Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers

This report presents findings of a mixed-methods research project exploring the scale and scope of energy advice provision in England, and the needs and preferences of hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers, including trusted sources and effective engagement approaches. The research was completed by the Energy Saving Trust and involved: * interviews, a survey, and online workshops with energy advice providers in England * interviews and deliberative workshops with hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers * secondary data analysis --- RAF032/2223 Home energy advice services in England: Current state of play and meeting the needs of hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers Annex 1: Technical report Completed by Energy Saving Trust for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero prior to the general election in the United Kingdom in July 2024. As such, any references to government policies, commitments, or initiatives may reflect the stance of the previous administration and were accurate at the time of fieldwork and writing. Energy Saving Trust (2023) Views expressed in this report are from the relevant research agencies, based on data collected from research participants and other evidence, and not necessarily those of the UK government. © Crown copyright 2023 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk. Where we have identified any third-party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Contents 1. Overview ________________________________________________________________ 4 2. Strand 1 research methodologies _____________________________________________ 4 2.1. Evidence review _______________________________________________________ 5 2.2. Informant interviews ____________________________________________________ 7 Topic guide for informant interviews __________________________________________ 8 2.3. Online survey of energy advice providers ___________________________________ 10 Online questionnaire _____________________________________________________ 11 3. Strand 2 research methodologies ____________________________________________ 17 3.1. Workshop with advice providers __________________________________________ 17 Discussion guide _______________________________________________________ 17 3.2. Specialist interviews ___________________________________________________ 22 Topic guide for specialist interviews _________________________________________ 23 3.3. Consumer interviews ___________________________________________________ 27 3.4. Deliberative workshops _________________________________________________ 27 Limitations and considerations _____________________________________________ 29 Deliberative workshops topic guide _________________________________________ 30 3.5. Consumer Profiling ____________________________________________________ 42 Consumer profiles based on the EHS model __________________________________ 54 3 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers 1. Overview The aim of this research is to develop a comprehensive understanding of current advice provision across England and to identify the locations, needs and preferences of hard-to-reach (HTR) and digitally excluded (DE) consumers. The five objectives of the research are to: (1) identify the information being provided via advice services; (2) identify the methods and modes being used to deliver advice; (3) map current advice provision and delivery in a comprehensive way; (4) define hard-to-reach (HTR) consumers in the context of energy advice and comprehensively model and map HTR and digitally-excluded (DE) consumers; and (5) detail engagement approaches best-suited to the preferences of HTR and DE consumers. A mixed-methods approach was taken to answer each of the key research questions and could be largely distinguished into: • Strand 1: a review of existing energy advice provision in England which involved evidence review, semi-structured informant interviews, online survey of energy advice providers. • Strand 2: understanding and engaging the HTR and DE consumers to improve home energy advice and information, which involved an online workshop with advice providers to define the characteristics of HTR and DE consumers, consumer profiling, HTR/DE consumer interviews and deliberative workshop. 2. Strand 1 research methodologies A key output of Strand 1 was an energy advice service database. The database involved desk-based research to identify energy advice providers in England, with several main sources used1234. Informant interviews and a questionnaire provided additional entries and further information to populate database fields. Information contained within the database informed the development of advice archetypes and interactive mapping. 1 https://energyredress.org.uk 2 https://britishgasenergytrust.org.uk 3 https://www.communityenergysouth.org/member-groups-business-friends 4 https://www.leeds.gov.uk/leedsmic/debt-and-money-advice 4 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers 2.1. Evidence review The first step to developing the energy advice service database was undertaking a desk-based evidence review. Through the review, around 150 energy advice providers were identified. Database fields were discussed and agreed with DESNZ. Parameters included types of advice, delivery channels, target groups and geographical coverage (including region). A description of the main database fields are described below. Table 1: Types of advice and category examples Advice type Examples Energy saving behaviours and tips Switch off standby, draught-proofing, turn off lights Financial advice in energy supply Managing bills, energy tariffs, meters, payment options, switching suppliers Financial advice in government support and grants Government loan or grant schemes Financial support for energy bills Fuel vouchers Financial support for energy efficiency and/or renewables Loans or grant funding Home improvement advice in energy efficiency measures Insulation, ventilation, appliances, glazing Home improvement advice in renewables Solar panels, solar thermal, biomass, heat pumps, batteries, and installation System operation and maintenance How to operate the thermostat or boiler 5 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers Energy advice delivery channels included in the database are: • Home visits • Face-to-face in other (non-home) venues • Telephone • Online channels (such as email, online contact form, web chat) • Virtual visits (Facetime, WhatsApp, Teams) • Referral • Signposting • Other For energy advice services targeting specific groups who may be vulnerable, marginalised and/or disadvantaged, the following categories are included in the database: • Carers • Disabled people • Hospital or health care patients • LGBTQIA+ people • Older people • People experiencing or at risk of homelessness • People from/belonging to minority ethnic groups • People in fuel poverty • People in or at risk of debt • People on low incomes • People experiencing mental health problems • People with limited access to technology • People with long-term mental or physical health conditions • People working in health care • Pregnant women • Refugees • Single parents • Students • Tenants 6 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers • Victims/Survivors of domestic abuse • Women • Young people There are several geographical fields included in the database: • Region(s) covered by energy advice providers as indicated on their website and/or during an interview • Scale (national, regional, local, hyperlocal) • Councils in England 2.2. Informant interviews The database was used to identify candidates for informant