Martin Lewis teams up with CILIP to publish guidelines for 'warm spaces' in libraries this winter

Personal finance expert Martin Lewis has teamed up with CILIP to publish a set of guidelines for libraries to help them set up warm spaces within the community this winter, as the cost of living crisis bites.  

The report "A Warm Welcome. Setting up a warm space in your community" stemmed from a tweet in early September where Lewis asked if there were any UK charities that could write a best practice guidance document on the subject. 

Lewis has since provided funding to help turn the guidance around in a matter of weeks. Public libraries were invited to submit their best practice guidance from advice on issues such as safeguarding and accessibility, to the practicalities of health and safety, accessibility and risk assessments, all while remembering that these spaces should be welcoming, warm and safe.  

The guidelines started as a public library initiative, but library advocacy group CILIP said it hopes they will prove helpful to all organisations that would like to set up a warm, safe and welcoming space within the community this winter. 

Lewis said: “In early July 2022, while the sun was blazing, I was sitting at my desk, doing some numbers, starting to feel overcome with a sense of dread about the coming winter. It looked like the price cap rates for energy, which most of us pay, would be nearly doubling, leaving possibly 100,000s with the now almost cliched choice between heating and eating. 

“While mulling, I tweeted, ’Can’t believe I’m writing this, but I wonder if this winter we’ll need ’warm banks’, the equivalent of ’food banks’ where people who can’t afford heating are invited to spend their days, at no cost, with heating (e.g. in libraries, public buildings, etc.) I wasn’t the only one thinking it. I was both saddened and gladdened to quickly hear from a few councils and libraries already planning to do just that, as well as many organisations who wanted to help, but were asking how to do it. 

“This guide is the culmination of that. I asked CILIP to research and collate best practice information, on how to do it, and I am delighted that they accepted the commission. It’s not just for libraries, it’s for any organisation wanting to set up a warm space (the name has rightly changed too, a warm space is a far more approachable place than a warm bank). I do hope you find it useful.” 

Nick Poole, CILIP c.e.o. added: “CILIP have produced these guidelines for setting up warm spaces and thank Martin Lewis for the commission and funding. We were well positioned to create best practice guidelines on setting up warm spaces; given our close relationship with libraries across the country who were already planning to create warm spaces this winter. We hope the information contained in this guidance will be useful to any organisation wanting to set up warm spaces for their communities this year and that they will help people to stay warm and safe.”