Partnerships for People and Place

Partnerships for People and Place is a project to test new ways of tackling fuel poverty and energy inefficiency in St Leonards-on-Sea.  We want to understand how to improve support for people living in cold and energy inefficient homes or struggling to pay bills.

This is a joint project between:

• East Sussex County Council
• the Government
• Citizens Advice
• Retrofitworks.

Retrofitworks are energy experts. They will assess the energy efficiency of homes on some selected streets in St Leonards. 

How to take part in the research

If your street is in the chosen area, we will send you a letter inviting you to take part in the project and explaining the eligibility criteria.

We are sending the letters out in batches, so if you haven’t received one yet, you may still.

The survey

Shortly after your letter arrives, an energy expert from Retrofitworks will knock on your door and ask you to fill out a quick survey and talk to you about the project.

Every household on the chosen streets can complete the survey. The more responses we have, the more useful the research will be.

Only one survey can be completed per property.

The closing date of this survey has been extended to Sunday 11 June 2023 (from 30 April).

Our thank you

Once we have verified your survey, we will send you a £10 Love2Shop voucher! Love2shop vouchers are accepted by over 100 major retailers with more than 20,000 stores UK wide. The voucher will be posted to the address you give us in the survey. 

The home assessment

Retrofitworks will ask you some brief questions to see if you are eligible for a free home assessment. The home assessment will find changes you could make to your property to improve its energy efficiency. If you are eligible, Retrofitworks will book it in at a time that suits you. 150 home assessments will be completed as part of this project. 

Home improvements

There is no obligation to have the home assessment, but if you do, you will benefit from some free small home improvements like draught proofing, pipe insulation or radiator reflectors.

Who is eligible to take part

• Everybody who lives on one of the chosen streets can do the survey.
• Only low-income households in the selected streets with a total gross annual household income of less than £31,000, are eligible for the free energy efficiency home assessment and free home improvements. 
• The eligibility criteria given above, are set out in the Government's guidance to local authorities for the Home Upgrade Grant Phase 2 (HUG2) and for route 1 of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO4).

If you are renting privately:

• you do not need your landlord’s permission to have a home assessment
• some home improvements will require permission from your landlord. Check your tenancy agreement and discuss this with the home improvements assessor. 

Extra support

Even if you are not eligible for the home assessment and home improvements, you can still find out about other support that you may be entitled to from Retrofitworks.  They will:

• offer support and advice via partners like Citizens Advice
• discuss with you any funding available to make home improvements beyond the free ones provided through this project.

Why take part?

As well as receiving a voucher and the possibility of a free home assessment and free small home improvements, you will be helping us understand how cold and energy efficient people’s homes are, and the impact this has on them. This will help us better support people now and in the future.

A more energy efficient home can:

• improve physical and mental health
• reduce your bills
• make living conditions more comfortable
• benefit the environment.

Why have you been asked to take part?

Several streets in St Leonards have been chosen because they have a range of different property types and high numbers of people struggling to pay bills, living with long term health conditions and in energy inefficient properties. You will be asked to take part if you live on any of the chosen streets. But you do not have to take part.

How is this different to the Hastings Borough Council Housing Condition Survey?

The Hastings Borough Council Housing Condition survey and the Partnerships for People and Place project are two different things.

The Hastings Borough Council Housing Condition Survey:

• aims to understand the condition of their housing and find defects that may pose a health and safety concern
• involves properties chosen at random.

The Partnerships for People and Place project:

• is looking for ways to tackle fuel poverty and energy inefficiency
• has priority streets chosen because of high numbers of people living in energy inefficient properties, fuel poverty and with long term health conditions
• offers all eligible households some free home improvements.

If you have already taken part in one of the projects, you can still take part in the other one.

You can trust us

This is not a scam. We have been given funding by Government, so we are offering a free home assessment, which normally costs up to £500, to all eligible households. We are also offering to pay for some small home improvements to each property that has an assessment.

Anybody who visits your home will have been checked using the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), and they will show you their Retrofitworks ID.

Get in touch with our Partnerships for People and Place project

• Contact the project management team:
  Email: pfpp@eastsussex.gov.uk
  
  
• Contact the home assessment and support team:
  Email: pfpp@retrofitworks.co.uk
  Phone: 0330 223 6225

Privacy notice

To find out how we look after your data, see: Privacy notice - Partnerships for People and Place.