interviews. Researchers contacted energy advice providers listed in the database on an iterative basis. Fifteen interviews were completed between 18 November and 1 December 2022. Information collected through the interviews were used to refine the database fields and inform the design of an online survey that would be sent to energy advice providers in England to collect data for populating the database. Researchers sought to ensure that the providers recruited were across England’s regions, and of various sizes, organisation structures and governance (Table 2). While providers in North East England, North West England and Yorkshire were approached, we were unable to secure interviews with organisations operating across these areas. However, providers from these regions were represented in the online questionnaire, with seven out of the twenty organisations that responded to the questionnaire operating in these regions. Table 2: Key informant interviews – geographical spread of advice provision Region No. interviewees Type(s) of organisations Midlands South West 2 5 Charity (2) Charity (3); Community Benefit Society (1); Community Interest Company (1) England-wide 1 Other (1) 7 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers Region No. interviewees Type(s) of organisations South East 4 Community Benefit Society (2); Community Interest Company (1); Local authority (1) London 1 Local authority (1) East of England 2 Charity (1); Local authority (1) The topic guide covered: i) views and experiences of energy advice provision; ii) energy advice services offered by the organisation; and iii) customer requirements and demand. Topic guide for informant interviews Section 1 – Experience of existing energy advice provision (10 mins.) This section will help us to understand your view(s) and experience(s) of energy advice services and provision more broadly (i.e. outside of your organisation). 1. Please can you confirm your name, organisation and/ or project. If organisation, please confirm type e.g. charity, private-sector, community-led, local government, housing association, regulator If project, please confirm funding source(s) and longevity. 2. What role do you hold in your current organisation? If applicable, what other role, or roles, have you held in your current and/ or other energy advice organisation(s)? Please state organisation name, type, and role(s) held Broadly speaking, what is your view on existing coverage of energy advice in 3. England? Prompt: Overall sufficient, insufficient, neutral 4. If any, what are the existing gaps in energy advice provision in England? Prompt: locations, delivery type, additional support, beneficiaries/ target groups Section 2 – Your current organisation (20 mins.) 8 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers This section will help us to understand characteristics of your organisation and the energy advice service(s) it provides. 5. We will now discuss the energy advice service(s) and support provided by your organisation. 6. What is the objective of your organisation? Prompt: climate change, fuel poverty, other 7. What is the organisation’s size? Prompt number of paid employees and volunteers If local branch of a wider organisation, provide relevant local statistics. 8. What is your organization’s coverage? Prompt: National, regional, local (towns and cities), hyperlocal (neighbourhoods) 9. What types of energy advice does your organisation provide? Prompt energy supply, renewable installations, energy efficiency measures, energy saving behaviours, retrofit, other 10. Does your organisation provide advice in areas beyond energy? Prompt debt advice, transport, water, other 11. What channels do you use for the provision of energy advice? Prompt home visits, face to face in other venue, virtual visits (e.g. Facetime), telephone, various online channels 12. What qualifications and training do advisors have to provide energy advice? There may be several qualification and training requirements for the different types of advice provided e.g. specialist renewables advisors Is the energy advice provided by your organisation intended for a specific 13. group or groups? Prompt general public, elderly, disabled, benefits recipients, low- income, families, tenants, other 14. Is the advice you provide generic and/ or personalised? 15. Does your organisation offer direct financial support? Prompt fuel vouchers, grants, energy efficiency loans, other 16. Does your organisation signpost to available financial support? Prompt government schemes, fuel vouchers, grants, energy efficiency loans, other 17. Does your organisation signpost to other organisations? Prompt debt advice, mental health, other 9 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers 18. Does your organisation make and/ or accept referrals to other organisations? 19. What are the impacts of the energy advice service(s) and support you provide? Prompt monitoring and reporting activities 20. Do you collect user feedback? Section 3 – User needs and behaviours (10 mins.) This section will help us to understand user demand for your energy advice service(s) 21. Do users of your energy advice service(s) and support typically initiate contact or are they approached and/ or referred by other organisation(s)? If contact is initiated by users, how do they typically do this? 22. What do users of your energy advice service(s) and support typically, and in the current situation, require help with? Prompt information on energy saving behaviours, energy efficient appliances, financial supports, debt advice, other 23. Are certain type(s) of your energy advice service(s) and support in greater or lesser demand than others? Prompt type of advice, channels 24. Given the focus of your organisation on [insert target group(s)] what features of the energy advice service(s) and support have been successful and less successful? Section 4 – Additional comments (5 mins.) 25. Other than what we have already discussed, do you have any other comments on energy advice provision in England? Prompt other relevant organisations that we may want to contact and/ or include in our database. 2.3. Online survey of energy advice providers A questionnaire was developed to capture data on energy advice provider services to populate the database. During the week commencing 5 December 2022, the questionnaire was circulated to Energy Saving Trust redress contacts including registered/eligible applicants and grantees (803 organisations) and posted on relevant Energy Saving Trust social media channels (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter). It was also shared with those invited to an interview and unable to participate due to capacity and time constraints. In addition, British Gas Energy Trust (BGET) agreed to share the questionnaire via its newsletter issuing on 15 December; recipients include BGET-funded organisations. 10 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers The survey was live from 5 December 2022 until 6 January 2023. It received responses from 47 organisations, covering 110 energy advice services/ projects that they were implementing. Due to the relatively low response rate (around a third of energy advice providers identified in the initial desk review), researchers at Energy Saving Trust further populated the database through desk-based research using the list of organisations identified in the initial desk review. The final database consists of 141 organisations, delivering 236 energy advice services/ projects. Information obtained through desk-based research was not as detailed as those elicited from the online questionnaire, but we were able to capture key parameters such as types of advice provided, channels of advice provision and target customer groups. Online questionnaire About your organisation If you are a local branch of a wider organisation, please provide relevant local statistics. 