Vital support is being offered to those who need it the most, as we extend our Centres for Warmth programme across the North West, West Midlands, East Midlands, South Yorkshire, East of England and North London.
Our Centres for Warmth are based within community hubs and provide warm, safe and welcoming spaces for local people. These centres are a lifeline for many families, providing support with money management and energy advice - with visitors to them able to save up to £3,000.
We have 200 centres in place and now we are looking to add to this number, with an £500k of funding to be distributed across specific areas, in line with local needs.
Community centres in selected locations are invited to apply for funding to employ advisors to support your customer with:
- Support with benefit entitlement (checks and claims) on average customers have saved £3,000 per year
- Home energy efficiency advice
- Carbon monoxide awareness sessions
- Slow cooker lessons on how to make a healthy, affordable meal at home
- Free carbon monoxide alarms and slow cookers for distribution to those who need them.
- Information on how to help your customers to registeron the Priority Services Register (PSR)
- Free gas safety checks
- Hot drinks and refreshments
We will provide your community centre and its employees with all the necessary support, training, materials and tools to deliver this.
Find out more about the work we do with our Centres for Warmth.
Apply to be a Centre for Warmth
We are currently inviting applications from the following areas:
- Luton and Bedfordshire
- Watford and outer London metropolitan area
- Cambridgeshire
- Northamptonshire
- Lincolnshire
- Nottinghamshire
- East Essex
- West London
- Slough
- Chester and wider Cheshire
- Merseyside
- Lancaster and Morcambe
- Stoke on Trent
- Dudley and wider Black Country
- Lichfield / Tamworth area of Staffordshire
Entry Requirements
Our centres are funded by the Vulnerability and Carbon Monoxide Allowance (VCMA), which is allocated to us by regulator Ofgem.
We must therefore be able to demonstrate that the funding will produce a positive social return and whilst each application will be considered individually, we will be looking for the following:
- Proof that the funding will be used to support local people living in vulnerable situations
- A facility that will enable carbon monoxide and energy efficiency awareness sessions to take place (please note we will often fund an advisor role to deliver this).
How to apply
If you think your centre meets the criteria, then here’s how to apply:
- Tell us why you want to become a Centre for Warmth and how your local community will benefit from the funding
- The more information you can provide, the better, but entries should be no more than 1,000 words
- If writing isn’t your cup of tea then why don’t you send us a video entry instead?
- Email your written or video entry to centresforwarmth@cadentgas.com. Please include ‘Centre for Warmth Application’ and the name of your community centre in the subject line
- Don’t forget to add your community centre’s full address and contact details within your email submission
- Your entry will then go through the review process and we may ask to visit your centre
- You will need to complete a final proposal form and if approved, a written agreement will be made between Cadent and your centre.