Residents of North East Lincolnshire will be interested to know that the recent cold weather has triggered a payment of £25.00 to those who qualify.

During a very cold winter, the costs of heating can quickly add up. If you’re receiving certain benefits, you may be able to get a Cold Weather Payment for each period of very cold weather in your area. You can find out whether you qualify for help this winter from the DirectGov website.

Cold Weather Payments help people, who get certain income-related benefits, with their increased heating costs caused by periods of very cold weather during winter.

A cold weather payment is made if the average recorded temperature falls to zero degrees Celsius or below over seven consecutive days or if it is forecast there will be an averagetemperarure of zero degrees Celsius or below for seven days in a row.

How the Cold Weather Payments scheme works

The Cold Weather Payments scheme runs every winterbetween November 1st and March 31st.

A network of weather stations gathers temperature information. This is used to see whether there has been a ‘period of very cold weather’ in any postcode area.

When there is a period of very cold weather in your postcode area, a Cold Weather Payment is made to eligible people who live there.

When there hasn’t been a period of very cold weather in your postcode area, a Cold Weather Payment will not be paid.

People who live near to each other but in different postcode areas might get Cold Weather payments at different times.

How to find out if Cold Weather Payments have been made in your postcode area

You can find out if a Cold Weather Payment has been made in your postcode area by using the Postcode Search

It has been estimated that consumers are losing out by £4.1 billion a year by not switching to the cheapest energy deal. Which? and 38 Degrees are offering you the chance to be part of a UK first – using collective power to get a market-leading energy deal – in The Big Switch.

Richard Lloyd, executive director of Which?, said:

“We are urging anyone who is angry about the state of the energy market to sign up.

“The Big Switch is the first chance to do this in the UK, and an opportunity for the energy suppliers to demonstrate that they’re serious about changing their ways and putting consumers first”

Consumers can register their interest through The Big Switch website until the end of March, when energy companies will be invited to submit a market leading deal and take part in a reverse auction.

Which? is joined by 38 Degrees and broadcaster Jonathan Maitland, who also want to see energy customers getting a better deal.

Research from Which? on the energy market shows that UK consumers could save on average £4 billion per year just by switching to the cheapest energy deal, but figures from the energy regulator Ofgem show that six out of 10 people have never switched their gas and electricity.

Richard Lloyd said:

“It’s a £4 billion free kick for the energy companies if so many of us stick with their more expensive tariffs.”

He added

“The government, regulator and energy companies have failed to move quickly enough to improve things for consumers when so many are struggling to pay their bills.”

How does The Big Switch work?

Step 1 – Consumers register their interest via The Big Switch website.

Step 2 – Which? negotiates on behalf of the people who have signed up. We’ll aim to secure a market-leading energy deal.

Step 3 – You choose. We’ll email you with details of the deal that we’ve secured, and you can decide whether to take up the offer.

There is no guarantee of a deal, but the more peoplethat join together, the greater the bargaining power of the group. You can encourage your friends and family to sign up too by directing them to The Big Switch website.

Liberal Democrat Energy secretary Edward Davey said:

“I’m delighted that Which? have developed their Big Switch, as I have long believed that collective purchasing will be a game-changer in terms of handing power back to consumers.”

Collective switching has already been tried and tested with great success in other countries and Which? are confidentthat it will be a success in the UK too.

Using the combined switching power of thousands of consumers, will place consumers in a great bargaining position to get a cheaper deal

You can read more at : http://ht.ly/8VAXV

Energy market reforms which will make it easier for consumers to get the best deal have been backed by Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, Julian Huppert.

He was given the chance to have his say on the plans at an event organised by energy regulator, Ofgem at the House of Commons.

Under the proposals, each energy supplier will have to offer a no frills tariff with a simple unit price and a fixed standing charge.

It is expected that around 75% of consumers on standard tariffs will benefit from the changes.

Energy companies would also be required to make their bills, annual statements and other communications to their customers clearer and easier to understand and they would be bound by new, enforceable standards of conduct.

