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How you can save energy this winter

It’s no secret that this winter is shaping up to be a struggle for so many households in the UK. With rising energy bills on the minds of millions – the cold weather has the potential to ask some difficult questions of us all. When do you put the heating on? When can you afford to? Obviously, there are challenges ahead – but there are also ways to save energy here and there that can add up over the course of a few months. Below are a few tips to help you feel a bit better about the prospect of turning up that thermostat.

Keep out the cold

Although it may be an obvious solution, taking care of the draughty areas in your home can be one of the best ways to save energy. Draughts not only let in the cold, but also allow heat to escape – so it’s no surprise that draught proofing could save you up to £25 per year. A chimney draught excluder could save you an additional £17 per year while also reducing your carbon footprint.

Upgrade your heating controls

Over 50% of your energy bill will go towards providing heating and hot water. Updating your heating controls can be the best way to manage your bills by reducing how frequently you use your heating. Room thermostats, programmers and thermostatic radiator valves can all help to reduce your costs when used efficiently. Maybe you only ever shower in the morning? If that’s the case – you can turn off the hot water for the rest of the day! Heating controls can save you roughly £75 per year.

Insulate your pipes

Pipe insulation can help to prevent heat from being lost from the pipes in your home. This helps to keep your water hotter for longer and therefore reducing how much energy is required to heat it. They’re really easy to install too! You simply place foam tubes around the exposed pipes between your hot water cylinder and your boiler – and doing so can save you around £10 per year.

Radiator Reflection

Radiator reflector panels are a cheap and easy way of saving energy. Instead of letting heat escape through an external wall, the panels reflect heat back into your home – reducing your overall energy consumption. Installing these panels could save you £19 per year.

But wait, there’s more

Maybe it’s time to consider the bigger decisions available to you. Have your kids left home? Do you need all the space you currently have? If not, downsizing to a smaller property to suit your needs could be one of the most effective ways to reduce your energy consumption. Not only that, but downsizing could also see your council tax decrease significantly.
If you think downsizing could be on your radar, or you’d just like to discuss the options available to you, get in touch with your adviser to talk through any queries you may have.

Fixed vs Variable Rates – in simple terms

It’s safe to say that there is a fair amount of confusion currently surrounding the mortgage market. Rates have been on the rise as inflation soars, but what does this mean for you? Perhaps you’re looking to secure your first mortgage or looking to renew? Either way, it’s certainly a confusing time and it can be so difficult to know what type of mortgage best suits your situation. Do you go with a fixed rate mortgage to avoid further rises or a variable rate in the hope that mortgage rates fall again? We’ve outlined the pros and cons to help you make the best decision.

Fixed rate mortgages

Fixed rate mortgages do exactly what the name suggests. The interest rate on a fixed rate mortgage remains the same throughout the fixed term of your mortgage product – usually between two and five years. With a fixed interest rate, your monthly payments will remain the same for the duration of your product term. Once the product expires, you’ll automatically revert to the lender’s standard variable rate (SVR).


The biggest positive of a fixed rate mortgage is of course your payment remaining the same. This means that it is much easier for you to budget on a monthly basis as you will always know exactly how much money you’ll be paying every month. If you were to take out a fixed rate mortgage today, you would lock in your monthly payments based on today’s rates and would not pay any more even if rates rise within your fixed-rate product term – protecting you against your mortgage becoming unaffordable.

The downsides come into consideration when interest rates start to fall. You would then potentially be paying more than the standard variable rate until your product term expires. On top of this, fixed rate mortgages are also less flexible, involving Early Repayment Charges (ERC) during the fixed product term.

Variable rate mortgage

A variable rate mortgage is the exact opposite of a fixed rate. Both the interest rate and monthly payments are dependent on current mortgage rates and can fluctuate at any point throughout the term of your mortgage.

The two different types of variable rate mortgages are SVRs (Standard Variable Rate) that is fixed by your lender and a tracker rate that follows the movements of the Bank of England’s Base Rate – although the tracker rate will usually be higher than the base rate (e.g., base rate plus 2%).

The main advantage of a variable rate mortgage is felt when rates go down as you could end up paying less as a monthly repayment than you did at the start of your term, (however it could also be more if rates go up). You’ll also be able to get a lower rate on a variable rate mortgage than on a fixed as you’re taking the risk that rates could increase throughout your term.

For those whom flexibility is key, a variable rate or tracker rate mortgage would be preferable than being locked into a product with Early Repayment Charges (ERC) should your circumstances change, and you need to exit your fixed rate mortgage product early.
There is no right answer to this question. It is entirely down to personal preference and your own financial situation. Given the current volatility in the market, it’s so important to get in touch with your adviser to discuss your options.

Using Furlough to understand Income Protection

No-one could have predicted the first half of 2020 and what it would bring, so the notion that you could have been completely prepared for what was to come is difficult to comprehend. I’m guessing that if you could travel back in time and put more insurance policies in place you more than likely would have.

One of the most overlooked types of insurance has typically been income protection. Research conducted by the Financial Conduct Authority shows that only 35% of people have any form of protection insurance in place, and of that 35%, only 4% have any form of income protection.

Two of the most common reasons for this is the lack of understanding around what income protection is, and also the belief that you’ll never need it! However, a good way to understand what income protection is and what it does is to look at the furlough scheme used by the government in recent months.

Since March, nearly ten million UK workers were placed on furlough, so it’s likely that if not directly impacted yourself, you know someone who has been. The basic premise of furlough is to support workers financially while they’re unable to work. Albeit that the mechanics, criteria and funding are different, this is basically what income protection does! What would have happened to all those workers if the furlough scheme hadn’t been introduced? This is the question you need to ask if yourself and assess your own circumstances if don’t have any income protection in place.

A common response to income protection is ‘it’ll never happen to me!’, but what 2020 has shown us so far is that nothing can be predicted and it is better to be prepared and protected should the unexpected happen.

What if you’re self-employed?

If you’re self-employed you can still get income protection, and in fact it may be even more relevant for you. However, according to research from The Exeter, less than one in 10 self-employed workers protect their income, and nearly a fifth of self-employed workers have no personal savings to rely on in times of financial uncertainty.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK self-employed workforce grew to 5 million by the end of 2019, representing 15.3% of employment, up from 3.2 million in 2000.

With more UK workers embracing self-employment, options within the marketplace have adapted to better serve this growing sector of the workforce, with bespoke policies tailored for the differing requirements of the self-employed.

Cost of Living Crisis Update – EPC Plus Service

We’re thrilled to be able to announce our new partnership with Vibrant and their EPC Plus service! Vibrant offer an EPC auditing service that can help you to understand how to improve the energy efficiency of your property

What exactly is EPC Plus?

Vibrant’s EPC Plus service offers a full audit of your EPC rating, followed by detailed guidance as to how to improve it. The report from Vibrant is the first of its kind in the housing industry, detailing a property’s current and potential EPC rating, the CO2 produced by the property each year and the CO2 savings that could be achieved. Vibrant can recommend free funding, the best energy providers for your specific needs and top tips on how best to save energy.

Click here to access Vibrant’s EPC Plus system

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1st Call 4 Mortgages (UK) Ltd. Registered in England and Wales under number 09333010. Director : Paul Butler.
Registered address: 5 Arthurs Hill, Shanklin, Isle Of Wight, England, PO37 6EW
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