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Green Homes Grant Needs More Time
The government is under pressure to extend the green homes grant scheme beyond March 2022 after a committee of MPs described current progress as moving at...
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Green Homes Grant Frozen Out
The government has cancelled the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme - with applications no longer being accepted after 5:00pm on 31 March 2021.
It had widely been speculated over the previous weekend that the scheme, described as 'botched' by a committee of MPs from all parties would see the axe come down on it but many were surprised it came down so suddenly.
In fact, despite ridiculing the organisation of the Grant, many of the critical MPs wanted to see the Scheme revamped to work and indeed for it to be extended.
The Government ministers involved have all been distancing themselves and indeed the only hint of the cancellation at 30 March 2021 at any ministerial department was an indication that funds would be directed at local authority energy reduction schemes - the suggestion being these were new funds and not those redirected from the Green Homes Grant.
GGF
The GGF received an email from the Directorate of Energy Efficiency at BEIS (Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy) on 29 March and had seen a BEIS press release. However, that press release had not been widely distributed at 30 March. The Installer and The Fabricator have obtained a copy that says 'the Green Homes Grant Scheme’s objective was a short term economic boost to the sector'. This is patently a distortion - it had been intended as a short-term measure to close on 31 March 2021 but is closing date had been extended by one year prior to the recent budget.
Poor uptake
Latest figures on the uptake of the scheme shows that just 96,000 applications were made for the Grant and a paltry 39,000 vouchers have been issued. The initial target was to install measures in 600,000 homes by April 2021. However, not only were applications hampered by red tape, far too few installers of the approved green measures were available because of strict registration criteria and very few volunteered to go get qualified.
“The cancellation of the scheme comes as no surprise. The interest and uptake of the scheme has been low and this has been due to the limited options for consumers combined with a lack of approved installers to implement the scheme."”
– John Agnew
Managing Director, GGF
Accreditation
"The criteria to be an approved installer included the high level qualification requirement for companies to be accredited to the PAS 2030 standard within a very short time period," continued the GGF's Agnew. "This scheme was announced in July last year without consultation with industry and I hope the government ensures that all future schemes will be inclusive and for the benefit of all of the home improvement industry and consumers.”
Before this year’s budget announcement, the GGF wrote to the Chancellor asking for funding to be made available to help companies attain PAS 2030 accreditation. Last month, the GGF and FENSA wrote to BEIS Secretary of State recommending that the government should approve installers in competent person schemes as an alternative to carry out the work in the scheme.
John Agnew explains: “The GGF attended many meetings with BEIS ministers and officials regarding the scheme and both GGF and FENSA offered solutions such as asking for the scheme to enable the replacement of inefficient double glazing and for glazing to be a primary measure. FENSA has overseen the installation of over 64 million Windows & Doors through 14 million installations, so it’s disappointing that FENSA and GGF were not included in the formulation of the scheme.”
Important initiative - another failure
The scheme, announced in July 2020 was generally recognised by many as an important initiative and with £3 billion budgeted, it was the first substantial energy efficient scheme for home improvement in England for several years - following several notable failures.
Deadline
The government has reassured that all valid applications received up to 5:00pm on 31 March will be processed and vouchers in the system will continue to be issued, meaning that delivery of installations on the ground will continue over the coming months. Vouchers that are already issued will be extended to a date that will provide a reasonable time for installations to be completed.
Picture: The Green Homes Grant is about to be frozen.
Article written by Cathryn Ellis
30th March 2021