More than 4,500 private sector homes have been improved since 2009 through our private sector renewal work. However, Government funding for private sector renewal ceased in 2011 so we developed a Community Finance Initiative with a private sector partner and other authorities to focus on equity release and low cost loans to unlock the capital in people’s homes.
Although there have been significant improvements in home energy efficiency, domestic energy prices almost doubled in the three years to 2012/13. Whilst they have remained constant since then, lack of wage increases has meant there has been a large increase in the numbers of households in fuel poverty.