The Scottish Government’s national fuel poverty scheme, Warmer Homes Scotland, has helped only 1.6% of households in Fife since its launch in 2015. Fife Liberal Democrat leader Councillor James Calder said the pace of progress does not reflect the urgency of fuel poverty.

Figures from Warmer Homes Scotland showed that since the scheme began in 2015 it has helped 2729 in Fife with energy efficiency measures.

Earlier this year the Scottish Housing Conditions Survey found that 791,000 households across the country were estimated to be in fuel poverty in 2022, compared to 613,000 households in 2019. This represented a rise of 23%.

James Calder said:

Any household being helped out of fuel poverty is welcome and those people delivering practical help are doing good work. However, the Scottish Government’s commitment to this scheme does not match the urgency of combating fuel poverty.

We are now the best part of a decade on from the scheme’s launch and only 1.6% of households in Fife have been helped. In the meantime, bills have skyrocketed and many households have been left struggling to afford heating. If the Scottish Government had acted more urgently then many more people could have been protected.

I encourage people to make use of schemes like Warmer Homes Scotland which can reduce their bills and have a positive impact on climate change. But the Scottish Government has to get serious about the scale of the challenge and invest in a national programme of home insulation.

Scottish Liberal Democrats will continue to press ministers to roll out a new nationwide insulation programme to meet the scale of the challenge, providing a win-win of cutting emissions and household energy bills.