Care Homes And Home Care Operators Have Only A Month Left To Ensure They Are Compliant With The New Energy Efficiency Directive (ESOS)

ESOS is a mandatory energy assessment scheme for organisations and will affect any care homes and home care operators if they meet the ESOS definition of a large undertaking.

A large undertaking is any UK company that either employs 250 or more people, or has an annual turnover in excess of 50 million euro (£38,937,777), and an annual balance sheet total in excess of 43 million euro (£33,486,489).

Neil Garton, Head of Healthcare at NatWest, said: “Many care home businesses and home care  operators  may not have thought they qualified for the scheme, but they must include staff employed on a fixed term, part time or zero hours contract.”

Organisations that qualify for ESOS must carry out ESOS assessments every 4 years. These assessments are audits of the energy used by their buildings, industrial processes and transport to identify cost-effective energy saving measures.

Neil adds: “We have spoken to customers who didn’t realise they would be required to take part in ESOS. Anyone who is not compliant by the deadline could be facing large fines – so I’d urge anyone to make sure.”

Care homes and home care operators that qualify for ESOS need to submit their notification of compliance by 5 December 2015. Even if care homes and home care operators qualify but are not going to meet the ESOS compliance deadline they must notify the Environment Agency by this deadline.