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Hunt’s Headlines – Industry Reacts
Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement has been welcomed for cutting National Insurance and making tax easier for the self-employed. Being able to claim tax...
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Green Homes Grant - A Botched Disaster Finds EAC
The Green Homes Grant's administration is nothing short of disastrous says the Environmental Audit Committee. It was wildly optimistic and its botched implementation has had devastating consequences on many installers.
The Parliamentary Committee issued some scathing assessments on 22 March not just of the Grant but on the Government's is failure to grasp the enormous challenge of decarbonising the UK’s housing stock, which accounts for 20% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions. The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) said that the Government’s legally enshrined target to be net zero carbon by 2050 will hit a roadblock unless urgent action is taken to improve energy efficiency of homes this decade.
Government - no idea of cost
The report in which the scathing assessments are made also says the Government appears to have underestimated the costs to decarbonise UK homes by 2050, at between £35 billion and £65 billion. However, this does not include properties such as those with solid walls, or those in conservation areas which could make energy efficiency installations more challenging. 19 million UK properties need energy efficiency upgrades to meet EPC band C. The EAC heard in evidence that it can cost on average £18,000 (before a heat pump installation). Therefore, the cost is likely to be far greater than the Government’s estimate.
In fact, a previous EAC hearing said the Governments miscalculation of the cost of upgrading homes was 'woeful'.
To read The Fabricator's 'woeful' article - Click Here
Green Homes Grant
We welcome the Government’s introduction of a scheme for owner occupiers to fund energy efficiency improvements. But the Green Homes Grant has been rushed in conception and poorly implemented. In its haste to create a scheme to deliver economic stimulus, the Government failed to consult industry adequately on its delivery, set a timescale which was overly short term and has presided over scheme administration which appears nothing short of disastrous. If the ambition for the scheme to retrofit 600,000 homes envisaged completion of the work by the end of the current financial year, then the Government has been wildly optimistic in its scheme planning and industry engagement. The impact of its botched implementation has had devastating consequences on many of the builders and installers that can do the work, who have been left in limbo as a result of the orders cancelled and time taken to approve applications.
Losing orders, laying off staff
It is commendable that the Government has been keen to avoid fraud in administration of the scheme by only allowing Trustmark and PAS registered companies to participate. But the anti-fraud precautions have been so complex that vouchers are simply not being issued. Consumers are frustrated by delays in delivery and the industry which the scheme was set up to support has been completely failed. Companies are losing orders, laying off staff and have warned they may close altogether.
Overhauled not abandoned
We recommend that the Green Homes Grant scheme be urgently overhauled and extended to provide a genuine long-term stimulus to the domestic energy efficiency sector. The scheme should not be scrapped or quietly wound down. The Government must address the design and administration issues. All allocated funding that has not been spent by the end of March 2021 should be rolled over into the next financial year. A multi-annual scheme must be delivered to provide the financial support to owner occupiers and build trust within the industry to encourage installers to get accredited and enable companies to hire staff.
The Government should set out how it intends to revise the types of measures included in the scheme, streamline the application process, including the number of quotes required for application, and remove unnecessary bureaucracy at every step.
Picture: If homes are not to heat the night sky, more will have to be done to insulate them - and the Green Homes grant has been a disaster in making this happen.
Article written by Cathryn Ellis
23rd March 2021