Home visits, events and face-to-face networking – key to providing our services – were all cancelled, our offices in Aberdeen and Dundee vacated until further notice.
Like many organisations across all sectors, Scarf has found this period of time extremely challenging. Thankfully, we had the infrastructure in place to work from home with minimal disruption to service.
Given the struggles many householders have faced, we are especially glad for this continuity. Fuel use and bills are up and, sadly, many incomes are down. The need for practical advice and support has been great and while we regret the circumstances we are delighted to have played a part in alleviating the financial pressure facing households.
It has also been a time for the third and charity sector to come together to provide a support network for individuals and communities. Partnerships have been strengthened and services integrated to help households get more support with less fuss. We have worked closely with foodbanks, for example, to take a united front on fuel and food poverty, with the two so closely related.
Here’s a flavour of how we’ve helped so far:
- Helped over 4,000 households with free and impartial advice between the Home Energy Scotland and Home Energy Advice Team services.
- Worked with over 70 organisations in the third and charity sector with signposting and referrals.
- Offered advice that will save a collective 17,553 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
- Distributed over £7,000 from our Heat Fund to help residents heat their homes, mainly through the purchase of prepayment meter credit.
While we regret the circumstances, we look forward to continuing our work and making a difference.
For now, we offer a heartfelt thanks our staff, customers and partners for their ongoing support throughout this testing period.
