The Trustees of the Foundations Independent Living Trust are delighted to announce that npower Health Through Warmth will be working with the Trust to help improve the levels of warmth and comfort of vulnerable people who experience cold and damp related illnesses in England.

The Trust will hold and administer a crisis fund, financed by npower Health Through Warmth, which will be used to fund heating measures for home improvement agency clients with cold and damp related illnesses. Home improvement agencies can apply to the Foundations Independent Living Trust hardship fund on behalf of their clients.

Applications can be made for part-funding (usually up to 50%) of heating or insulation measures that will have a positive impact on clients whose health is affected by cold and damp. The process will work in a similar way to existing applications to the hardship fund, but you will need to use the new application form and guidance notes which can be found on the Foundations website.

The new application form includes questions relating to your client's health and the other sources of funding for the measures, as these are part of the acceptance criteria. Please note that earlier versions of the hardship fund application form can't be used for these measures. To help us monitor how the fund is used, we are asking for the client's tenure as well.

The partnership enables Health Through Warmth to reach beyond the 15 areas of England and Wales in which it currently operates, helping a larger number of people whose health is adversely affected by cold, damp living conditions.

Elaine Midwinter, Health Through Warmth manager, said: "Health Through Warmth and the Foundations Independent Living Trust are two organisations with very similar objectives. By working together, we hope to dramatically increase both the numbers, and geographical reach, of the people we are helping."

Sir George Young, Chair of the Foundations Independent Living Trust, adds: "Our mission is to help vulnerable people to live with dignity in their own homes. By working with Health Through Warmth we can assist vulnerable home improvement agency clients who need financial support towards heating and insulation in their homes. We're delighted to be working in partnership with such an established scheme."

Common questions

When can I make an application on behalf of my clients?

To apply for heating and insulation measures, both these criteria must be met.

• Your client is not able to fund measures themselves or does not qualify for statutory grants.

• Your client's health condition dictates that measures are urgent and that it would be detrimental to the client's health to wait for installation through statutory schemes, even if they are eligible.

Can I apply for a top up to a Warm Front grant?

The Trustees have decided that applications can be made to the hardship fund for Warm Front top-ups, as long as other application criteria are met. This decision will be reviewed in six months.

How much funding can I apply for?

For heating and insulation measures, the application must always be for less than the full cost. There isn't an upper limit to awards from the hardship fund, but all applications over £500 go to Trustees for approval. The Trustees may decide to make an award for less than the amount you have applied for.

Can I apply for a working heating system to be replaced?

Working heating systems are not replaced, but you can apply for funding for repairs to existing heating systems. If a property has partial heating in the form of gas wall heaters, or storage heaters, these will not be replaced by new full central-heating systems.

Is there a limit on the number of applications that I can make?

To make the fund as widely available as possible, the Trustees have decided that applications will normally be limited to 10 in one year for each local authority area. The year for the hardship fund runs from April to March. Once you have made 10 successful applications, further applications will need to go to Trustees for approval.

Please note that Health Through Warmth co-ordinators working with clients who have already accessed the Health Through Warmth Crisis Fund cannot access further Health Through Warmth funding through the FILT Hardship Fund, but are still able to submit applications to the general FILT Hardship Fund on behalf of their clients.