1) * What is your organisation name? 2) * What is your organisation type? • • • • • • • • • • • • • Charity (all forms, including incorporated or unincorporated, charitable company) Community benefit society Community interest company Cooperative society (other than a community benefit society) Local government/ local authority NHS body Private limited company Public limited company Regulator Registered social landlord Sole trader Unincorporated association (eg community group) Other, please specify: 11 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers 3) What is your role in the organisation? 4) How many paid employees or volunteers does your organisation have? • Number of paid employees • Number of volunteers 5) * Does your organisation require their advisors to have specific qualification(s) or training? If yes, please list the qualifications or training below. • • Yes No 6) If your organisation requires their advisors to have specific qualification(s) or training, please list the qualifications or training below. 7) What are the projects that your organisation delivers that provide energy advice to customers? If your organisation delivers more than five projects, please prioritise your largest projects and/or those that will be running beyond March 2023. • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 About your project (Respondent has to fill in the following information for each of the projects they have listed in Q7). 8) * What is the objective of the project? Please select all that apply. • Community and social welfare (eg fuel poverty, financial and wellbeing support) • Environment (eg climate change, net zero transition, ecology) • Other, please specify: 9) * What types of energy advice or support are being provided under the project? Please select all that apply. • Energy saving behaviours and tips • Financial advice in energy supply (eg managing bills, energy tariffs, meters, payment options, switching suppliers) 12 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers • Financial advice in government support and grants (eg government loan or grant schemes) • Financial support for energy bills (eg fuel vouchers) • Financial support for energy efficiency and/or renewables (eg loans or grant funding) • Home improvement advice in energy efficiency measures (eg insulation, ventilation, appliances, glazing) • Home improvement advice in renewables (eg solar panels, solar thermal, biomass, heat pumps, batteries and installation) • System operation and maintenance (eg how to operate the thermostat or boiler) • Other, please specify: What is the geographical coverage of the project? 10) * Regions covered: (Please select all that apply) • West Midlands • East Midlands • Southeast • Southwest • London • Northeast • Northwest • Yorkshire • East of England • Other (e.g. Wales, Scotland) 11) * Scale of coverage: • • • • Hyperlocal (neighbourhoods) Local (towns and cities) Regional (counties) National 13 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers It would be great if you could provide further information on the areas that the project covers by listing the local councils that the project affiliates with (list of council in England reference) or the area postcodes that the project serves. 12) Specific areas covered: • Council • Postcode 13) * What are the channels used for the provision of the energy advice or support? Please select all that apply. • Home visits • Face-to-face in other (non-home) venues • Online channels (eg email, online contact form, webchat) • Referral • Signposting • Telephone • Virtual visits (eg Facetime, Whatsapp, Teams) • Other, please specify: 14) If the channel includes telephone, please specify the telephone line operating hours. 15) * Is the project targeting any energy customers who could be vulnerable, marginalised and/or disadvantaged? Please select all that apply. • The project is not targeting any specific groups who may be vulnerable, marginalised and/or disadvantaged • Carers • Disabled people • Hospital or health care patients • LGBTQIA+ people • Older people • People experiencing or at risk of homelessness • People from/belonging to minority ethnic groups • People in fuel poverty • People in or at risk of debt • People on low incomes 14 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers • People experiencing mental health problems • People with limited access to technology • People with long-term mental or physical health conditions • People working in health care • Pregnant women • Refugees • Single parents • Students • Tenants • Victims/Survivors of domestic abuse • Women • Young people • Other, please specify: 16) * Is the advice provided generic and/or personalised? • • • Generic Personalised Both 17) * Is the advice provided in a language other than English language? Please select all that apply. • The advice is provided in English language only • Arabic • Bengali (with Sylheti and Chatgaya) • Chinese • French • Gujarati • Polish • Portuguese • Punjabi • Spanish • Urdu • Other, please specify: 15 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers 18) * Does the energy advice include information on cost and/or carbon savings? • • • Yes, both cost and carbon savings Yes, only cost savings Yes, only carbon savings 19) * Is the project being delivered in partnership with another organisation or in a consortium? • • Yes No 20) If the project is being delivered in partnership with another organisation or in a consortium, please list them here. 21) * When does the funding for the project end? Closing section 22) * Does your organisation make and/or accept referrals to other organisations? • • Yes No 23) Finally, do you have any comments on energy advice provision in England? (For example, your view on existing coverage of energy advice in England, what are the gaps, or other relevant organisations that we may want to contact and include in our database.) 16 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers 3. Strand 2 research methodologies The aim of Strand 2 is to understand and engage with HTR and DE consumers to improve home energy advice and information. To achieve this aim, advice providers and HTR/DE consumers were engaged through workshops and semi-structured interviews. In addition, consumer profiling, which involved secondary data analysis, was also undertaken to identify, segment and local HTR and DE consumers in England. 3.1. Workshop with advice providers An online workshop was held on 3rd November 2022, attended by six energy advice providers (referred to as “participants”). The group included both national and regional energy advice providers with a range of coverage across England, all of which offer “universal” advice, meaning that notwithstanding geography and restrictions based on caseload, their services are open to all rather than a particular target group. They provide advice across a range of channels including digital, telephone and in person, both in their own/community locations and in peoples’ homes, and a range of advice types including financial and billing support, home adaptations and access to government grant schemes. The workshop was designed to be discussion-based, encouraging participants to share their observations of the client groups that they work with, and build on, and question, each other’s responses. Discussion guide Read to attendees: We have been commissioned by UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to conduct a review of energy advice provision in England. Research findings will inform a new telephone advice service and local, in- person