Skip To Content
Together for Surrey Master Logo WHITE AND COLOUR
To Do List

Warm Welcome Venues Open For Winter

Surrey’s Warm Welcome venues opened to all residents this weekend (November 1st). You can pop in to warm up with a free hot drink, get involved in the activities being run, and get free energy advice amongst other offerings.  

Over 134,000 resident visits have been made to Surrey Warm Welcome spaces since their launch in 2022, with 5,000 fuel vouchers given out to residents and 25,000 winter essentials such as hats and electric blankets distributed to help keep residents warm.

Surrey is largely a wealthy county, but we still have many areas where residents face challenges in staying warm and heating their homes efficiently during the winter months. Just because Surrey scores better on paper than some other areas, this is no comfort to residents who are struggling to heat their homes or pay energy bills. 

Organisations – from local authorities to local community groups – continue to work to alleviate fuel poverty, and the Warm Homes Local Grant might be able to provide you with up to £30,000 of free funding to make home upgrades such as insulation, solar panels, and new heating systems that can cut bills whilst reducing the health risks of damp and mould in your property. 

But it is a long process to ensure no resident has to make a choice between keeping their home warm or putting food on the table for their family. 

As such, immediate support is required to help residents who struggle with the cold months, and Surrey Warm Welcome venues are designed to provide this support for any resident who needs it.  

Warm Welcome venues are often community-run, with some of Surrey’s fantastic community groups, faith groups, charities, cafes and businesses providing a safe space  for winter drop-ins. The reason such a wide range of organisations are involved with Surrey’s Warm Welcome programme is that fuel poverty is closely connected to many other issues. Around 300,000 of Surrey’s 485,000 homes have energy performance ratings of ‘D’ or below. This means around 2/3 of us are probably paying more than necessary on our energy bills, which adds extra pressure to those who are struggling to make ends meet. Cold homes are more likely to have damp and mould, which can cause health issues, and this in turn puts more pressure on local health services which are often already stretched.

So tackling energy efficiency not only alleviates financial stress, but can have significant health benefits for residents. But alongside this, many of the solutions which can help to tackle fuel poverty create training and upskilling opportunities for residents, particularly those who may want to explore a career in the energy industry. On top of all that, improving the energy efficiency of a home reduces that property’s emissions, meaning Surrey residents are both helping to tackle climate change and improving air quality by burning less fossil fuels. So in short, programmes like this mean that whatever your priorities and motivations are, you’re likely to take some positives from the excellent work of these organisations.

And it’s evident from the feedback from people who benefit from fuel poverty work just how important this support is, with a typical example being this comment from a beneficiary: “I’m in shock; I can’t believe I have heating and hot water for the first time in two years, it’s going to make such a difference to my life, my health, my mental health – it already has. I can’t thank you all enough for the change you have made in my life.” 

Many Surrey Warm Welcome venues also offer free energy advice from experts,  and the spaces offer a range of support for residents, including:

  • decorative Warm up in a friendly atmosphere
  • decorative Get a free hot drink
  • decorative Meet new people and take part in free activities
  • decorative Get free energy advice and debt support from trained professionals
  • decorative Get fuel vouchers to reduce your bills (available in some venues)
  • decorative Get winter essentials such as gloves or hot water bottles (available in some venues)

To find your nearest Warm Welcome space you can view an accessible list of Surrey Warm Welcome venues here.

What else can you do to keep yourself and your family members warm this winter? 

  • Sign up to the Priority Services register – if you have elderly residents or children under 5 in the home, or for example you have medication that needs refrigerating, you can get priority support in the event of a power outage  
  • Surrey Crisis Line – residents in crisis can get support including white goods and more 
  • Attend an energy advice drop in – Warmth Matters and Energy Manage offer drop in sessions at locations around Surrey, providing tailored advice and fuel vouchers
Secret Link