Julian said:

“Any simplification of the energy market which makes it easier for consumers to understand the different tariffs available and exactly what they are being charged for is extremely welcome.

“We need the system to be completely transparent so that consumers can get the best value for money while at the same time saving energy where they can.

“These are very difficult times and we have seen energy prices going up and up. Consumers need to be confident that their energy supplier is the best one for their needs and if not, they need to be able to swap with ease.”

Ofgem is currently consulting on its proposals which were drawn up after identified competition was being stifled by a combination of complex tariffs, poor supplier behaviour and a lack of transparency.

According to leaked Whitehall information, there are a total of 6,000 social housing tenants who currently live on more than £100,000 a year, which confirms figures released by ministers last year.

The data, which was leaked to the Daily Mail, also reveals that there are up to 15,000 households living in council homes currently living on incomes in excess of £80,000 a year, and almost one in five households living in social housing, around 720,000, earn more than the average national wage.

Ministers are planning to target those who could afford to buy a house privately but instead choose to continue living in council homes at a vastly reduced rent.

Most high-earning tenants live in London, where rents are soaring. Frank Dobson, Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras, earns £66,000 a year and lives in a council flat.

Mr Dobson is quoted in the Mail as saying:

“Market rents in our area are phenomenal, I wouldn’t be able to afford it.”

He added:

“Very large numbers of people, who in any other part of the country would be regarded as reasonably well off, are not comfortably off in London because of house prices and rents, which are insane.”

Last month, Will Davies, co-founder of maintenance company aspect.co.uk, called council tenants who earn more than £100,000 a year “parasites” and claimed they should be evicted from their homes.

A total of eight million people are currently living in four million council (or housing association) homes in England and Wales and 1.8 million families are on the waiting lists.

New Energy Secretary Ed Davey said recently while visitting Watford that British companies are “leading the world” in creating green jobs and improving energy efficiency, and Mr Davey also marked his first full day in the job by announcing the 155 community projects that have succeeded with bids for a £5.1 million pot from the Local Energy Assessment Fund.

Speaking on his first ministerial visit since replacing Chris Huhne in the role, Mr Davey said he has been a “lifelong supporter” of renewable energy.

Liberal Democrat MP Mr Davey, who was accompanied to the Building Research Establishment (BRE) testing facility for green homes near Watford by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, said:

“I’ve been a lifelong supporter of the green agenda, I campaigned at university and afterwards on things like energy efficiency, and I’m here today at the excellent BRE seeing what British companies are doing leading the world, creating green jobs.

“I’ve also been a lifelong supporter of renewables and so I’m delighted to see that the UK again is leading in that technology.”

Mr Davey, who has recently been promoted from his former position as a business minister following the resignation of Chris Huhne to defend himself against charges of perverting the course of justice, added that the UK must continue to play a leading role in exporting green technologies.

He added:

“We’ve got to compete in the world and actually here’s an industry, here’s a technology – a group of technologies – where we’re leading the world, and this institute here is playing a critical role in that.”

Mr Davey and Mr Clegg went on a tour of some of the prototype buildings at the site where some of the latest energy- efficient technology is developed, and after being shown examples of sustainable homes, including one that has zero carbon emissions, the pair spoke to young people taking part in the company’s graduate scheme.

Annette Brooke, Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, has questioned the Government over its support for local landlord accreditation schemes. Annette raised the issue during Department of Communities and Local Government Questions in the House of Commons on Monday.

Annette’s question came as MPs queried the ministerial team over standards in the private rented sector.

Annette asked:

“What is the Department’s view on local landlord accreditation schemes, and what advice does he give on such schemes to local authorities?”

Having had a good experience with a local accreditation scheme run by Poole Borough District Council, Annette sought to highlight the positive impacts these schemes can have in raising standards.

In his response, Grant Shapps, the Minister of State for Housing and Local Government, confirmed his support for such schemes, saying that local accreditation and licensing schemes can be good value for local people. He also highlighted the flexibility of these schemes, noting their ability to meet local needs.