advice provision procured by BEIS. There are two strands to this work: one building an overview of energy advice provision in England, and a second focusing on ensuring any future advice service is inclusive and can be used by anyone who needs it. This second strand will include a series of interviews with specialist providers of support to target population groups and one-to-one interviews with citizens who may be users of an advice service. The aims of today’s workshop are to: • Build our understanding of energy seeking behaviours and priorities 17 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers • Gain insights into what can prevent people seeking energy advice • Develop our understanding of how to make any digital elements of energy advice as inclusive and accessible as possible • Gather your suggestions of others we should speak to. Your participation is voluntary, and you can change your mind and leave the workshop at any time. The information that you provide will be treated in confidence: Only Energy Saving Trust will be able to identify you. Your organisation and/ or project will be included in a database of energy advice providers operating across England. The database is intended to understand the types of energy advice available, populations served, and to identify any gaps in existing provision. BEIS expect to circulate research progress, updates, and findings internally. External publication of a final report will be subject to ministerial approval. There is certain information you need to know as a legal requirement as a result of Data Protection laws. This information is contained within the Consent & Data Protection Form we sent along with the invitation to interview. Are you happy to proceed with the interview, as per this Privacy Notice? We would like to record the discussion for analysis purposes to help us accurately collect findings for the research. The recording and auto-generated transcript will be securely stored in a password protected folder and retained by us and destroyed after the completion of the evaluation. Are you happy for me to record the interview? NB. for interviewer – ensure to ask for consent and get agreement on the recording and start recording if/when consent is obtained. Table 3: Advice providers workshop discussion guide Timings / Section Section Focus 10am Overview (5 mins) Purpose/ rationale Outline Questions / Content Working agreements (e.g. respect, confidentially) Encourage discussion rather than just direct question responses Overview of Project and how this aspect fits in Who’s involved and who else will be included in research (to show that potential users included) Purpose of this workshop and intended outcomes 18 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers Timings / Section Section Focus Purpose/ rationale Outline Questions / Content Data protection 10.05 Intros (5 mins) So participants know who’s “in the room” Ask to cover name, organisation and position, to ensure we keep to time 10.10 (10 mins) Motivations To understand motivations for seeking advice and where they usually look for it to begin characterising advice seeking behaviour. 10.20 (15 mins) User priorities and “ways in” To understand what could be important to potential advice seekers and where they look for it, to build understanding of key characteristics. 10.35 (25 mins) Barriers and inclusion factors To understand factors that might prevent or delay someone from seeking advice to From your experience: What circumstances can lead to people seeking energy advice? What are the most frequent triggers? What types of advice are people looking for most often? From your experience: What is important to people when seeking energy advice? What do you know about the “ways in” or how people find your advice? What do you know about where else they have looked for advice? Probe source, medium, presentation/ format, synchronous/ asynchronous, personalisation From your experience: 19 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers Timings / Section Section Focus Purpose/ rationale Outline Questions / Content build understanding of key characteristics. What factors might prevent someone seeking energy advice even if they need it? What can make people delay seeking advice? What might make them seek it sooner? Probe circumstances, geography, needs and preferences, attitudes/ beliefs/ expectations 11.00 Break Data and knowledge 11.05 (20 mins) 11.25 (20 mins) Making digital advice inclusive To gain insights on research/ data on groups not seeking advice and what has been tested to extend engagement, to inform persona development. To help inform any specialist interviews we should incorporate as a follow on. To identify any specific considerations to ensure digital can be as inclusive as From your experience and data, who is least likely to seek advice? If applicable, what have you tested to expand the reach of your advice or make it inclusive? What has worked well? What was less effective or didn’t work at all? What else, if anything, are you planning to further expand your reach? One key format for advice is likely to be digital. From your experience 20 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers Timings / Section Section Focus Purpose/ rationale Outline Questions / Content possible for those who want to use it. Who might not seek digital advice? (may have already come out in earlier sections) 11.45 (5 mins) Crowdsource data suggestions To identify additional data sources, specialist providers and potential routes to 1-1 citizen interviews. What challenges can people experience accessing/ using digital advice even if they want to? How can digital advice be adapted to ensure people who would like to use it can? Probe format, what makes information understandable/ readable, raising awareness of advice available. We appreciate there has already been a lot of work done on energy advice and digital inclusion and want to ensure we build on this. Who has published research on advice seeking, digital exclusion and energy advice that might be useful to this research? Follow-on from this workshop will include some 1-1 interviews with both targeted advice services for particular population groups and with citizens who may be potential energy advice users: Who could we interview about specialist advice to a target group? 21 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers Timings / Section Section Focus Purpose/ rationale Outline Questions / Content Who could be a good route to finding citizen interviewees for our user research? At least one, unspoken thought/ closing comment from each attendee 11.50 Closing thoughts/ what next Read to attendees: Thank you for your time. NB. for interviewer – stop recording 3.2. Specialist interviews Qualitative interviews were conducted with 5 organisations who support consumers who are HTR and/or DE. The definition of HTR was influenced by a Rapid Evidence Assessment undertaken in the early stages of the project and comprised the following categories: • Older people with limited social connections; • • • • • Individuals with low income/in severe debt; Individuals without a job/claiming benefits; Individuals who struggle with mental or physical illness; Individuals with low educational attainment; Individuals whose first language is not English. 