How we’re using £1,800,000 to help 700,000 disabled families that have been pushed into poverty

It is not often you find a library as busy as Dalston Library in Hackney.

If you turn up there on a Thursday, you’ll find the place buzzing and full to the brim.

But visitors are not there for books; they are there for crucial energy vouchers.

That is because every Thursday you’ll find the disability charity Scope running an energy advice service in the library.

When Metro visited last month, we saw queues of people waiting to talk to advisors and find out how they can avoid falling into fuel poverty.

The situation for some is so ‘desperate’ they are ‘using heated pain packs and sticking on their body to keep warm.’

With £1.8 million worth of funding from gas distribution network Cadent, Scope plans to help 225,000 disabled people with energy vouchers over two years.

Scope’s trained advisors hold these Community Disability Energy Advice Service sessions) in cities and towns across Cadent’s network.

But if you speak to these advisors they will all tell you the same thing: demand for their help, and vouchers, is going up and up and up.

‘It doesn’t always seem like disabled people are thought about enough. It’s more numbers than figures.

With the energy price cap rising 6.4% and the government announcing cuts to disability benefits, more people are turning to Scope for help.

Two of these are friends Arefat and Tigist, who both have disabled children in the same class at school and came along for support together.

Arefat told Metro: ‘I am struggling at the moment. I do not get enough universal credit for me and my son. 

‘Once the bills are paid for I am left with nothing. I am struggling. The money is not enough.’

Her son’s sensory needs means they ‘need to keep the heating on’ more than others.

According to charity Scope, disabled households like Arefat’s need an additional £1, 010 each month to have the same standard of living as their non-disabled counterparts.

This is because they might need to support specialist equipment, higher energy and utility bills as well as other living expenses.

Tigist’s daughter, for example, has a multi-allergy condition so needs expensive food to live.

She told Metro: ‘Bills are very expensive and it is very hard. I cannot afford it. Sometimes I can’t use my heater. It was a very cold winter.’

After Tigist heard about Scope’s sessions, she invited Arefat along and the pair were able to get one of the day’s more in depth one-to-one advice sessions.

The pair were able to come away with energy and gas vouchers worth £150 and were given crucial tips on how to cut their water bill.

Arefat said: ‘These vouchers mean I can keep the heating on. She gave us so much helpful advice.

‘We found out there is a lot of support available but you never find out about it. Nobody tells you.’

Tigist was just as over-the-moon and ‘very happy’ with the vouchers, which they were sent by text. 

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Both their water bills could also now go from £40 a month to £10.

While the two friends both live in Hackney, word has spread far and wide about the vouchers and support on offer in Dalston Library. 

Abraham, 50, travelled from north London after hearing about Scope’s sessions.

He told Metro: ‘I work part time but bills are so high. I needed to come here and get help.

‘Energy bills are so high, particularly during winter. Sometimes I pay £350 for three months of energy bills. Life can be very hard.’

Abraham, who also supports his 18-year-old son, was able to get one of the day’s more in depth one-to-one advice sessions.

He came away with £150 worth of energy vouchers and tips on how to slash his water bills too.

Abraham was delighted and relieved to have received that financial support.

‘These vouchers will help me afford more energy and food for my son,’ he said.

The trio are a sign of what Scope advisors have told Metro, that interest in their voucher support has skyrocketed since December.

Richard Dilks, the Team Leader for North London and East Anglia said the service only used to get a handful of people at each venues.

‘Then during the second week in December we saw numbers increase overnight. 

‘We are now seeing 250 people a month.

‘At the time I thought a lot of it may be Christmas related. Then obviously as it’s got colder, people have started putting the heating on more.

‘But as prices go up and up, people are dealing with last year’s debt, last year’s issues, and it’s just sort of mounting up.’

On April 1, the energy cap went up by 6.4% from £1,738 a year for a typical household to £1,849.

This compounded a 1.2% increase in January.

Just as that price hike might be starting to bite, the government also laid out a major overhaul to disability benefits in March. 

They pledged tighter eligibility criteria to receive personal independence payments (Pips), which starts at £72.65 a week.

The government have also said the work capability assessment for Universal Credit (UC) will be scrapped in 2028, with extra financial support for health conditions and UC ‘available solely through the Pip assessment’.

The proposals will also stop under 22-year-olds from claiming incapacity benefit top-up to universal credit.

Scope says the government plans for PIP will push more than 700,000 more disabled households into poverty. 

The benefits cuts, alongside the energy price cap increase, are bringing fear to Scope’s advisers and driving more users to their service.

Team leader Richard said: ‘We’re getting more people coming in because they’re worried about how they’re gonna be able to afford the bills.

‘It doesn’t always seem like disabled people are thought about enough. It’s more numbers than figures.

The sessions are getting so popular they sometimes have to limit the numbers because of health and safety.

Richard’s team runs sessions in Hackney, Stamford Hill, Newham, Stoke Newinghton, East Ham and beyond, but the story is the same elsewhere in the country.

Kimberley Humphries, 38, is a Scope energy advisor for the north west of England which is also part of Cadent’s gas network covered by the £1.8 million funding.

Her team of 9 travel far and wide, from Stoke, Macclesfield, Bury, Wigan and Manchester.

They held over 500 one to one advise sessions in February, and demand is only growing.

Kimberley told Metro: ‘We are out in the communities. Disabled pepple are digitally excluded and so may not know about the support Scope provide.

‘We are seeing pockets of significant need.

‘I ppoke to one person who was using heated pain packs and sticking them on their body to keep warm.

‘It is very eye opening. It is desperation, they have no other choice. These are the people we are reaching out to and working with.’

Kim fears the situation will only get worse with the energy price rises and the welfare cuts ahead.

‘The impact is going to be extreme,’ she added. 

‘I envisage a winter where there is going to be a significant increase in people accessing our service and needing more critical support.

‘People do have benefits in place and are already struggling.’

The drop-in sessions and the crucial vouchers are helping however.

Kim said: ‘People come away feeling less isolated in their circumstances. 

‘Then they can talk to other family and friends in similar situations and spread the message.’

People can find out where the next and nearest Scope advice sessions are on their website.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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