With winter just around the corner, you may well be thinking about switching the heating on to keep cosy during the colder months.
Unfortunately, warming the home doesn't come cheap, but there is some government help available for those who need it this winter.
From discounts on your electricity bills to help with insulating your house, there are a few scheme which might help you save money.
Here's what you need to know...
What help and discounts are available to help warm your home this winter?
Warm Home Discount Scheme
This is a new scheme available from October 18 2021.
The scheme offers a one off £140 discount on your electricity bill between October and March.
You will qualify for the scheme is you are:
- part of the 'core' group (if you receive the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit)
- part of the 'broader' group (you’re on a low income and meet your energy supplier’s criteria for the scheme)
More information on the scheme can be found here.
Winter fuel payment
The winter fuel payment is to help pensioners pay their heating bill over the winter.
It is payable to pensioners born before 26 September 1955 who get the State Pension and get another social security benefit (not Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Child Benefit or Universal Credit).
- Payments of between £100 and £300 can be made to those eligible to help with heating costs over the winter.
You can find out more here.
Warmer Homes Scotland
This scheme aims to make people's homes warmer and cost less to heat by providing help such as:
- wall insulation
- loft insulation
- draught-proofing
- boilers and heating
- renewable and micro-renewable heating system
You might be eligible for help if you're struggling to heat your home and you:
- are a homeowner or private tenant
- have also lived in the property for at least 12 months
You can find out more here.
Child Winter Heating Assistance
This payment is to help with increased heating costs over the winter.
The payment of up to £200 is available to children and young people up to 18 who:
- get the highest rate care component of Disability Living Allowance for children
- be resident in Scotland
You can find out more here.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here