5 organisations were purposively selected to ensure a mix of categories were represented, with the final sample consisting of: • A charity supporting older people • A charity supporting people in, or at risk of, debt • A charity supporting Deaf people 22 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers • A social enterprise supporting disabled people • A charity supporting immigrants from Eastern Europe Interviews lasted 45-60 minutes and covered the scope of the support offered by the organisation, and the organisations’ understanding of the catalysts for consumers seeking support, barriers to consumers seeking support, and potential enablers or interventions that the organisation had trialled to increase their reach. Topic guide for specialist interviews Purpose of these interviews (not to read to interviewee) – to supplement discussions in the Strand 2 workshop considering inclusion aspects (including digital) and allow for deeper insights from specialist providers of support to groups of the population who may be excluded / less likely to access energy advice due to specific needs or preferences. Questions are less specifically focused on energy advice to allow for the potential that groups are not currently / minimally seeking energy advice, to allow for insights to be gathered on why this could be. Questions mirrored those in the workshop but opened up beyond energy advice (focusing on “advice and support”) and aim to allow for the interviewee to bring their specialist emphasis to the responses. Read to interviewee: Hi, my name is [NAME]. Thank you for agreeing to take part in our research. We have been commissioned by UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to conduct a review of domestic energy advice provision in England. Research findings will inform a new telephone advice service and local, in-person advice provision procured by BEIS. Interview set-up: The interview will be conducted remotely via Teams and will last for approximately one hour. Your participation is voluntary, and you can change your mind and terminate the interview at any time. The information that you provide will be treated in confidence: Only Energy Saving Trust will be able to identify you from responses given. Where relevant, your organisation and/ or project will be included in a database of energy advice providers operating across England. The database is intended to understand the types of energy advice available, groups served, and to identify any gaps in existing provision. Only Energy Saving Trust and BEIS will have access to the database. An anonymised report will be shared with BEIS. BEIS expect to 23 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers circulate research progress, updates, and findings internally. Your contributions and opinions will feed into a report which may be published subject to internal BEIS approval. There is certain information you need to know as a legal requirement as a result of Data Protection laws. This information is contained within the Consent & Data Protection Form we sent along with the invitation to interview. Are you happy to proceed with the interview, as per this Privacy Notice? Questions are aimed at specialist support providers in England. Our discussion will cover your insights into which needs and preferences of the people that you support might need to be considered when developing an inclusive energy advice service. There will also be a chance to share any other relevant comments that you may wish to. I would like to record the discussion for analysis purposes to help us accurately collect findings for the research. The recording and auto-generated transcript will be securely stored in a password protected folder and retained by us and destroyed after the completion of the evaluation. Are you happy for me to record the interview? NB. for interviewer – ensure to ask for consent and obtain agreement on the recording, and start recording if/when consent is obtained. Section 1 – Your current organisation and who you support (10 mins.) Aim of the section: To confirm the main focus of their work, the target group they support and the broad areas of support they offer. • Please can you confirm your name and organisation. Please confirm type of organisation e.g. charity, private-sector, community-led, local government, housing association, regulator • What role do you hold in your current organisation? • Please can you provide a broad overview of the types of customer you support through your organisation? • And how do you support them? • Prompt: key areas of activity including advice and any other services • And do you specifically provide energy advice? If so, in what format? Section 2 – Motivations (10 mins.) Aim of the section: To understand motivations for seeking advice and where the people they support usually look for it to begin characterising advice seeking behaviour. 24 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers We will now discuss what you know about people’s behaviour when it comes to seeking advice. Please speak from your experience or knowledge working with the people your organisation supports. • What circumstances can lead to people seeking advice and support? Probe if the organisation/ project has relevant records/ statistics where there are a number of users/ circumstances. • What are the most frequent triggers? • What types of advice and support are people looking for most often? • How frequently do people seek energy advice specifically? Probe if the organisation/ project has relevant records/ statistics on energy-related queries/ referrals. Section 3 – User priorities and “ways in” (5 mins.) Aim of the section: To understand what could be important to potential advice/ support seekers and where they look for it, to build understanding of key characteristics. We will now discuss what is important to people when they are looking for advice and support and how they look for it. Please speak from your experience or knowledge working with the people your organisation supports. • What is important to people when seeking advice and support? How do you know this? Probe source, medium, presentation/ format, synchronous/ asynchronous, personalisation • What do you know about the “ways in” or how people find your advice and support? • What do you know about where else they have looked for advice and support? Section 4 – Barriers and inclusion factors (10 mins.) Aim of the section: To understand factors that might prevent or delay someone from seeking advice and support to build understanding of key characteristics. We will now discuss any potential barriers to seeking advice and support that may need to be considered to ensure any energy advice service is inclusive. Please speak from your experience or knowledge working with the people your organisation supports. • What factors have you seen preventing people from seeking advice and support even if they need it? Probe circumstances, geography, needs and preferences, attitudes/ beliefs/ expectations 25 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers • What can make people delay seeking advice and support? How do you know this? • What might encourage people not to delay seeking advice and support? Section 5 – Data and Knowledge (10 mins) Aim of the section: To gain insights on research/data on groups not seeking advice and support and what has been tested to extend engagement, to inform persona development. We will now talk about your data and knowledge of who is least likely to seek advice and support and anything you have tried to expand access. Please speak from your experience or knowledge working with the people your organisation supports. • From your experience and data who is least likely to seek advice and support? Probe where relevant: geography, additional needs, language, disability • What, if anything, have you tested to expand the reach of your advice and support or make it more inclusive? Probe what has worked well/ what has been less effective or didn’t work at all? Section 6 – Making Digital Advice Inclusive (10 mins) Aim of the section: To identify any specific considerations to ensure