Groundwork UK – Stay warm, Stay well programme 

Since 2020 Cadent Foundation has worked with Groundwork and committed an investment of £6m over the partnership to support 14,500 households in our communities to stay warm at home.

Together we established the Stay Warm Stay Well  programme, to allow Green Doctors – energy saving experts – to provide bespoke, tailored advice to help households stay warm, stay well, save money on their household bills and reduce carbon. Participating households receive a detailed consultation from a Green Doctor, which combines energy efficiency advice, referrals to other local support services (e.g. debt advice, food banks), and the installation of small energy saving measures at home. The partnership is funding 14,500 consultations between 2024 and 2026.

The programme also includes the Cadent Foundation Green Doctor Academy - an initiative to support the creation of the next generation of energy advisors via a 12-month traineeship opportunity. This enables more accessible pathways into work for people, particularly those with a disability, from an ethnic minority background, or from a low-income household.

Find out more at: https://www.groundwork.org.uk/greendoctor

Read our case studies to understand how our partners advice really benefits people's everyday life and can even have life changing effects on health and wellbeing.

Case study – energy efficiency support from Groundwork

67-year-old Sue lives with her husband. He has numerous physical health issues which require their home to be kept warm but, despite their efforts, one part remained dangerously cold.  

The Groundwork Green Doctor found the cold patch was due to a draught from one of the doors and installed draughtproofing to limit the amount of heat escaping. 

They also installed radiator foils and helped Sue programme her thermostat to come on at the right time. A follow up call found Sue was already feeling the benefits of the radiator foils and has needed to turn the thermostat down.  

I thought I knew how to meet the challenges of keeping my home warm, but the visit highlighted things I had missed. It was a pleasure to have a Green Doctor come to my home. He walked through my home with respect, had a great manner and provided ideas that have warmed my rooms to a higher level. I am already saving money!