Fuel scheme failing poorest - MPs
A flagship Government scheme aimed at reducing fuel poverty is failing many of the country's poorest households, a powerful cross-party committee of MPs has said.
The Warm Front programme, which provides grants to eligible households to assist with the cost of installing more efficient heating and insulation measures, is not achieving the "best value for money", the Commons Public Accounts Committee warned.
The committee found almost three-quarters of those assisted by the scheme were not actually in fuel poverty.
Edward Leigh, the committee's Conservative chairman, said: "The Warm Front scheme seems to be failing many of the poorest and most vulnerable households.
"It is unclear whether the primary aim of the scheme is to improve the energy efficiency of homes or to reduce fuel poverty.
"If the latter, then the scheme is certainly still missing the mark a lot of the time, with only about a third of the genuinely fuel poor qualifying for help.
"And a full three-quarters of households who benefit from the scheme are not in fuel poverty.
"Too much funding is also going to those whose dwellings are already energy efficient - nearly a fifth of those receiving assistance over three years.
"And over £15 million was spent on measures which have a limited effect on overall energy efficiency and would do little on their own to lift households out of fuel poverty.
"As more families sink into fuel poverty, the Warm Front scheme must be focused much more sharply on those households genuinely needing help."
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