digital can be as inclusive as possible for those who want to use it. Whilst this research aims to inform the development of a new telephone advice service and local, in-person advice provision procured by BEIS, it is important to allow that as many people as possible can access the online support currently available. We will now talk about what needs to be considered to ensure people who you support who would like to use digital services are enabled to do so. • Who might not seek digital advice or support? (may have already come out in earlier sections) • What challenges can people experience when accessing/using digital advice or support, even if they would like to use digital advice?? • How can digital advice or support be adapted to ensure that it can be used by people who would like to access it in digital format? Probe format, what makes information understandable/ readable, raising awareness of advice available. Section 7 – Any other comments (5 mins) Other than what we have already discussed, do you have any other comments on what should be considered when developing an advice service that would be meet the needs and preferences of the people you support? 26 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers Read to interviewee: Thank you for your time. The information you have provided will directly feed into the design and development of a new telephone energy advice service procured by BEIS. NB. for interviewer – stop recording 3.3. Consumer interviews Qualitative interviews were conducted with 80 consumers who were individually identified as being HTR and/or DE. Respondents were recruited via organisations who support HTR and/or DE consumers. These organisations were identified either through desk research or from the database. To thank them for their time, both organisations and interviewees were given shopping vouchers; £100 for each organisation and £20 for each interviewee. Seventy-four interviews were conducted face-to-face – typically at the support organisation’s premises. The remaining six interviews were conducted by telephone, based on the respondent’s preference. Interviews consisted of screening questions to capture demographic characteristics and their home and energy situation, followed by 30-minute qualitative interview covering topics on home advice including relevant touch points, usage of external advice organisations, and specific experiences of energy advice. 3.4. Deliberative workshops Five deliberative workshops were conducted with participants identified as HTR and/or DE. The same definitions of HTR and DE were used as for the qualitative interviews with consumers. Table 4 provides a description of the types of consumers that were reached through the workshops. It is important to consider these when interpreting the findings. 27 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers Table 4: Types of HTR and DE groups that participated in the workshops HTR or DE group criteria Description of those attending the workshop Individuals whose first language was not English (ESOL individuals) A group of women whose first language is Punjabi and were learning to speak English and a group of individuals with a variety of first languages other than English. Individuals with a mental or physical illness Consumers who had suffered a brain injury, resulting in impaired cognitive function, specifically in comprehension and memory. For this reason, partners or carers also attended the workshop. Older people These consumers also live in a rural location, where access to broadband is relatively poor and they have limited connections. Individuals with a low income and / or in severe debt Across most groups, there were individuals with below average salaries and from low income households. Digitally Excluded Low educational attainment Consumers who were accessing training to develop basic digital skills and consumers who were unable to use the internet effectively due to impaired cognitive function. Some ESOL individuals reported their ESOL classes as their highest level of education, or that they had not received any education whilst in England. This sample reflected a broad range of socio-economic groups and included both those able and willing to pay for energy saving measures and those who were less willing. Organisations who were identified as supporting HTR and/or DE individuals hosted and recruited participants for each workshop. To thank them for their time, organisations were offered £100 and participants were offered £30 in shopping vouchers. 28 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers The deliberative workshops consisted of three activities to assess current awareness of advice and use of energy saving techniques, identify how to engage HTR and DE individuals in an energy advice service and deliberate how the service could be delivered to meet the needs of HTR and DE groups. Discussions were directed to inform the following research questions: • How can the idea of energy saving behaviour and retrofit be introduced to consumers who may not be aware that it could benefit them? • How could the service be promoted to raise awareness of energy saving solutions? • How could the service be delivered to encourage take up of advice and retrofit solutions, and more specifically how could the telephone line and local service be as accessible as possible? Limitations and considerations It is important to note the following limitations of the workshops when interpreting the findings: • There were significant barriers in engaging some of the groups during the workshop activities, with many of the participants having language or literacy barriers or issues with their cognitive function. Each workshop had to be tailored to the needs of the participants, and as a result some workshops were longer than others, and some of the tasks had to be presented and completed differently. • Depth of engagement in deliberating the EAS scenarios also varied across groups, which reflects the varying points consumer were at on their customer journey, from being unaware of what they are able to do to already having installed clean energy measures. • The workshops highlighted that many consumers face multiple and complex barriers, and do not necessarily just fit neatly into one category of HTR and/or DE. There are many types of consumers that fall under each of the HTR and DE umbrella categories, and therefore they cannot be viewed as one homogenous group. There are two implications associated with this: o Firstly, a one size fits all approach to the design of the energy advice service is unlikely to be effective. o Whilst we tried to gain coverage of different HTR and DE consumer groups, it is unlikely that the research has uncovered all needs of all consumers who could be considered as HTR and/or DE. Some workshops were of variable sample size, therefore there are limitations 29 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers of the extent to which insights from the workshops can be generalised and used as the basis for firm recommendations without further testing. • HTR or DE individuals are not always the sole decision maker. For example, those whose first language is not English may rely on family members who are more fluent, those with disabilities may rely on care givers, and family units may make joint decisions with partners rather than alone. To mitigate this, for some of the groups care givers and/or partners also attended the group. However, the energy advice service may benefit from further investigation into the role others play here. Deliberative workshops topic guide Research Objectives & Questions The overall aim of the research is to develop a comprehensive understanding of current advice provision