Question and Answer in Full:

Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD):

What is the Department’s view on local landlord accreditation schemes, and what advice does he give on such schemes to local authorities?

Grant Shapps:

Local accreditation and licensing schemes can be good value for local people. I attended a local accreditation in Welwyn Hatfield on Thursday evening. The scheme is very good and designed locally to address local problems; in our case, it happens to be a student population. That is the advantage of doing it locally: it can be fitted in with what the community requires.

To read the question in full visit http://ht.ly/8SK52

The Financial Services Authority has clamped down on the sale and rent back industry, which preyed on struggling homeowners.

A damning report published by the Financial Services Authority this morning shows that most sale and rent back deals are either unaffordable or unsuitable and never should have been sold.

The regulator has now effectively shut the entire industry by referring one firm to its enforcement division and cancelling the permissions of others.

Nausicaa Delfas, the FSA’s head of mortgage and general insurance supervision, said:

“Sale and rent back is often the last resort for struggling homeowners, so we expected to see firms treating their customers much better than this report suggests.

“It seems most firms were more focussed on their own commercial success rather than the welfare of the customers, with one firm even resorting to fraud.”

Sale and rent back companies targeted struggling homeowners with an offer to buy their home and then let them pay rent to continue living in the same home.

The deals were promoted with the promise of helping people to avoid becoming homeless, but firms paid a pittance for properties and then sold them on for a large profit leaving the former owners with no rights and at the mercy of new owners who often raised rents to an unaffordable level.

Following a review of all regulated SRB firms, the FSA has referred one firm to its enforcement division while others have either stopped taking on new business or cancelled their permissions. Effectively, this means the entire SRB market is temporarily shut.

Of the 22 firms reviewed, only nine had been active since the FSA began regulating SRB. Of this nine, five firms have now stopped doing SRB business, two have kept their regulatory permissions but decided not to use them in future, five have agreed to undertake past business reviews (which may result in consumer redress) and one will only purchase second-hand SRB contracts from other firms.

If customers with existing SRB agreements have concerns about their agreement they should in the first instance contact their SRB provider, or seek professional advice.

The FSA had previously identified and published areas of concern regarding financial promotions targeting vulnerable consumers. It had also received intelligence from a lender alleging that one firm was arranging SRB transactions as buy to let mortgages where the properties were purchased by the firm at below market value then inflating purchase prices to defraud the lender. Additionally, a study by consumer group Which? in February 2011 found advice to SRB customers to be ‘woefully inadequate’.

In March 2011, the FSA commenced a review of the sales practices of the 22 authorised SRB firms. The most common failings identified by the FSA were:

•SRB firms did not correctly assess appropriateness and affordability, and customers were not given enough time to consider the agreement;

•disclosure of the key facts of an SRB agreement did not follow the correct order, was insufficient and not given at the right time;

•agreements contained incorrect information and did not meet the FSA’s requirements for tenancy agreements;

•sales processes were inadequate and did not allow firms to gather enough information to assess appropriateness;

•financial promotions breached FSA rules; and

•training and competence, compliance monitoring, and record keeping were all inadequate.

As the big freeze grips the country, pensioners and the most vulnerable are being urged to take advantage of a government grant scheme to help make homes warmer.

Letters have just landed on 675,000 doormats across England to raise awareness about the Warm Front scheme.

The letters explain how pensioners and people on very low incomes can get money off having their heating repaired or replaced or having their lofts insulated through picking up the phone and contacting Warm Front.

So far the scheme has assisted 21,000 homes this financial year, but has the capacity to help at least 16,000 more before the end of March and at least 40,000 next year.

Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said: “The cold weather we’re experiencing at the moment reminds everyone how important it is to have a cosy home so I’m urging anyone who’s eligible for a Warm Front grant to pick up the phone. Getting a new boiler, fixing an old one, or even just topping up loft insulation can lead to a warmer home in the future. It’s easy to apply, all you have to do is call 0800 316 6004 and, if you’re eligible, the Warm Front team will do all the paperwork for you.”

