Naila Ilyas wins national award

Naila Ilyas being presented with her award by Neil Clitheroe, CEO of ScottishPower and Baroness Verma, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,

Naila Ilyas has been named a national Heat Hero by fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) recently for her contribution to tackling fuel poverty in Rochdale.

The Heat Hero Award Scheme recognises individuals across England and Wales who have gone ‘above and beyond’ in helping people who are living in fuel poverty in their local community. 

Naila works at Energywise, a social enterprise based at KYP in Rochdale. She managed and delivered a ‘Reduce Fuel Save Money Project’ reducing bills and keeping homes warm in her community. The areas in which she works include a large proportion of people from ethnic minorities who suffer a further disadvantage due to their language and cultural barriers. Naila developed a model for client engagement as well as multi-agency partnership working that would deliver tangible results for local residents. For the first time in these hard to reach deprived areas she held successful “Energy Awareness Events” - the impact was a much higher take-up of energy related services in the area. She also engaged with the local female Asian population through community radio.

Naila said: “I am over the moon to be chosen as a Heat Hero by NEA and ScottishPower, it is worth all of the hard work when you know that you have helped people in the local community to stay warm in their homes. It is a team effort though and colleagues at Energywise deserve the credit too”.

Maria Wardrobe, Director of External Affairs, NEA said: “Our heat heroes’ are vital to the lives of people in their communities. Many fuel poor households are isolated and vulnerable and difficult to reach, it is important that we give credit to people like Naila who are working tirelessly to help these people to stay warm and well in their homes.”