Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Help at hand for those struggling with cost of heating home during lockdown

Lawrence Johnston. 
Picture by Darrell Benns.
Lawrence Johnston. Picture by Darrell Benns.

A north-east not-for-profit is helping vulnerable people with increased heating costs as lockdown forces people to spend more people at home.

Scarf is continuing to offer support to those struggling with home energy bills or changing suppliers during the lockdown, despite home visits being curtailed.

Advisors are still manning a helpline and the organisation has recently launched a hardship fund to help those worst-affected.

The social enterprise oversees the home energy advice team (Heat), which receives funding from Aberdeen City Council, which is still offering one-to-one calls on available support and advice on fuel debt – and can even intervene with companies on callers’ behalf if need be.

They are also able to advise on how best to lower fuel bills and access to crisis grants.

Scarf’s acting chief executive Lawrence Johnston said: “Many people are struggling with bills at the moment and need a little bit of extra support.

“Heat specialises in offering a one to one advice and support service tailored to help people keep their home warm, while reducing their fuel bills.”

Based in Cotton Street in Aberdeen, Scarf last month launched an emergency hardship fund to help people struggling to pay fuel bills during the coronavirus crisis.

It is aimed at reducing the “immediate pressure” on the most vulnerable. To find out more visit www.scarf.org.uk.