Campaigners have set out new proposals to redesign an existing government scheme to reduce the energy bills for some of the most vulnerable households in the country.

In a new report, UK100 is calling on the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to be redesigned to turbo-boost its effectiveness. Currently, local authorities must compete for funding to upgrade the energy efficiency of their social housing stock.

The report argues the scheme would be more effective if the competitive nature of the funding was ended and instead money was distributed by need.

It also recommends the new scheme runs alongside the new UK Infrastructure Bank to maximise private investment and green finance opportunities.

The report argues this ‘oven-ready, cost-neutral’ plan would reduce energy bills by up to £1,500 a year for tenants. It estimates over 550,000 social housing properties could be upgraded by 2028.

Beyond this, every single social housing property in the UK could be upgraded to Net Zero standard by 2050 with a new £16bn long-term investment.

Lucie Middlemiss, fuel poverty expert and professor of environment and society at the University of Leeds, said: 'This winter is proving hugely challenging for households facing high energy bills in poorly insulated homes. The consequences of under-heating for health and well-being are well-evidenced and highly detrimental.

'Increasing insulation for poorer households can have life-changing consequences: making people healthier, happier and less likely to take time off work. UK100’s proposal to increase the pace of retrofit for social housing is a timely and important one. It makes sense because social housing organisations and local authorities already have a track record of delivery on retrofit, as well as providing homes for some of the most vulnerable people. Speeding up this programme will result in big quality of life improvements.'

New YouGov polling shows most Brits are either "very worried" (38%) or “fairly worried” (37%) about paying their energy bills once the Government's Energy Price Guarantee scheme ends in March.