Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)

Working in partnership with Government in the end-to-end delivery of the Warm Front Scheme.
Warm Front is the UK's largest grant-funded programme for tackling fuel poverty. Working hand in hand with central Government, Eaga has played a key role as a strategic partner in delivering sustainable living, service excellence and value for money.

The Challenge

To find a partner that could manage the magnitude of the Warm Front programme, that had a strong understanding of Central Government and that had the large scale resource operation and community based knowledge to deliver the scheme. To ensure quality delivery of the Government’s flagship fuel poverty programme, to bring efficiency gains and to deliver a national programme through local networks. To provide energy efficiency services to vulnerable people that were both sustainable and cost effective in the long term.

Why Eaga?

• A leading provider of business process outsourcing to Central Government and the public sector
• 20 years experience delivering services to the most vulnerable groups
• Experience managing and monitoring national networks
• A history delivering Government targets
• Experience processing grant applications
• Specialists in complex scheme delivery
• Proven and established local delivery networks
• A full range of back office support ensuring quality delivery
• Socially driven, commercially sound.

The Solution

Eaga designed a bespoke method of scheme delivery to meet Central Government needs and which was based on four key areas:
1) Best practice customer management with:
• A dedicated customer contact centre managing inbound calls from customers applying for Warm Front
• Bespoke computer based applications offering a means-tested computer-based assessment to determine Warm Front eligibility
• A dedicated benefit entitlement check offered to Warm Front applicants not in receipt of benefits but potentially eligible.
2) A national programme of local networks to manage, implement and monitor the scheme across the UK
3) A local community programme embedded in neighbourhoods that engages, involves and supports them in improving energy efficiency and promotes social inclusion
4) A formal project management process ensuring implementation and delivery of a broad and complex model with consistency and transparency.

This ground –breaking Central Government-private partnership has seen Eaga and Central Government sign two consecutive contracts totalling 10 years for the outsourcing of major scheme delivery.

Achievements

• Cost savings – In excess of £1 billion managed by Eaga over nine years with scheme delivery more than a third cheaper than the private sector equivalent and at a level of quality difficult for the private sector to consistently beat or match (findings of the Government’s independent auditor White, Young, Green)
• All performance targets - consistently met or exceeded since the start of the partnership
• Flexibility - with between 400 and 500 staff deployed into bespoke teams which were set up quickly and effectively whilst maintaining service excellence
• Driving Customer Satisfaction – almost 90% of Warm Front customers would recommend the scheme to family or friends
• Scalable - with over 2 million households supported since the Scheme started in June 2000.