across England and to identify the locations, needs and preferences of hard-to-reach (HTR) and digitally excluded (DE) consumers. The five objectives of the research are to: • • Identify the information being provided via advice services; Identify the methods and modes being used to deliver advice; • Map current advice provision and delivery in a comprehensive way; • Define HTR consumers in the context of energy advice and comprehensively model and map HTR and DE consumers; • Detail engagement approaches best-suited to the preferences of HTR and DE consumers. This research will inform the design and delivery of the Energy Advice Service (EAS). The deliberative workshops with consumers will specifically seek to answer the following research questions: • How can the idea of energy saving behaviour and retrofit be introduced to consumers who may not be aware that it could benefit them? • How could the service be promoted to raise awareness of energy saving solutions? • How could the service be delivered to encourage take up of advice and retrofit solutions? • How could the phone line and local service be as accessible as possible? Exploration of these questions will take into account considerations about consumer needs and barriers that were identified through the interviews. 30 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers Baseline information about participants The recruitment approach for the workshops was revised in light of findings from the interviews. It will now focus on home-owners in the audience groups identified in the ‘Note on next steps’. This means that background information about participants will not always be available from the interviews, as originally anticipated. Background information helps the moderators to understand the participants’ energy circumstances and thereby to guide conversations accordingly and with sensitivity. When recruiting new participants, we will therefore collect a small amount of background information, using the following questions. Participants who have been interviewed before will only be asked the three new questions highlighted below. • Do you live alone, or do you live with anyone else? • Many people in the UK have caring responsibilities (for example, for younger people or for those who need extra support with things like moving and eating). Do you care for anyone else in your home? If yes, who? • Some people have conditions that can impact their physical and mental wellbeing. Do you have any physical or mental health conditions that affect your day to day activities? Does your condition affect any of the following: o Mobility – moving about or lifting and carrying objects o Using your hands to carry out everyday tasks o Communication o Memory or ability to concentrate, learn or understand o Other o Prefer not to say • Are you currently employed? If so, is that full or part time? • Do have any difficulties in speaking, reading or understanding English? [Interviewer to probe carefully and use initiative as to what probes would be relevant but could include for example; Is that because English isn’t your first language, or another reason? What are the reasons for these difficulties? Why do you say that?] • Do you own or rent your home? • What energy supply do you have at home? Is it gas, electric, coal, oil, or something else? [Clarify / confirm with respondent whether their home is connected to gas or an off-gas property, in which case flag in write up as hard to treat] o Are you the account holder for your electricity / gas? o Are you the bill payer for electricity / gas (wholly or partly) 31 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers • What is your home made of? For example, solid wall, cavity wall, other, don’t know? [Interviewer to provide examples as the question is delivered. If solid wall, flag in write up as hard to treat] o Is your home a listed building or in a conservation area or an area with restricted planning laws? [Which might make the property hard to treat] • Do you have internet connection at home? o If yes:  Do you also have a device to access the internet? E.g. a smartphone, laptop or tablet?  How often do you use the internet? E.g. daily / weekly/ monthly / less frequently?  How confident do you feel using the internet? o [If respondent says they do not use the internet themselves, check whether they do via family / friends for example.] • In the past two weeks have you used any of these? Ask bold items only if they use the internet. o Personal email o A website to look up information o A telephone helpline for advice or information o Online chat on a website (e.g. a company, local council etc) o Social media – eg Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Whatsapp etc. o Video calling – eg Facetime, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Whatsapp etc. o You Tube self-help videos (where someone shows you how to do something) o A public library in your local area o A local face-to-face advice service (e.g. Citizens Advice, local council, charity, Job Centre) • When you are at home on a typical day in winter how long do you have the heating on for? o Never o Hardly ever o Just when I (or someone else in the house) feel cold o I /we stick to set times of the day (e.g. in the morning and/or evening) 32 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers o Most of the time o All of the time o Something else [ASK] • Still thinking about when you are at home on a typical day in winter, are you {and anyone else in your household} warm enough? o Yes - Always o Yes - Most of the time o Yes - Sometimes o No – Hardly ever o No – Never • Some people can easily afford to pay their bills, others find it more difficult to pay. Thinking about your household’s current situation, in general, how easy or difficult is it for you to pay for your bills? I/we are keeping up without any difficulty I/we are keeping up, but struggle from time to time I/we are keeping up, but it is a constant struggle I/we are falling behind with payments o o o o o Don’t know Privacy notice Thank you, before I ask you any questions, there are a few things I need to read out about how we will store and use the information you provide: • The information we collect now (and in the interview) will be anonymised so that you personally cannot be identified. The information you provide will be combined with data from all of the interviews to produce a report. • This call may be recorded, but this is for our own training and quality procedures and the recording will not be used for any other purpose. • The information you provide will be stored securely in accordance with GDPR. • You have the right to end the call at any point. • I can provide you with the full privacy notice [https://www.winningmoves.com/privacy-notice] Topic guide Introduction (5 minutes) Welcome and moderator introduce themselves. 