Decision

The Director of Public Health has approved the
grant allocation of £477,636 from the Public Health Grant to
Energy Projects Plus (charity number 1080137) (for the period 21
October 2025 – 20 October 2028) to provide a health and
housing service to support residents experiencing fuel poverty and
improve the health and wellbeing of Wirral residents. This supports
delivery of the Wirral Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

Reasons for the decision

The on-going rise in energy prices, and
continued cost of living crisis has led to a sustained increase in
the number of households struggling to afford heat and electricity.
The energy crisis has led to a sharp rise in fuel poverty. Fuel
poverty means being unable to heat your home to a safe and
comfortable standard.

Fuel poverty has a detrimental impact on our health and wellbeing.
fuel poverty can lead to cold homes, chronic damp and mould, and
overheating in summer. It can affect people’s ability to live
a healthy lifestyle, including cooking and washing. This can have a
significant impact on residents’ health and wellbeing, and is
highlighted by Government policy- Sustainable warmth: protecting
vulnerable households in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) guidance
identifying a link between cold homes, ill-health, and excess
winter deaths.

This funding provides an opportunity to provide a holistic approach
to tackling fuel poverty through a health and housing programme to
reduce the adverse health impacts of extreme temperatures in homes,
be those cold homes in winter or summer overheating. The programme
will ensure the continuation and expansion of the existing
single-point-of-contact provision, along with expert ‘Energy
Buddies’ enabling vulnerable Wirral residents to keep warm
and well at home, reduce their energy bills, and lower their carbon
footprints. It is projected that the programme will achieve over
£200,000 per annum in fuel bill savings for residents.

This Pubic Health grant funding will focus on evidencing outcomes
that are most important to implementing the Council’s Health
and Wellbeing Strategy priorities and associated
‘game-changers’.

Alternative options considered

Various options were explored including
different financial models for investment along with the option of
not providing any additional investment. These options, although
considered, are not recommended as this would risk delivery of
local strategic priorities.