SOME 2,700 people have now signed up for help with insulation and energy advice since the Post launched its Stay Warm for Winter campaign.

The Evening Post has been fighting for a fair deal on energy and also encouraging readers to take advantage of the support and benefits available to them this winter.

The Post's campaign was timed to coincide with the launch of the Nottingham Warm Zone in November.

The £7m initiative is funded by Scottish and Southern Energy (which trades locally as Atlantic) and Nottingham City Council.

The Warm Zone has referred 1,300 residents for energy assistance since November, including home insulation, energy checks and benefits advice. It is aimed at homeowners, landlords and tenants in privately rented accommodation and it offers free and cut price loft and cavity wall insulation.

Residents who live outside the City of Nottingham may also be able to obtain assistance with insulation and energy advice by contacting the Greater Nottingham Healthy Housing Partnership, which has referred 1,400 residents in the same period.

Miranda Cumberbatch, Nottingham Warm Zone manager, said: "`It is going well. Loft and cavity wall insulation are the key measures to impact on bills. We have been able to expand provision, in particular to elderly people, who are disproportionately hit by fuel poverty."

It is estimated that up to 30,000 households in Nottingham are in urgent need of assistance to improve their energy efficiency.

The Post's campaign has also highlighted the amount of benefits that goes unclaimed in Notts.

In Nottingham, it is estimated up to 16,000 people don't claim the council tax benefit they are entitled to; more than 4,000 are not receiving housing benefit, and 7,000 pensioners don't take up their pension credit.

The total unclaimed in the county is £109m, based on figures from the Department for Work and Pensions.

At the same time, more than 30 people die a week in Notts each winter because they cannot afford to heat their homes.

Welfare rights workers and politicians are urging residents to claim.

John, 62, from Sneinton, who did not want to be identified, has just received a backdated payment of Pension Credit worth £3,050.

He was eligible for the benefit after he and his wife lost all their savings when the public house they invested in went bust.

John said: "We had not heard of pension credit until someone mentioned it. Money is still a struggle but it is better than it was."

John and his wife were surviving on £84 a week, now they receive £189 a week. T John was helped by his local Labour councillor, Ken Williams, who took the case up with MP John Heppell and a pensions minister.