Green Homes Grant Scheme Helped Just 15,000 Low-Income Households

The government’s flagship green homes grant scheme to help people install energy efficiency measures resulted in just 15,182 households on low incomes improving their property’s insulation, it has emerged. The £1.5bn scheme was designed to improve 600,000 properties but, according to data uncovered by the Liberal Democrats, only a small number of homes benefited from funding for much-needed improvements. In total 41,300 measures were installed, according to the figures, with low-income households benefiting from around half of the jobs. Launched in a blaze of publicity last year, the scheme offered homeowners in England vouchers worth up to £10,000 to make their homes more energy efficient or to replace old boilers. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/01/green-homes-grant-scheme-helped-just-15000-low-income-households 

Green Homes Grants Cost £1,000 In Admin For Each Household That Benefited

A scheme to make homes cosier and greener racked up administration costs of £1,000 for each household that benefited, the Whitehall spending watchdog said. The flagship green homes grant scheme was rushed, caused frustration for homeowners and installers and had lower benefits in cutting carbon and creating jobs than it could have done, the National Audit Office (NAO) said. The programme was launched in September 2020 as a six-month “green” pandemic recovery measure, and closed in March 2021 having been extended and then curtailed again in the face of problems with its delivery. Read more on the ITV website.

https://www.itv.com/news/2021-09-07/green-homes-grants-cost-1000-in-admin-for-each-household-that-benefited--nao

Data Shows Green Homes Grant Scheme Inefficiencies

Data released by the DBEIS shows that, despite receiving over 100,000 applications, only a small amount of pay-outs were actually made during its lifetime. The Scheme was designed to help homeowners and landlords improve the energy efficiency of their property, but after the announcement earlier in April that applications are now closed, there is a real need for an alternative plan from Government to help support the drive to cut UK carbon emissions. Since its launch last September 2020, the Scheme attracted a total of 113,700 applications, with 10,300 measures installed but only 6,700 homes receiving the money from the Scheme so far, way off the original target of 600,000 homes. Read more on the Arla website.

https://www.arla.co.uk/news/april-2021/uk-government-data-shows-green-homes-grant-scheme-inefficiencies/

Ministers Focus On Councils’ Decarbonisation Scheme After Green Homes Grant Scrapped

The government is expecting many councils to bid for an extra £300m funding pot as part of an extended scheme to help decarbonise homes. The government said that 96,000 applications had been made through the Green Homes Grant scheme and 39,000 vouchers had been issued, with vouchers totalling £300m eventually expected to be issued. But MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee said the administration of the troubled scheme seems “nothing short of disastrous”. Read more on the Social Housing website.

https://www.socialhousing.co.uk/news/ministers-focus-on-councils-decarbonisation-scheme-after-flagship-green-homes-grant-scrapped-70236?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60 

Government Scraps Green Homes Grant

 The government has scrapped its flagship green homes grant scheme, the centrepiece of Boris Johnson’s promise to “build back greener” from the Covid-19 pandemic, just over six months after its launch. The abandonment of the £1.5bn programme, which offered households grants of up to £5,000 or £10,000 to put in insulation or low-carbon heating, leaves the UK without a plan for tackling one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. People who have had their applications for vouchers under the scheme accepted will receive any money owed, but no new applications will be accepted after the end of this month. Read more on the Observer website.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/27/uk-government-scraps-green-homes-grant-after-six-months

Green Homes Grant Will Meet Only Tiny Fraction Of Target

The government’s flagship green homes grant scheme will help just 8% of its target 600,000 households switch to renewable energy by the end of March, analysis reveals. The £2bn for the scheme is being withdrawn at the end of next month. Analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit thinktank reveals that at the current rate it will issue vouchers to just 49,000 members of the public by that time. This equates to an annual carbon saving of 26,000 tonnes, or 0.4% of UK residential sector emissions. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/26/green-homes-grant-fraction-target-england

Home Insulation Scheme Must Guarantee High-Quality Work

The government must ensure homeowners receive high quality improvements under its new energy efficiency scheme, campaigners and MPs have said. Under the plan, the government will pay at least two-thirds of the cost of home improvements that save energy in homes. The Green Homes Grant will be launched in England in September. But the chair of Parliament's business select committee, Darren Jones MP, has expressed concern about how people will be protected from poor quality work. Read more on the BBC website.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53492536