trained in promoting hygiene behaviour change and 108,000 were reached with access to clean water.
As the Foundation and WaterAid enter the next phase of their partnership, the focus will shift to sustaining hygiene behaviours beyond the COVID-19 outbreak. Together they will help to reduce the spread of other diseases, developing sustainable handwashing facilities and building more water points to support community access to water.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.