UK market leader Ideal Heating has supported an initiative led by Hull City Council to help residents during the cold winter months.
The Affordable Warmth and Energy Saving Community Grants scheme offers grants of up to £12,000 to organisations such as charities, faith groups and residents’ associations to keep residents warm and well as temperatures drop.
Hull-based Ideal Heating has supported the £250,000 scheme with a significant donation, with 32 successful recipients receiving funding for a variety of projects across the city and East Yorkshire.
Projects funded have provided people with warm spaces to take shelter in across Hull, as well as energy saving advice, hot meals, winter clothing and cold weather packs.
Ideal Heating is one of Hull’s biggest employers, with more than 800 people based at its main site in National Avenue. The company also has a £2.2m National Training and Technology Centre at Bridgehead business park in Hessle, East Yorkshire.
The company works with its employees, customers and the wider community to support a range of local and national good causes.
Stevie Spinks, Divisional Sales Director for Social Housing at Ideal Heating, said: “We’re delighted to be supporting a scheme which will make a real difference to those most in need of help as the colder winter months approach.
“As a major employer in Hull for more than a century, we understand and respect the responsibility we have to support our local community.
“With the cost of living creating challenges and pressures for many families and individuals, this scheme is a perfect example of public and private sectors combining to tackle a very real issue which is affecting so many people.”
The Affordable Warmth and Energy Saving Community Grants scheme was launched to enable charities, community and social enterprise groups to help Hull residents manage their energy bills and the current cost of living.
Grants were available from £1,000 to a maximum of £12,000, with applications being made by charities, churches, community interest companies and not-for-profit organisations.
Successful recipients of funding included Back to Ours – an arts and culture project in Hull which also provides people with warm spaces, family sessions, energy advice and warm packs including slow cookers, clothing and electric blankets.
Other recipients include refugee support charity Bora Shabaa, Hull Deaf Centre, Hessle Road Network, Holderness Road Methodist and Great Thornton Street TARA (Tenants and Residents’ Association).
Hull City Councillor Jack Haines, whose portfolio includes Communities, said: “This winter, energy costs will be a real burden for local residents dealing with the increased cost of living. The council is committed to getting ahead and preparing for when soaring energy usage will further affect families right across the city.
“It’s sad that our society needs these community spaces, but we’re pleased to be able to provide support to local community groups and the vital work they do. We received many applications and are confident these successful projects will make a real difference to local residents right across the city.
“The council wants those who are struggling to have somewhere to turn to for help – and we’re doing just that.”
As part of the scheme, Ideal Heating has also sponsored a series of fuel poverty and energy saving training sessions for voluntary and community sector groups.
The sessions will be taking place throughout October, and aim to equip people with the knowledge they need to help keep their energy bills down, while also staying warm and well.
In a similar scheme outside of the region, Ideal Heating recently announced it had teamed up with West Midlands-based social housing provider Wrekin Housing Group to tackle fuel poverty.
Ideal Heating supported Wrekin’s Warm Home Pack initiative, providing residents amid high energy prices and the rising cost of living.
