By Josiah Lockhart, Chief Executive at Changeworks.
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Changeworks is a leading social enterprise delivering affordably warm, healthy and energy efficient homes, supporting households in fuel poverty and contributing to a sustainable, just future.
The link between fuel poverty and housing
Scotland is facing a fuel poverty crisis, with almost one in three households living in fuel poverty. A nationally representative poll conducted by 56 Degree Insight for Changeworks in March 2026 found that more than a third of Scots (37%) are extremely or very concerned about being able to afford their energy bills this winter. A major contributor is the poor energy efficiency of many homes. Leaky properties require more energy to heat, leaving households with higher energy bills.
The same poll shows that almost half of Scots (49%) regard climate change as either the most important challenge we face or a major problem. Residential buildings account for around 20% of UK greenhouse gas emissions and are Scotland’s fourth highest-emitting sector. Retrofit is therefore a vital solution to help tackle both challenges. By improving home energy efficiency, retrofit can reduce energy bills, lower carbon emissions and support the transition to a sustainable future. Public backing is strong, with 70% of Scots supporting the use of renewable and sustainable energy technologies to provide electricity and heat in the home.
Retrofit can deliver more than warmer, more energy-efficient homes and lower emissions. At the scale Scotland needs, it also represents a significant opportunity for economic growth, business investment and job creation.
For organisations working across housing, energy and climate, the need for action has never been clearer. The external environment is complex: funding is tighter, geopolitics is unpredictable, and public attention is understandably focused on the cost of living. But the underlying need for advice and support on retrofit, energy bills and fuel poverty has never been more evident. At Changeworks, we’ve seen this need first-hand.
Done well, retrofit is a mechanism for growth, creating jobs, strengthening supply chains and increasing investment in sustainability. It can reduce pressure on the NHS by improving health outcomes linked to cold, damp homes. It improves comfort and wellbeing and can support productivity, particularly as more people work from home. Creating affordably warm, healthy and energy efficient homes creates both social value and commercial opportunity.
The numbers from Changeworks’ delivery in 2025–26 reflect the scale of both the challenge and the opportunity. Our services, including Home Energy Scotland in the Highlands & Islands and Southeast, provided energy advice and support to more than 61,000 householders, while more than 12,000 homes were supported to install energy efficiency measures through services including Home Energy Scotland and our joint venture partnership Warmworks, as set out in our 2025–26 annual report and accounts.
Across Changeworks, Home Energy Scotland H&I and SE and Warmworks, the report records estimated annual savings of around 36,400 tonnes of CO₂, based on an average saving from fabric improvements of three tonnes of CO₂ per home per year (annual report and accounts). One in five of the clients coming through our Affordable Warmth Services in recent years have returned to us for support, showing the ongoing need for help.
Scaling delivery of affordably warm homes
The UK Warm Homes Plan represents an opportunity to scale delivery. At Changeworks, we are actively building partnerships to respond to it, working with social landlords, energy sector partners, distribution network operators, community organisations and UK-wide collaborators.
We are also exploring new investment routes through our trading subsidiary, Changeworks Enterprises, because the scale of the retrofit challenge in Scotland cannot be met by grant funding and public contracts alone. It needs private capital, commercial partnerships and organisations willing to bring innovative new investment models to the table.
UK-wide political attention may well continue to shift from climate action towards the immediate pressures of household bills. Energy insecurity and global instability risk keeping costs high and uncertain for the foreseeable future. But this only makes the need to scale delivery of affordably warm, sustainably heated homes even more urgent. The opportunity remains significant: tackling fuel poverty, reducing emissions and supporting economic growth through investment in homes and communities.
In Case You Missed It:
With almost 40 years’ experience, regional expertise across Scotland, and a growing presence across the UK, we know how to deliver at scale and work with partners across sectors. Changeworks recorded total income of £12.2 million in 2025–26, compared with £11.5 million the previous year, according to our annual report and accounts. We are well placed to support even more households to live in affordably warm, healthy and sustainable homes.If you’re interested in where climate ambition and commercial opportunity can overlap, we welcome the conversation. Contact us today at [email protected]
