Our upcoming webinar will address how tech can be used to tackle fuel poverty and ill health this winter.

Preparations are well underway at IoTSG HQ for our upcoming webinar to support local councils seeking to tackle the winter care crisis by investing in technology solutions.

With winter just around the corner, a torrent of recent news stories have warned of considerable hikes in both energy and food prices, as well as cuts to vital benefits that will affect people right across the UK.

As these mounting financial pressures continue to push budgets to their absolute limits, experts have cautioned that more than a million households could soon find themselves living in fuel poverty.

This statement is supported by the charity National Energy Action [NEA], which puts the number between 1.2 and 1.5 million if the price cap rises by £400 to £600 per year.

To exacerbate matters, figures from Statista show that 87% of homes in the UK are currently heated by gas.

With the wholesale price of gas having soared worldwide as economies begin to recover from the pandemic, the forecast for household energy bills is especially bleak.

With what is likely to be an incredibly challenging winter, local authorities and care providers are keen to find new ways of identifying homes and residents most at risk of falling in to fuel poverty and providing them with the support they so desperately need.

Titled ‘Tackling the Winter Care Crisis – Funding & Technology Solutions for Local Authorities’, our webinar will explore how technological solutions can help. For example, discreetly monitoring residents and their homes’ environmental conditions can quickly indicate ill health or harmful living conditions.

The event will be a virtual panel discussion between members of our team and local authority representatives, who will provide insight into how the NHS Better Care Fund – previously known as Winter Pressures Funding – has been used.

They will explain how this funding is used to identify those most at risk of fuel poverty and ill health this winter and how our tech solutions are already helping keep residents healthy and at home.

Additionally, there will be a short Q&A session offering viewers the chance to submit questions for the panel via chat during the event or before it by emailing [email protected].

All attendees will also receive our latest infographic on the state of the care crisis and more information on the NHS Better Care Fund.

This winter will undoubtedly be a tough one for many people right across the UK. If councils do not take decisive action to support residents, they will soon be overwhelmed by the number of people falling into fuel poverty or illness.

Therefore, local authorities owe it to themselves and residents to learn new methods to respond to the crisis. This webinar will serve as the perfect introduction.

For further information on the webinar, including how to register, visit https://app.livestorm.co/iotsg/winter-pressures.