The Government has also been working with National Energy Action, Consumer Focus and Citizens Advice to further promote the Warm Front scheme.

As forecasters predict freezing temperatures across the country this weekend, pensioners and the most vulnerable are being reminded what help is available to keep warm.

Warm Front

Provides grants to people in poorly heated or insulated homes to pay for boiler repairs, new central heating systems and insulation work. Those eligible can apply for up to £3,500 towards the cost of the work or up to £6,000 for homes not connected to mains gas.

Warm Home Discount

This scheme will help around two million low income and vulnerable households this year, including automatically giving £120 discount to about 600,000 of the most vulnerable pensioners this winter.

Cold Weather Payments

Cold Weather Payments are paid to pensioners who receive pension credit or people on income-related benefits who meet certain criteria, during periods of severely cold weather. Since the start of this winter’s Cold Weather Payment season, DWP has paid an estimated £27.8m to more than 1.1m customers across Great Britain through Cold Weather Payments.

Winter Fuel Payment

Annual payments for pensioners worth up to £300 have been paid out to an estimated 12.7 million people older people in more than 9 million homes.

The Government is also taking action this winter to help consumers help themselves and save money on bills by shopping around and switching. Consumers can log on to www.direct.gov.uk/homeenergy for advice on how to Check, Switch and Insulate to Save.

If your home is poorly insulated, or you don’t have a working central heating system, you might be missing out on free help for insulation and heating improvements.

Consumer Focus and National Energy Action are warning that many grants are going unclaimed. This means there is spare money left in the scheme, despite the government cuts. Some people may have not claimed because they thought there is no money left or that they aren’t entitled to get any help.

You can get help if you own your home or rent from a private landlord and it’s poorly insulated or your central heating isn’t working. You and your partner also need to be getting one of the following benefits:

•Pension Credit, or

•Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, or income-based Employment and Support Allowance and there is also either a child under five in your household, or a pensioner, or anybody who is severely disabled

If so, you could get help with the following:

•loft insulation

•draughtproofing

•cavity wall insulation

•hot water tank insulation

•gas, electric, liquid petroleum gas or oil heating

•glass-fronted fire – the Warm Front scheme can convert your solid-fuel open fire to a glass-fronted fire

If you think you might be eligible, it’s best to apply before 31 March, before the money for this year is used up.

For more information about the Warm Front scheme and how to apply, go to the Directgov website at www.direct.gov.uk/warmfront, or call 0800 408 0688.

For more information about this scheme and other help that is available, there is more information available from the Citizens Advice Bureauadvice guide at http://ht.ly/8Pgo5

Act now, before temperatures drop. That is the message from the the North East Linciolnshire Home Energy Team, to ensure properties have adequate heating and insulation.

Last winter was the coldest in over 30 years and the council and its partner, Balfour Beatty, is advising residents there may be grants available that can help them keep their homes warmer this year and for future years to come.

For example, the government’s Warm Front scheme can offer a grant of up to £3,500 for heating and insulation measures for those who qualify and are in receipt of one of the following benefits:

• Pension credit

• Income support or income-based jobseeker’s allowance or

• Income-related employment and support allowance (ESA) which includes a work related activity or support component and have any of the following:

• Parental responsibility for a child under five who ordinarily resides with that person

• Child tax credit, which must include a disability or severe disability element for a child or young person

• Disabled child premium

• Disability premium, enhanced disability or severe disability element premium

• Pensioner premium, higher pensioner premium or enhanced pensioner premium

The council also runs a discounted insulation scheme for homeowners and may be able to obtain loft insulation for £99 or cavity wall insulation for £89, subject to survey.

If you are over 70 or in receipt of means tested benefits or tax credits, you may be able to receive free insulation. And for those between the ages of 60 to 69 insulation can be available for just £49.

To find out more, contact the home energy team on (01472) 324782.