Your Social Prescribing team, working with your GP practice, will complete an application form with you and send the form to Act on Energy, a local energy charity. Act on Energy will review your application. They may request additional information to confirm your household meets the income criteria.

If you are eligible, Act on Energy will use the information submitted on your application form about your property size, your heating fuel type and energy market prices to calculate the energy support payments you will receive during the winter to help keep you warm. 

Act on Energy will send you a letter to introduce themselves and one of their energy advisors will contact you to provide home energy advice and help you apply for other available local or national energy support, if needed. This may include referrals for energy debt support, a repair or replacement heating system or to ensure you are accessing wider support for your home energy.

Once Act on Energy have confirmed you are eligible and calculated your energy support payments they will make two separate payments, during November and January, directly to your energy account, to help keep you warm and to encourage the use of your heating system.

You may be offered a heated blanket to keep warm, whilst stock lasts, this will be delivered to your home address.

You will receive follow up contact from your Social Prescribing team during Spring 2026 to complete a short post-scheme evaluation questionnaire about the support you received.

Your GP or Social Prescribing team may contact you about the support available. Or, you may have seen the support advertised in your GP surgery and would like to make a referral for yourself, a friend or a family member.

To apply, contact your Social Prescribing team to complete an application form. Your GP surgery can provide your Social Prescribing team contact details.

Once you have arranged an appointment with a Social Prescriber to complete an application form, please have your energy supplier name, energy account number and national insurance number ready for your appointment. 

Warmth on Prescription is funded by Worcestershire Household Support Fund, using funding provided by UK Government. Funding is not guaranteed and will be subject to qualifying criteria and availability of funding. 

If funding is no longer available in your area, you may still qualify for support with your energy bills through the Worcestershire Energy Support scheme. To find out more and to apply please visit:

• Worcestershire Household Support Fund

About Social Prescribers

Social Prescribers connect you with activities, groups and services that improve your health and wellbeing. All GP surgeries have a Social Prescribing service available to support you, some surgeries provide the service directly or indirectly by a local service provider.

Your Social Prescribing service may be delivered by your GP surgery, or by your district council, Onside Advocacy, Worcestershire Association of Carers or Taurus Healthcare.

Energy payments and benefits

The support available will not affect your benefits. The energy payments are credited directly to your energy account and not your bank account.

Qualifying cold-sensitive health conditions

We’ve outlined qualifying health conditions below, although the list is not exhaustive and you should contact your Social Prescribing team if you think you may qualify with a health condition not listed:

• atrial fibrillation
• coronary heart disease
• heart failure
• hypertension
• peripheral arterial disease
• transient ischaemic attack (mini stroke) or Stroke
• asthma
• COPD
• rheumatoid arthritis
• osteoporosis
• diabetes
• cancer

Evidencing your income

In addition to the health element criteria, you must also meet the income and savings thresholds.

Your overall household income before tax must be £31,000 or less, unless you are in receipt of a means-tested benefit. 

If you are in receipt of a means-tested benefit, you will provide your national insurance number at point of application. Once Act on Energy receive the application form from your Social Prescriber, they will share your details with Worcestershire County Council to request a search of your DWP benefit record to ensure the details you have provided are accurate. If you provide the incorrect information Act on Energy will contact you to review the details.

If you are not in receipt of a means-tested benefit, you must provide evidence of your overall household income, this includes all earnings; non-means tested benefits, excluding disability benefits outlined below, state and private pensions. Act on Energy will contact you to request 3-months bank statements or payslips of all adult occupiers in your household, to ensure the annual income is £31,000 or less before tax. 

You will be able to take photographs of the necessary evidence and email or post copies to Act on Energy, if requested. You must supply evidence if requested to confirm eligibility. If you need support to gather evidence an Act on Energy Outreach Officer may be able to help by visiting you at home.

The disability benefits below will be excluded from your overall household income calculation:

• Armed Forces Guaranteed Income Payments
• Armed Forces Independence Payments and Mobility Supplements
• Disability Living Allowance (DLA) – Mobility Component – Higher and Lower rates
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)– Mobility Component – Enhanced and Standard rates
• Universal Credit (UC) – Child element – Disabled child – High and Low rates
• Universal Credit – Childcare element
• War disablement Pension

Pre-payment energy meters

Support is available for those with pre-payment meters too. If you have a traditional (old-style) prepayment meter and have no option to top-up online, Act on Energy will send you energy vouchers in the post. Energy vouchers can only be redeemed as credit to your prepayment meter key or card at your usual top-up points. The energy vouchers cannot be redeemed as cash.

Solid fuel and LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) heating

Support is available for those not connected to a mains-gas supply, whether that be LPG or solid fuels. 
Act on Energy will credit your energy account with the fuel supplier, allowing you to arrange a fuel delivery in the usual way.

If you have savings but are of pension age

There is a no-savings element to qualify for the scheme unless you or a household occupier is of pension age. Each occupier of pension age has a savings threshold of £5,000, a maximum of £10,000 for two pension age occupiers.

The State Pension age is currently 66 years old for both men and women.

Energy-related scams

We know many energy-related scams are circulating in Worcestershire, some even posing to be support from the Department for Work and Pensions. If you are unsure who has contacted you about the scheme, please contact your Social Prescribing team by calling the contact number you would normally call. If you are unsure of your Social Prescribing team contact number, please contact your GP surgery.

When completing your application form with your Social Prescriber you will have the opportunity to provide a memorable word. Once your application form is sent to Act on Energy, they will use your memorable word during all contact to provide reassurance you are talking with a trusted organisation delivering the scheme. 

Receiving the support

This is not an emergency support scheme and will take several weeks from the point of application. Once Act on Energy have received your application, they will review the details provided, send you an introduction letter and may request income evidence before they can confirm eligibility. If you are successful, you will be contacted again to advise the energy support payment amount and payment dates (November and January). You will also receive contact from an energy advisor to provide home energy advice and support.

Incorrect information submitted at the point of application will cause administration delays. 

Short post-scheme evaluation questionnaire

You will also be asked to complete a feedback questionnaire with your Social Prescriber within two months of the final payment.  This is to assess the potential impact the scheme may have on your health and wellbeing. You will asked questions such as, “did receiving the support have a positive impact on your health condition and wellbeing?” and “did you increase your heating use after the energy payments were credited to your energy account?".