THE tradition of a cast iron range used for heating and cooking has been at the heart of many a rural home for hundreds of years . But , although they may be muchloved , plenty of these old faithfuls are creaky to say the least and not working as well as they should .

There is government money available to help make these systems greener and more efficient by integrating modern heating and insulation techniques .

Rural Funding Services , based in Redcar in North Yorkshire , is a business set up exclusively to deal with ECO funding in rural areas in England , Scotland and Wales . The business walks householders through the process of applying for a grant - a service which is completely free .

Funding available depends on how inefficient a particular property is and it ’ s size , but homes can be eligible for sums up to £ 10,000 . To qualify , a person must live in their own home or one they rent from a private landlord , and they must receive a state benefit such as Child / Working Tax , Employment and Support Allowance , Job Seeker ’ s Allowance , Income Support or Universal Credit .

The money for grants comes from the ‘ big six ’ energy suppliers who are obliged to make a proportion of their profits available for measures like energy efficient boilers , cavity wall insulation , solid wall insulation and loft insulation .

Savings in heating bills depend on factors such as how well insulated a home is and how much energy is used . But any saving is important when the cost of maintaining and repairing an old system can run into thousands of pounds .

Laura Bragg , funding manager at Rural Funding Services , said it was keen to get its message out to householders and was doing so via its website , social media , leafleting and outbound tele-marketing . She said : “ It ’ s our job to identify people who may qualify for the varying pots of government funding to improve the energy efficiency of their home .

“ Because it ’ s free , some people think it ’ s too good to be true and don ’ t actually believe us , so a big part of our job is persuading them ! But we know there is a need out there . Many people just can ’ t afford to do the work themselves when they have got big AGAs and Rayburns . They also love their stoves and are worried that we are going to take them out . We don ’ t – we would , for example , just decommission the boiler part of an AGA , and put in a more efficient boiler for heating , like a Worcester Bosch Heatslave or

Danesmoor , allowing the AGA to still do the cooking as it normally would . Householders using solid fuel central heating can also benefit from the scheme by upgrading the heating system to oil .

“ For these big farmhouses , replacing a ‘ G ’ rated boiler with an ‘ A ’ rated boiler could save about £ 300- £ 500 a year . Installing up to 300mm of loft insulation where there was none before would also save about £ 175- £ 250 a year .”

Only accredited , professional installers who have been properly vetted and who have been granted funding to carry out installations under the Affordable Warmth Scheme are allowed to carry out the work .

Rural Funding Services ’ main partner is Borthwicks Heating and Insulation who install all the oil , LPG boilers and loft insulation . Laura added : “ We do have some householders asking if we can just give them the money to have the work done privately - but we can ’ t do that ! We have to go out and check that the work can be done , take photos of all the radiators and brick work and issue an Energy Performance Certificate ( EPC ). Boilers also have to be over five years old to be eligible . After that ’ s all been passed it goes to the installer and is booked in .

“ When we make contact with a householder over the phone we have to take down which credit

or benefit they claim and that is sent off to the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) to be verified .”

Rural Funding Services works all over the country but has recently carried out a lot of installations in Wales , Devon and Cornwall . Laura said : “ We work on all kinds of properties from cottages to four , five and six-bedroom homes . I phoned someone up the other day and he was in an eight-bed property with all his family living there .”

The company is continuing to get its message out , increasingly via social media and its website . So far , Rural Funding Services has helped around 5,000 householders to benefit from the scheme . Laura added : “ The amount of funding that has been available is £ 2.76 billion on this scheme which is called ECO 2T – this has been running since the start of April 2017 and will be running until end of September 2018 . Then ECO 3 will launch but we don ’ t know too much about that yet so it ’ s best if people get their applications in as soon as possible .”

http :// ruralfundingservices . co . uk / contact-us /