33 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers Thank you for taking part today. We’re going to be discussing how people in the UK can get advice about ways to save energy at home; and your views on how an Energy Advice Service for everyone in the UK should work. Just as a reminder, the research is for the UK Government’s energy department [that is, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero]. This is one of several workshops we’re running across the country. It’s important for you to know: • Your answers will not be linked back to you - they are confidential and anonymous. • We’ll add together your comments today with those from the other groups we are running to report on the main points from the discussions. • In our report, we will quote particularly interesting things that people have said – we won’t use your name, it will be anonymous, and it can’t be traced back to you. It will say something like ‘participant [Grimsby]’ said… • Remember there are no right or wrong answers so please just answer as honestly as you can. • Feel free to disagree with each other (politely!). We want to hear everyone’s views and we know you won’t all have the same thoughts. Please try to give everyone time to speak. • Please think of this as a conversation between you, rather than a Q&A session with me. I’ll introduce a topic then we can discuss what you all think about it. • If at any point you want me to explain something, or if I’m going too fast, or you want me to repeat something, please let me know. • We would like to record the discussion to help us with making notes later on. The recording will not be shared or used for anything else. Would that be okay? • Any personal information you gave us when we asked you to join the group will be stored securely in line with the General Data Protection Legislation (GDPR). • If you’d like to read our privacy notice – which sets out how we look after and use the information you provide – please talk to [co-moderator] at the break or end of the workshop. • We’ll also be giving out the ‘thank you’ vouchers at the end of the workshop. • Housekeeping Do you have any questions before we start? 34 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers Now you’ve heard what we are going to be doing, is everyone happy to continue? If you no longer think it’s right for you to take part in the workshop it’s perfectly okay to leave now, before we begin – unfortunately we’ll only be able to give out vouchers at the end to those who have been in the workshop. Warm up (5 mins) • Please introduce yourself – say who you are and one quick thing about why you wanted to take part in the discussion. • Online groups – practice with hands up and chat. Make sure everyone is comfortable. Grounding – thinking about homes and information sources (5 mins) • Just to start us off, could you share whether you’ve had to get anything fixed in your home recently, or made any home improvements? It can be anything, not just to do with energy. Reassure that it doesn’t matter if they haven’t. o What was it? • When you’re looking for advice on things like home improvements where do you generally prefer to go to get information and advice / like the most? [Online, telephone, face to face, other]. Or does it depend? o Why do you like that best? Ways to save energy at home & awareness of advice (15 mins) CIRCULATE PHOTO PROMPT HANDOUTS We’d like to find out whether people would/wouldn’t consider doing these home improvements that are to do with saving energy. You may already have done some of them! IMPORTANT There are no right or wrong answers – we’re not expecting everyone to want to do all of them and we’re as interested in those you wouldn’t do as those you would do. [ACTIVITY] Using the handouts, we want you to look at each picture of possible home improvements and mark on whether [SHOW DEMO SHEET]: • You wouldn’t consider doing / it would be too difficult for you to do – a cross • You would consider doing – a tick • You’re not sure – a question mark • You’ve already done it – a letter D [Moderators: Tailor how long is spent on this section depending on how fast/slow the group is progressing: probe more items if the workshop is ahead of time]. 35 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers Looking at these measures (SHOWCARDS 3 &4: Straightforward measures and Insulation/energy), please think about any you ticked (i.e. haven’t done yet but would consider doing). • Why did you decide you would want to do them? • How do you know about it/them? [if not covered in previous discussion] • Where would you go to find out more? To get advice on how to do it? • • Is there anything you think would be difficult about doing it? [If relevant] Would you do it yourself? Or would you get help from somewhere? [SHOWCARDS AGAIN] Please think about ONE that you wouldn’t consider (put a cross against): • Why wouldn’t you consider it? What puts you off? • Is there anything that could persuade you to consider it? PROBE: eg information, advice – on what?, signposting Thinking generally, if you wanted to get information or advice about any of these kinds of energy saving measures, who would you trust to provide the information? • Why would you trust them? What is it about them that makes you trust them? [Important to capture whether their views are based on experience, or perceptions / beliefs. This is also an opportunity to see if there are things that organisations / services communicate / promote that helps to build trust]. • Is there anything that would make you not trust someone who is providing advice about energy saving? Introducing an Energy Advice Service (20-25 mins) Now thinking about ALL the energy saving changes we have been talking about – including everything from the simple actions to the big home improvements – I want you to imagine there is an England-wide Energy Advice Service that everyone can access. This is where we want your input on how it could work. Spontaneous reactions Before we get into the detail of what the Service would look like, what is your immediate reaction about there being such a service? • Is it of interest to you? Why? Why not? 36 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers • What would make you interested in using it? • Would other people you know be interested in using it? Why / why not? • Is there anything you might be worried about that could put you off contacting or using the service PROBE: barriers from interview insights – e.g. confidence, confusion, capabilities, knowing/tracking your case history • Have you had any good or bad experiences of using other Government /official advice services that the EAS could learn from? EXERCISE – how they want to engage with the service We want to think about how the Energy Advice Service needs to work for you to want to use it. (SHOWCARDS 3&4 only – straightforward and Insulation/energy measures). Please look back at the sheets you marked earlier and keep in mind the ones you ticked – the measures you thought you’d consider doing. Please take a few moments to think about what information and advice you would need if you wanted to go ahead with installing this measure; and how you’d want to get it. • What kinds of features or advice would the Service have to offer to make you want to use it? [CO-MODERATOR CAPTURE ON POST-ITS – lay out on table or wall] • SHOWCARD – are there any others here that would encourage you to use the service? Why? How do you think the Service should make the kinds of advice you’ve identified available to people? Thinking about one of the energy measures you would consider, can you describe how you’d want the Service to work? PROBES: • How do you think you / people you know will want to access the Service to get the kinds of advice you want? o Channels – online, telephone, face to face, other; a mix? o Why those ways? Why not others? • Would you want to use different ways of accessing the service for different kinds of help and advice (eg the different types of advice we just looked at [SHOWCARD])? PROBE: What aspects? Why? • How detailed would the advice have to be to encourage you to use the service? To give you what you want? PROBE: e.g. getting initial information, getting detailed information, applying for finance, filling forms etc. Promotion/finding out about the service • How do you think you / people you know would find out that there is an Energy Advice Service? • How could it be promoted to let people know about it? Where? When? 37 Home energy advice services in England: hard-to-reach and digitally excluded consumers • How do you think it could it be promoted to