A great-grandmother in the north-east has called for other pensioners to take advantage of the Warm Front scheme.

The initiative offers grants to elderly and vulnerable people and can lead to the installation of better heating appliances, but 77-year-old Joan Shott has told the Evening Chronicle that she wants the government to make people more aware of its benefits.

Ms Scott said: "They should advertise it more. I only heard about it from word of mouth because I heard somebody else discussing it. I never saw an advert and I’m sure many people don’t know about it."

The Warm Front scheme provided Ms Scott with a new boiler, which she describes as being "much easier to manage".

Earlier this month, the Energy Saving Trust advised Britons not to wait for further energy price cuts.

The group instead recommended that people should make their own savings by taking measures such as installing cavity wall insulation.