Help Park Home owners get £150 of support

The Charis Park Home Warm Home Discount scheme supports eligible park home residents with a £150 Warm Home Discount (WHD) payment to help with their energy costs over the cold winter months

Many people living in a park home will be daunted by the heating costs that lie ahead this winter. The Park Homes Warm Home Discount scheme enables struggling households to apply for a £150 payment to ease their financial pressures and worry.

If you are involved in supporting households that are struggling, make sure they know how to apply for a £150 payment that can ease their financial pressures and worries.

Why the Park Home WHD scheme is needed

Each year, about 3m UK households automatically receive a WHD rebate via a credit to their electricity account. As almost all park homes residents pay their site owners for their electricity usage, there is no mechanism by which they can receive the rebate, even though their widespread susceptibility to fuel poverty is irrefutable. This is the reason why a standalone Park homes WHD scheme was established.

A few facts and figures about park homes and their residents:

• A typical park home is a prefabricated single-storey house that is manufactured off-site and installed on privately owned land
• Park homes can include mobile homes or caravans
• Most properties are poorly insulated and thermally inefficient
• There are around 110k park homes households across England, Scotland and Wales
• The move to a park home is typically motivated by affordable housing or rural living
• 80% of park home residents are aged 65 or older
• Household income is frequently low or very low with a dependence on state pensions common
• As you would expect for the demographic, failing health is a common challenge
• Households pay site owners for their energy:
  • LPG (liquid petroleum gas) is typically used and while some site owners charge perfectly fair prices, others charge exorbitant fees with impunity
  • they’re unable to switch electricity supplier to save costs

The Park Homes WHD scheme is funded by our energy partners. This year, generous contributions from E.ON Next, OVO, Utility and Rebel Energy mean we can support as many as 7,500 park home households.  Residents can apply online and those needing help with their application can call the Charis customer support team.

Scheme eligibility is determined by the receipt of means tested benefits or tax credits and successful applicants will receive a payment into their bank account. Awards will be made on a first come, first served basis and the scheme will remain open until all the monies have been awarded.

How you can help

Basically, we’d really appreciate you and colleagues spreading the word! Whether you’re a local authority with park home sites in your region, an organisation that already assists park home residents, or a frontline team signposting customers to available support, we’d love you to raise awareness of the scheme so we can help the people who need it most.

This winter’s 10% increase in energy prices and Labour’s recent retrenchment on winter fuel payments will only exacerbate the existing fuel poverty that exists within the park homes community. We want to ensure that as many households as possible are aware of the WHD support available to them.

The £150 payments can be a lifeline for those park homes households who may otherwise have to make a stark choice between heating and eating this winter or spend months at risk of cold home related illnesses.

We have downloadable resources such as posters and a factsheet available to help you let people know about the scheme.

See resources to spread the word about the Park Home Warm Home Discount scheme